Riley Herbst confirms concussion sidelined him from Daytona

Riley Herbst confirmed it was a concussion that took him out of the seat last weekend at Daytona International Speedway last weekend.

The symptoms were the aftermath of a crash the week before at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when he crashed into the wall following contact from Michael McDowell. There was also a secondary contact when Connor Zilisch was unable to slow down in time and drilled into the 23XI Racing No. 35.

He had actually passed his concussion protocols in the middle of the week and even qualified last Friday at Daytona. However, he woke up on Race Day and felt unable to race.

"I got diagnosed with a concussion after the wreck in Loudon, and I thought that I was cleared to, to pass," Herbst said. "I passed all my tests the week leading up to Daytona. Obviously, I qualified in the race car, and had really fast speed, and then I woke up Saturday morning, feeling really, really rough with trouble with all the symptoms, the worst I've had since the wreck.

"So, I thought it was the best idea for me to step out and let Harrison (Burton) drive the race car, but back to being 100 percent."

On Thursday, Herbst announced he was moving to Legacy Motor Club next season, and spent time both in street car ride-alongs at Ten Tenths Motor Club and at the Toyota Racing Development simulator.

"We were at the sim, so I've been into sim every single day this week," Herbst said. "No symptoms, I've worked out every single day this week, no symptoms, and yeah, I did those little ride-alongs on Thursday with no symptoms, so obviously nobody knows until you hop in the race car, but I've been cleared of all activities and looking forward to completing another Southern 500."

Herbst felt fine immediately after the crash in Loudon but said his symptons have come and go so he won't be totally sure about the Southern 500 on Sunday until it's time to go.

"I don't really know," Herbst said. "They come and go. Concussions are a super weird health issue, health problem that honestly, it's an evolving matter. It's not like you can x-ray your arm and see a broken bone or see it not broken. It's all about how you feel in one day, you can feel 100 percent, and then I can wake up Saturday morning, like I did last week, and struggle to get out of bed.

"So, yeah, it was a rough process, but obviously I think myself, NASCAR, Atrium Health, we all did the right thing last week and taken me out of the race car for the betterment of myself and obviously the field of race car drivers, but you just kind of have to rest, rest, rest, and hopefully you can beat the symptoms sooner than you want."

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