The flag had barely dropped at Circuit of the Americas when Brad Keselowski’s body betrayed the brutal reality of NASCAR racing. Temperatures simmering near 80 degrees, a failed cooling suit, and pure determination had pushed the 41-year-old driver to his absolute limits. As cameras captured him being carried away on a stretcher, the racing world held its collective breath – a stark irony given the very challenge Dale Earnhardt Jr. would soon expose.
“Sometimes things happen that are out of our control,” Keselowski later wrote, his top-15 finish almost secondary to the medical drama that unfolded. RFK Racing confirmed the severity, stating he required immediate IV fluids at the infield care center, a testament to the razor-thin line between triumph and physical breakdown in motorsports.
Cooling suits aren’t just a comfort – they’re a lifeline. When Keselowski’s suit failed, he was essentially battling a mobile inferno, maintaining laser-focused concentration while temperatures threatened to overwhelm his body. His post-race message captured the resilience of NASCAR drivers: “Yesterday was a tough one at COTA. Sometimes things happen that are out of our control, but I’m thankful for my team and the care I received at track.”
While the racing world recovered from the shock of the incident, Dale Earnhardt Jr. emerged as the voice of experience which pierces through racing sounds and spectacle while offering solid advice. During the podcast, Dale Jr. revealed how dangerous yet invisible it is that some race car drivers lose command over breathing when they hit extreme moments on the track.
“You’ll be hauling down the straightaway, and you’re excited but also fearful,” Dale Jr. explained. “You’re driving to the edge of the limit, and you start holding your breath through corners, down straightaways, without even realizing it.” Drivers experience this as a bodily response although it creates conditions that increase their mental and physical exhaustion to dangerous levels. And Dale Jr. knows this very well from his racing days.
Dale Earnhardt Jr
Back in 1999 at an International Race of Champions event in Michigan, it was father and son going against each other. Junior and Senior were locked in an intense battle before the Intimidator won at the last moment. Junior barely had enough time to see his father get to the victory lane before he buckled. Reciting about one of his Michigan race experiences, Dale Jr. emphasized how exhausted he became that he required urgent medical care, “I can remember the Michigan race. I would say that day I was probably holding my breath for a lot of the last few laps because we’re getting inside 10 to go. The thing about it too is in the IROC car you don’t have a radio. You don’t have a spotter. you don’t have anything you’re by yourself alone yeah you’re doing everything that you’re getting you know you’re doing everything by yourself and I’m trying to beat my dad. I got out of the car went to Victory Lane saw Dad and then I had to go to the infield care center immediately. I was probably breathing enough to stay alive,” he said, highlighting the extreme physical demands that transform race cars into pressure cookers of human endurance.
And it wasn’t just this event that saw him push his limits. Just a year before the Michigan incident, Junior had another incredible moment of survival. During the Daytona 300, after Dick Trickle was hit by Buckshot Jones, Junior got caught in the crossfire. His Chevy took flight, doing a complete barrel roll before crashing down on the ground doing a full 360 degree turn, and landing next to a wall. It was a miracle he survived. Most drivers would just excuse themselves after a visit to the care center, right? Junior wasn’t like most drivers. In typical fashion, he walked out to speak to the media, and just when it seemed okay, things took a turn for the worse.
As Junior described in an old interview, “As I began to describe the flip, I actually fell backward—like nearly fainted—and had to be caught before I flopped onto the ground. I laughed about it, and so did the reporters I was talking to. When I went to the race shop that week we were laughing again when the guys on the crew showed me the inside of the car.”
And while Junior earned the ‘Hammerhead’ nickname, the event was just proof of the extent drivers push themselves too. In the current age with safety massively improved, there is a different concern on hand for NASCAR, the heat.
How do NASCAR drivers stay cool in the car?
Saying that driving a car at over 200 mph without air conditioning is difficult sounds like an understatement, doesn’t it? Add to handling extreme G-forces that accompany a car pushing its limits on road courses and you start to see just how lethal it can be. Brad Keselowski’s incident was in no way a rarity. NASCAR fans have seen time and again what happens when these suits fail.
Last year at the Xfinity race at Nashville Superspeedway, current 23XI driver Riley Herbst faced a similar issue in 95-degree heat. So did William Byron and Keselowski last weekend during the 2024 Chicago Street Race. The problems are clear. As Kurt Busch put it a few years ago, “NASCAR needs to listen to the drivers.” At the moment, NASCAR’s cooling suit has piping around the driver with fluid circulating through it. The helmet has a hose attached to the back that works as a carbon monoxide filter. Yet, is that enough?
These cars are drivers sitting behind big blocks that are constantly giving off heat. With the season heating up and summer just around the corner, NASCAR must seriously consider its options to make driving safer for racers.
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