Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a scare in the Daytona 500

Dale Earnhardt had just got caught up in a Daytona 500 wreck, Lap 105, causing him to drive up on Kyle Busch’s car, wind up on two tires and eventually bang twice into the wall.

His day was effectively done. His thoughts – like everyone else here – quickly shifted to whether it could be more than that. Earnhardt was making a triumphant return to the Cup Series after missing 18 races last year due to a concussion.

“I feel good,” Earnhardt reassured after leaving the infield care center here. “I don’t have any of the [concussion] symptoms or anything that I experienced in the past. It wasn’t that hard of a hit but still doesn’t mean you can’t get injured.”

Indeed, Earnhardt thinks he would have been injured if not for the efforts NASCAR has made to find safer ways of racing.

Before coming to Daytona, Earnhardt and his team even met with NASCAR in an effort to see if they had any suggestions on how to protect the 42-year-old’s now fragile career, which feels one major concussion from possibly ending.

“I told [crew chief] Greg [Ives], ‘I want to make sure we are doing everything we can do,’ ” Earnhardt said. “Because I don’t want to get hurt. I want to race. I want to be at the track. So let’s sit down with NASCAR and talk about what we have and what [we can do]. It never hurts to try to cover all the bases.”

NASCAR’s suggestion was simple – tighten up the protective gear that can stabilize Earnhardt’s neck and head in an injury. The theory is simple, the less external movement, then the less internal movement – i.e the brain. NASCAR had charts and videos and studies to back it up. Nothing is fully safe, but maybe it helps.

In this case, Earnhardt is sure it did.

“I know we say that so much it sounds cliché, but if they hadn’t put that money into it to do the studies that they’ve done I probably would have been injured right there,” Earnhardt said. “I just need to thank NASCAR.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. got caught in a wreck on Lap 105 of the Daytona 500. (AP)

Earnhardt said drivers naturally want as much freedom of movement as possible. Limiting the ability to move around can be uncomfortable. In this case, though, there is no choice.

It’s allowing “me to help myself inside the car,” he said. “We changed some things in the interior that are going to help me going forward.”

Earnhardt was already talking about next week in Atlanta. While there is no indication he won’t be there, time will tell. When he was originally concussed last summer at a race in Michigan, it took three weeks before the symptoms overcame him.

No one wants to deal with this, but that’s the dread everyone feels with Earnhardt. The sport is better and more popular and more fun with him. Sunday was no different. He drew the largest applause at driver introductions and led for a stretch while running up front most of the day.

The idea that Earnhardt might miss another long stretch of a season, or worse, get forced into early retirement, is a nightmare for not just Junior’s fans, but NASCAR as a sport, as it tries to rebound from sluggish television ratings and ticket sales.

Here in his return, Earnhardt thought he could win. It would have been another storybook finish for him at this track – he has won the 500 twice.

Instead he was wiped out early and caused everyone to get worried. That’s the reality of racing though, he said. While his immediate thoughts after a wreck go to concussions, it’s not like injuries of all kinds don’t just up and happen.

“I knew I was at risk like I was before the last injury,” Earnhardt said. “I’m at risk. It’s dangerous. You can’t race with fear. You can’t go out there and worry about getting hurt. You have to say, ‘Yah man, if I am going to get in there I got to be willing to accept whatever happens, good or bad, results-wise.’

“I am willing to put myself out there. I want to compete.”

Sunday he competed, something that he longed to do all last summer. It didn’t end how he wanted it. He can be only hopeful that the crash did no long-term damage. At least he got to run. At least he got reassurance that his new neck and head setup helped.

“I’m just glad I’m OK,” he said.