Reigning Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fifth in Saturday's race at New Hampshire but shortly after completing a radio interview on pit road, he collapsed. He was treated and released from the infield care center a short time later.
The following interview was done with Stenhouse after he was
released from the care center:
Stenhouse: "I feel OK now. They gave me some fluids and got good to go. I think just
being a little sick all week, not eating much and not drinking enough
fluids caught up with me after the race. I think we’ll be good to go
now.”
Did you feel it at all in the car?
Stenhouse: "I’ve felt it all week
being really tired, not eating and not drinking any fluids so that part
of it I definitely felt it in the race car, but I don’t think it slowed us
down any. When I’m in there, I’m driving as hard as I can every lap. I got
sick after the race in Daytona on Friday night and kind of let it go
throughout the weekend and was hoping it would get better,
but it never did.
It’s probably my fault that we ended up like this.”
What will you have to do to be ready for next week?
Stenhouse: “The good thing is it’s a Sunday race, so I’ve
got all week to get the fluids in me and get better. Hopefully, within the
next couple days I’ll feel a little bit better and eat a little bit more. I
normally drink plenty of fluids and never have the issue of getting
light-headed after the race or anything like that. My throat hurt throughout
the whole week.
I didn’t really want to drink or eat anything and it caught
up with me. Yesterday and today I drank plenty of fluids, but you’ve got
to do it before, so I think we should be OK for Chicago.”
So if a driver has been sick all week and isn't completely healthy, why isn't he pulled from the car for safety concerns? What if he had passed out during the race while driving at high speeds? Would that have not been dangerous to the other drivers?
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