According to the report, NASCAR driver Kyle Larson will miss Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway and remains hospitalized after feeling weak on Saturday an autograph session at Martinsville Speedway. Regan Smith will replace Larson for Sunday’s race.
Larson’s team announced on Sunday that he was undergoing testing at Carolina’s Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., and that he had not been medically cleared to drive.
Although all tests came back negative and Larson feels completely fine, the doctors felt he should be stay at the hospital for more testing. The team said after an evaluation at Martinsville Memorial Hospital, doctors told Larson everything checked out well, nevertheless, as a precaution, they felt a neurologist should evaluate him.
This is noticeable that Larson would still be eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup despite missing the race because he had qualified for the event, satisfying the rule that a driver must compete each weekend.
The team said in a statement that Larson remains at Carolina’s Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, for more testing. Regan Smith was to replace Larson in the No. 42 Chevrolet at Martinsville. In just his second full season in the Sprint Cup Series, Larson has two top 10s through the first five races of the 2015 season and currently sits 18th in the series standings.
In a statement Smith, the super sub who has served as a fill-in driver on separate occasions for Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch over the past eight months, will pilot the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet during Sunday’s STP 500.
In his career, Smith has not had a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ride since 2012, but he has raced in a substitute role for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and most recently for Kurt Busch.
In addition, Larson, the Japanese American stock car racing driver in the 2014 Sprint Cup rookie of the year, has two top-10 finishes through the first five races this season, but he has struggled in his short career at Martinsville, finishing no higher than 27th (one year ago) in three career Cup races at NASCAR’s shortest track.