Darrell Gwynn takes laps at Dover in an adaptive race car

For the first time in 28 years, Darrell Gwynn took to a race track as a driver.

His time on Dover International Speedway was not in what was a once familiar dragster, but rather an adaptive Furniture Row car with an assist from Regan Smith.

Smith took the adaptive car onto the course and then turned control over to Gwynn.

Gwynn was able to drive for part of a lap for the first time in 28 years since an accident that almost claimed his life through a special straw provided by Falco Adaptive Motorsports (@FalciMotorsport). Using this special device, Gwynn was able to control the car by “sipping” and “puffing” on the straw.

“Without a steering wheel, it’s hard to keep it perfectly straight in the corners with just your head,” Gwynn told Smith after his laps at Dover. “Normally NASCAR drivers, they drive with their arms and their … eyes. Here, you have to drive with your head and your mouth.”

Gwynn was injured in an exhibition race at Santa Pod Raceway in England in 1990. Halfway through his run, his dragster turned abruptly left into a retaining wall at approximately 240 mph leaving him paralyzed and without his left arm.

Video of Gwynn and Smith at Dover was broadcast via Facebook Live.

https://t.co/hB5C2fJbu0

— Regan Smith (@ReganSmith) October 4, 2018

Take 2 on Darrell Gwynn making laps https://t.co/MnkBtxNJX8

— Regan Smith (@ReganSmith) October 4, 2018

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INDIANAPOLIS – NBC Sports.com asked Indianapolis 500 winning team owner Roger Penske if three-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves would return to the team in 2020?

Penske immediately brushed off the question.

“We’re not going to talk about that right now,” Penske told NBC Sports.com. “I’m just not going to talk about it. We’re going to have a meeting about it before we decide, but I’m not going to talk about that right now.

“Simon won the race and that is what I’m focused on right now.”

Simon Pagenaud, gave Penske a record-extending 18^thIndy 500 win on Sunday. Penske confirmed that Pagenaud will be back with the team in 2020 after he scored his first win in Sunday’s 103^rdIndianapolis 500.

Castroneves was an NTT IndyCar Series regular at Team Penske from 2000 until the 2017 season. After that, Castroneves was shifted over to the team’s Acura IMSA Sports Car program, but the three-time Indy 500 winner was given a ride at both races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the past two years.

The popular driver from Brazil is trying to join AJ Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as four-time Indy 500 winners.

But the whispers in Gasoline Alley indicate his future with Team Penske at Indy remain uncertain.

“I’ve heard the rumors, too,” Castroneves told NBC Sports.com on pit lane after his disappointing finish in the Indy 500. “I will definitely give it a good, hard think about coming back in 2020. I want to be the rest of the season, here.”

But, will Castroneves run the Indy 500 again?

“Who knows?” Castroneves told NBC Sports.com. “Let’s see what happens.”

Castroneves’s bid for a fourth Indianapolis 500 was derailed in a pit road incident after his first pit stop when he ran into James Davison’s Chevrolet on the team’s first pit stop on Lap 30.

The front wing of Castroneves’s Chevrolet was damaged and INDYCAR officials gave him a “Drive Through” penalty for “Avoidable Contact.” Castroneves would ultimate drop three laps down but finished one lap down in 18^thplace.

Castroneves explained what happened to him earlier in the race and how it affected the rest of his Indy 500.

“The accident that happened in the pits hurt us for sure,” Castroneves explained. “We had a problem with the fuel mapping, and I couldn’t go over 200 miles an hour for four or five laps. We lost 35 seconds. There was a bug in the system.

“Then, we went back out and that was it. I wasn’t able to recoup after that. I was excited. The car was very, very good entering the race.”

Castroneves spoke with second-place finisher Alexander Rossi, who was furious with the driver from Brazil earlier in the race for not moving out of the way, even though he was three laps down at the time.

The two drivers hugged, and Castroneves walked back up pit lane.

“I did what the team told me to do, and they told me to go as fast as I could,” Castroneves explained after talking to Rossi. “It’s racing and everybody is upset they didn’t win.”

Castroneves hopes his walk up pit lane is not the final time as an Indy 500 competitor.

But it could be.

“I hope I can come back next year,” Castroneves said. “I’m really upset as a competitor, but extremely happy for Team Penske and for Simon Pagenaud for winning the race.

“The good news is I go back to the Acura sports car, but I will be dreaming about coming back here again.”