Saturday night’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway brings a rarity in NASCAR ‘ a premier-series race without a driver named Earnhardt in the starting field. #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. is sitting out this weekend’s event at Charlotte, and will also skip next Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, as he deals with the effects of two concussions suffered within six weeks of one another. The Bank of America 500 will be the first event in what’s now known as the Sprint Cup circuit without an Earnhardt in the field since September 3, 1979, and the last of four races Dale Earnhardt missed because of injuries suffered in a crash. Prior to Saturday, the last Cup-level race without an Earnhardt was at Darlington on Labor Day weekend in 1979 (NASCAR.com).
AND With Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Mooresville, N.C.) sidelined with a concussion and Scott Riggs (Bahama, N.C.) failing to make the field, the green flag will wave on a field without a driver from North Carolina for the first time since May 27, 1961, at Ascot Stadium in Los Angeles.(FoxSports)(10-13-2012)
