Petty ‘disappointed’ by Earnhardt Jr.’s return

Seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty thinks driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. should preserve his health by not returning to racing this year.

“I was a little disappointed that he did,” Petty told FS1’s NASCAR Race Hub show of Earnhardt’s decision to get back behind the wheel of a race car. Earnhardt was medically cleared to race this season after missing half of the 2016 season because of a concussion.

Petty told Race Hub that Earnhardt has “lived half his life, and he don’t need to be messed up going to the next (half ).”

“I just feel like he got through with it two or three times, and he had some pretty big knocks in the head,” Petty told the show. “I’ve had them, too, I think I still live in one of them, but hitting mine was never that bad.”

“He’s got a lot of career opportunities in front of him,” Petty said. “He could make another career, and racing would be a minor thing for him.”

Earnhardt, 42, has 26 career victories, the most recent in Phoenix’s fall race in 2015.

Voted NASCAR’s most popular driver in 14 consecutive years, Earnhardt told a news conference in late January that he’s not putting any pressure on himself to win again soon. His first race back will be the seasonopening Daytona 500 on Feb. 26.

Medical help

Starting with the 2017 sea- son, the chase truck that serves as first responder to on-track accident scenes will feature a couple of new faces, thanks to a new partnership, announced last week, between NASCAR and American Medical Response, a leader in emergency medical services.

AMR will provide a trauma physician and a paramedic to the on-track safety team for each Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series weekend.

“Collaboration with drivers helped us move toward this,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, adding that the doctors provided by AMR will represent “a recognized person that drivers trust.”

Daytona stages

This year’s Daytona 500 will feature two 60-lap stages followed by a final 80-lap stage, with points available in all stages.

Under NASCAR’s 2017 race structure, the top 10 drivers in the first two stages will earn points, with the stage winners also earning one playoff point. The race winner gets 40 points, as well as five playoff points, which can be carried forward until the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The Power Shares QQQ 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race will consist of two 30-lap stages followed by a 60-lap final stage.

The Next Era Energy 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race (Feb. 24) will feature two stages of 20 laps each followed by a final stage of 60 laps.