NASCAR Latest News: ATV Accident Leaves Tony Stewart Hospitalized
Three-time NASCAR champion and racing great Tony Stewart has been hospitalized due to a back injury, reportedly sustained after an accident while driving an all-terrain vehicle on a location somewhere in the West Coast.
Stewart-Haas Racing team spokesman Mike Arning confirmed the news, followed by a statement from the team saying that indeed the injury was not related to an official racing event. The same statement said that the 44-year-old veteran stock car race driver was immediately transported to a nearby hospital, but his condition was nothing to worry about, having been seen awake and active.
According to Arning, they will be issuing another statement as soon as more information becomes available from the hospital.
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Stewart's injury came in from the most inopportune time because preparations for NASCAR's most important event, the Daytona 500, are expected to begin as early as next week, the same time SpeedWeeks starts off with the Sprint Unlimited. Stewart is part of that event after qualifying from last year as the winner.
Qualified drivers for the Daytona 500 will be known after the Feb. 13 event, while the actual race is scheduled on Feb. 21.
Should Stewart recover in time and be able to participate and win Daytona 500, it would add to the drama of his storied career. He earlier announced that this will be his final season in NASCAR and winning the competition's biggest event should be more than enough to end his 17-year career. The fact that he has not won a single Daytona 500 in his career brings in more intrigue.
Stewart, as of late, has been quite positive, even though he's entering the final year of his remarkable racing career. Speaking to reporters in a preseason media conference in Charlotte in January, he said that he just wants to have fun this year. He knows for a fact that he no longer is the same driver the past couple of years.
