At UPMC, Dale was also able to learn about the link between his two concussions and the persistence of his symptoms.
"I felt like I was at a concussion mini-camp. I was looking around the room and thinking, I felt so alone before that. I felt like I was this one individual in a city of hundreds of thousands, with this issue. "When I walked into UPMC, I was like this is where I need to be. There are people getting treated, and they're putting a smile on people's faces. They're helping them understand what's going on," says Dale.
After weeks of hard work and support from Dr. Collins and team, Dale recovered and reported feeling better than ever.
"With the care I got at UPMC, I was able to return to my old self. The rehab and the things that they put me through got me back to doing what I love to do."
Dale soon returned to the track. In fact, he won the Daytona 500 in February 2014 after completing his treatment at the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program.
"I was very lucky that my injury was something I was able to recover from. And I felt like Pittsburgh really accelerated that. They gave me the ability to get better than I would have alone." Dale would continue his NASCAR career until retiring on his own terms in 2017.