Tony Stewart’s retirement season is off to a bumpy start.
After injuring his back in an ATV accident Sunday, the three-time NASCAR champion will miss the start of the Sprint Cup season, Stewart-Haas Racing announced Thursday. Stewart underwent surgery Wednesday to a burst fracture of his L1 vertebra.
.@TonyStewart Injury Update from Stewart-Haas Racing pic.twitter.com/siv1jIyBPh
— Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) February 4, 2016
In September, Stewart announced that this season would be his final year in the sport. He won championships in 2002, 2005 and 2011 but has not won a Sprint Cup race since 2013.
The Sprint Cup season begins with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 21, marking the first time in Stewart’s career — which began in 1999 — that he won’t compete in the race. The ATV injury means Stewart will retire having never won his sport’s most famous event.
Daytona 500 will have no Jeff Gordon, no Tony Stewart. Going to be very strange.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) February 4, 2016
Fellow NASCAR driver Greg Biffle was reportedly with Stewart when he suffered his accident.
Stewart-Haas Racing said Tuesday the driver/owner was hospitalized with an injury following an off-road vehicle incident. Biffle confirmed to Sirius he was in Stewart’s group, though he “wasn’t near what went on” and didn’t see exactly what happened.
“We were kind of all riding as a group,” Biffle told Sirius. “We started kind of hearing bits and pieces that he hurt his back. That’s all we knew.
“I do know the people that helped him … (said) he was walking and moving all of his extremities, but he was in a lot of pain.”
For Stewart’s sake and NASCAR’s, hopefully he recovers fully and enjoys the back end of his retirement tour.
Really sad and tough news to see Smoke out for an extended amount of time. Hoping for a quick and speedy recovery for our boy @TonyStewart
— AJ Allmendinger (@AJDinger) February 4, 2016
