NASCAR

Danica Patrick says she has gotten numerous concussions during her career

Brant James

USA TODAY Sports

Danica Patrick says she loves being a racecar driver, "but I also love lots of other things, and I also love life, and I’m too young to have it be over.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Danica Patrick said she suspects she has suffered numerous concussions of some degree, and if presented with a situation where racing would potentially endanger her long-term health, “I would be out.”

“We like to sweep it all under the rug as drivers like we feel fine, nothing’s wrong,” Patrick said Wednesday at Daytona 500 media day. “But it’s our life, and if there was someone that told me — or I would hope any other driver — if you have another wreck you could have a serious problem, they would be out. Like, I would be out. I love what I do, but I also love lots of other things, and I also love life, and I’m too young to have it be over.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver, is returning to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season after missing half of 2016 with a concussion.

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Patrick has never missed a race because of injury in her career, but sustained a hard collision with the wall at Homestead-Miami Speedway in her rookie IndyCar season in 2005, telling USA TODAY Sports in 2015, “I got knocked out, probably, for a second. I got out of the car, and I don’t remember anything, and I stumbled around.”

Patrick said her current “hyper-sensitive” nature concerning her body would lead her to make sound decisions in the future.

“It makes you think, for sure,” she said. “It makes you pay attention to yourself, and I think there’s nothing better than having somebody like Dale Jr. going so far as to get out of the car for as long as he did and saying, ‘Hey, I have a problem' because it makes it more available for everyone else. Now, I don’t think anyone else has as much luxury sponsorship-wise as Dale Jr. probably does to be able to just get out of the car like that. But it also is coming from a big-name driver that is setting a standard for well-being and it’s admirable for sure.”

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