Scott McLaughlin becomes the first kiwi to win Bathurst in 15 years
Fears of the end of his career or worse have left Kiwi Supercars driver Scott McLaughlin grateful.
The championship leader is recovering after crashing during qualifying on the Gold Coast, which required an MRI scan for a potential brain bleed.
McLaughlin has since been cleared and has spoken of the overwhelming relief, admitting on the "Balls and Bumpers" podcast that he is "lucky to be here".
"I went to the hospital, I was lying on the bed for about 40 minutes, there were like 400 doctors around me, it was full-on," said McLaughlin.
"I was stuck in that neck brace which was so incredibly uncomfortable and then they said we want to take you for a CT scan on your head and neck to check it's alright, it should take five minutes.
"But it took 15 or 20 minutes and I thought 'this is weird'. When we came out no one was really talking to me and stuff.
"They said 'we just saw a bit of an anomaly on the brain, it's meant to be 50:50, parallel, what the brain looks like, but it does look like yours has moved in some ways and there's a little bit of fluid or substance there, something like that, so we're going to have to do an MRI, we don't know, it could be bleeding, it could be whatever'."
Championship leader Scott McLaughlin's car after crashing during qualifying at the Gold Coast 600. Photo / Photosport
The scary crash put an early end to qualifying at the Gold Coast 600 on Sunday, with McLaughlin flipping his car into the fence, prompting red flags and forcing him to be ruled out for the rest of the weekend.
McLaughlin admitted tearing up in hospital and said he was "absolutely s***ing" himself before getting the MRI.
"Everything is going through my head, me and Karly, sort of sitting there crying and stuff because it's like 'what's going to happen?'.
"Life in general has just been flipped upside down obviously straight away. You just think the worst, right?"
McLaughlin, who holds a comfortable 463-point lead over fellow Kiwi rival Shane van Gisbergen, has to have a check-up before the next event at Sandown, but expects to pass.
