CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There was a time when drivers raced injured, when nothing could get them to climb out of their seat.

The rules didn’t allow racers to be hurt, sitting out a week would be catastrophic in the point standings, and, ultimately, the payout. Not being able to drive with broken bones, blisters, burns, illness, any ailment at all, could derail a season. Even worse, it could cost a driver his job.

So it’s a testament to NASCAR that Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt strong enough last week to take himself out of his car because he couldn’t shake symptoms that could be concussion-related. NASCAR’s most popular driver benched himself for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire and he will await further tests to see if he’s able to drive this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Earnhardt said he’s battling balance issues and nausea and is uncertain when he will be back in a race car.

“My mind feels real sharp,” he said in a podcast recorded Sunday night. “I’ve struggled with my balance over the last four, five days and I definitely wouldn’t be able to drive a race car (last weekend). Making the right decision was out of the question, I made the decision I had to make. It’s just going to take a lot of patience.”

Tales of drivers racing hurt date back to the beginning of nearly every series. On the same day Earnhardt was watching someone else drive his car in New Hampshire, IndyCar ace Josef Newgarden was powering through on the street course at Toronto with a broken hand. When he wrecked late in the race, his in-car camera caught Newgarden in serious pain and favoring his broken hand.

Don’t forget when Ricky Rudd raced with his swollen eyes taped open in the Daytona 500 or Richard Petty driving for weeks with a severe neck injury or the late Dale Earnhardt winning the pole at Watkins Glen with a broken collarbone. More recently, Denny Hamlin twice raced immediately after tearing the ACL in one of his knees and Brad Keselowski won at Pocono a week after breaking his foot.

About 15 years ago, Earnhardt Jr. revealed in an interview that he thought he’d driven with concussion symptoms several times in 2001. His admission led to a tightened medical review policy in which Earnhardt had to be seen by a doctor before he could race after he was briefly knocked unconscious in a 2002 crash.

As the years went on, Earnhardt became smarter about his health. He missed two races during the 2012 Chase because of a pair of concussions suffered in a six-race stretch, and sitting out those events immediately ended any title shot.

Dashed championship hopes would still be the case for any driver injured during NASCAR’s 10-race playoffs, but the sanctioning body has made it easier for drivers to admit they are hurt. By allowing teams to apply for a waiver so the driver will still be eligible to make the playoffs, NASCAR made it possible for Earnhardt to take himself out of the car.