File this one in the NASCAR oddity section. Thursday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took to Twitter to talk about a recent doctor visit for chest pains, and when he left the doctor’s office he found out he had suffered a serious injury at some point in his career, yet had no idea this whole time.
Oversharing a bit here. But I learned something crazy the other day. Was having chest pains. Sharp. Really bad. Wife encouraged me to get it checked out. My doctor suspected Costochondritis. That is inflammation of the sternum and ribs….
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) May 30, 2019
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But at the end of our conversation this doctor asks me “when did you break your sternum?”
Had no idea is was ever broke. He shows me an X-ray and says that it was broke at some point as well as a rib.
Now I can’t stop wondering what wreck might have done it.
??????— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) May 30, 2019
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How crazy is that? Earnhardt Jr., who like his father was a Daytona 500 winner, All-Star Race winner and Most Popular Driver Award winner, also shared the same type of injury that his father sustained.
Earnhardt Sr. broke his sternum in a violent crash at Talladega Superspeedway in 1996, then in one of the gutsiest performances in NASCAR lure sat on the pole at Watkins Glen two weeks later. Somewhere in Earnhardt Jr.’s career he suffered a broken sternum as well, he just isn’t sure when or where it happened.
