Robert Yates was back in the Nextel Cup garage at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, a weekend after health concerns kept him home from the Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta. Instead of being at the track, Yates made a pair of hospital visits back in North Carolina, being treated for stress.

“I don’t think I stress, but other people think I do,” Yates said Saturday. “Some medication fixed me up, I just needed some help last week. I had a little similar deal about a year-and-a-half ago. Really the same thing and the same [medication] cured it. Maybe I learned and won’t let it get back in that situation. I feel good now, but I had a couple of rough days.”

After his first trip to the hospital, Yates doesn’t even remember leaving to return home. That experience really caught his attention.

“I went back as soon as I woke up - I didn’t want to die at home, so I went back,” Yates said. “I drove to the hospital twice and they kept sending me home. But then when I got back the second time, I had a hard time getting out. I had to go find the doctors [via phone] at the soccer field somewhere to get out of there on Saturday. But I feel good now. I was planning on going to Atlanta; I wanted to go because I felt like our cars were going to run good, and they did. But I had to take care of my system and I think I’ve got that straightened out.”

Scene Daily