Injured Tony Stewart to miss start of final NASCAR season

The season begins February 21 with the Daytona 500, a race the three-time Cup champion Stewart has never won.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, sustained a burst fracture of the L1 vertebra in an all-terrain vehicle accident Sunday while vacationing on the West Coast.

He was treated at a local hospital before being flown to a North Carolina hospital to undergo surgery. Stewart, who turns 45 in May, plans to retire from NASCAR competition at the end of this year.

Stewart was to have competed in the February 13 Sprint Unlimited non-points exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway.

The following year Stewart was involved in a fatal accident in a regional dirt track race in NY state which resulted in the death of 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr. The next two races found Jeff Burton driving before Stewart’s return.

Biffle was not present when Stewart crashed but told SiriusXM’s NASCAR channel that “we started kind of hearing bits and pieces that he hurt his back”. It was his understanding that Stewart was able to walk but in a lot of pain. “I’m just ready to do different things”. He missed the final 15 races in 2013 after breaking two bones in his lower right leg in a sprint-car crash at Southern Iowa Speedway.

Other candidates from the Xfinity ranks include Ty Dillon, Justin Allgaier, Elliott Sadler and Regan Smith, while former Red Bull Racing and MWR driver Brian Vickers may also be in the frame after missing most of 2015 with a recurrence of blood clotting issues. Truck Series driver Austin Theriault had a similar injury past year and missed a similar length of time. Smith drives for Tommy Baldwin Racing this season.