Nicky Hayden Talks Wrist And Recovery

Andrea Wilson | August 7, 2014

Nicky Hayden talked about his wrist injury today in Indianapolis.

Photography by Gold & Goose
INDIANAPOLIS, IN, AUG. 7 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway is practically in Nicky Hayden’s backyard, as it’s just a three-hour drive from his home in Owensboro, Kentucky. But unfortunately this year Hayden will miss out on the pleasure of racing in front of the home crowd as he is still recovering from the wrist surgery he underwent three weeks ago.

“Of course you hate to miss your home race or miss races in general, but this is the situation,” Hayden said. “I’ve struggled a lot this season and really the last two years with my wrist and got to the point where, after consulting with many doctors, the only choice I really had was to get rid of the main bones that was causing the trouble. So [they] took three bones out of the wrist and now I just wait to recover and see how much strength and range of motion I can get back.”

Despite the severity of the injury, Hayden was positive about the outcome of the surgery and is focused on getting healthy.

“The doctor was really happy with the surgery and actually just spoke here with another doctor and it seemed to go very good,” Hayden said. “So I’m pretty happy and pretty excited and already in a lot less pain than I had been all season, so that’s really positive. I hate not to be here for a lot of fans, my house is only three hours from here… So that’s not good, but I’m getting healthy. So no moping around this weekend, just come here, watch some racing and get ready to come back soon.”

As far as when Hayden will get back to racing… there’s no immediate time table yet, but he says he’ll be racing this year.

“I’m not sure yet,” Hayden said about his return. “This week I’ll go back to the doctor; it’s only three weeks yesterday since the operation. So go back to the doctor this week and find out, and try to know a little bit more when I’ll be back. But definitely be back this season.”