Physical condition should be top priority for drivers (cont'd)

Basically, another muscle group can compensate for the injured one, but they won't if not properly conditioned. You can't have your back-up jack man eating hot pockets in the pits every weekend.

Similar principles apply for muscle recovery.

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Jeff Gordon took a hard hit at Las Vegas and afterward, was critical of the track for not having SAFER barriers on the inside walls as well.

• Complete story, click here
• Stewart sore, OK after wreck
• Caraviello: Impact from crash
• Podcast: Hard crashes at LVMS

"If there's a crash and [insert driver name here] gets out, his injury is a nine -- hopefully Carl's is a five," Golich said. "So if it does happen, we can come back from it faster and drive more proficiently"

Gordon's crash into the inside retaining wall on the backstretch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend left him feeling it the next day (watch video).

"It was a really hard hit ... probably the hardest I've ever hit a wall," Gordon said. "It took me a while to catch my breath and get out of the car. I was sore on Monday, but I'm feeling better each day."

Tony Stewart painted a similar picture in Sunday's Cup race after he blew a right-front tire and hit hard into the wall (watch video).

Waiting for Stewart to exit the car gave me a nervous feeling and watching him limp away from car made everyone grimace. Plus, hearing the phrase "legs tingle" from Stewart's mouth was even more unsettling.

"My legs were tingling like they were about half-numb and my lower back is sore," said Stewart, who also endured a hard lick a day earlier in the Nationwide race as well. "That's probably from tensing up on the way to hitting the wall. When you see the wreck coming and you know you're not going to miss it, every muscle in your body tenses up and that makes it worse."

Stewart said the next couple of days in Phoenix for the Cup test were miserable.

"The test was fine," he said. "Obviously, I battled through a lot of soreness, but the [right] foot's just bruised and I got a lot of bruises everywhere else, but that's just a part of this deal.

"By the weekend, it'll be healed, or almost healed, so it's no different than normal racing rheumatism, as the doctors call it, and we'll be just fine. We're racecar drivers. We're tough. It's no different than anybody else who hit the wall."

Unlike back-up crew members, back up drivers aren't readily available or even a good idea, so drivers have to play injured.

And brains are just as important as brawn.

Being mentally aware and not succumbing to mental fatigue and frustration is equally important. Both can affect your decision making process, Golich said.

"If a driver is cognitive at the end of a race and feels great, but gets caught up in a wreck and the steering wheel is jerking, he knows better not to try and control that wheel, he lets go," he said. "Being conditioned keeps you alert, you can't get tired."

Good physical health equates to good mental health. You have to maintain a mental edge from start to finish.

Training and fitness levels do give you an added advantage on the track, be it reaction time or injury prevention. And it's a competitive advantage Golich keeps guarded much like trade secrets.

More than that, good health promotes longevity and fans relish the thought of having their favorite driver racing into his 50s.

Crew chiefs and team owners spend countless hours fine-tuning a car's engine. Why wouldn't a driver do the same for his body? Unlike the body of his racecar, his is irreplaceable.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer