Tony Stewart's Streak of 521 Consecutive Starts Will End This Weekend

(AP) Tony Stewart has surgery following Iowa crash
By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
KANNAPOLIS, N.C.
Tony Stewart told anyone who would listen why he continued racing anywhere, anytime, regardless of purse or crowd or car.

Even after he flipped five times last week, Stewart was quick to offer a stout defense for his short-track weeknight racing while some questioned if his extracurricular racing was putting his championship chances in NASCAR at risk.

Well, his championship chances are officially over for this season.

The three-time NASCAR champion broke his right leg Monday night at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, where he flipped his 360 winged sprint car while leading with five laps remaining in the 30-lap feature. He had surgery Tuesday on the upper and lower parts of his leg, and Stewart-Haas Racing said he’ll need a second surgery.

He remained hospitalized and there was no timetable for his return to racing. Max Papis was tabbed to replace Stewart this weekend in the No. 14 Chevrolet at Watkins Glen, where Stewart is a five-time winner and his streak of 521 consecutive starts will end.

The 42-year-old Stewart has wrecked three times in the last month in extracurricular racing, and the latest came a day after he finished ninth at Pocono in a NASCAR event to position himself 11th in the Sprint Cup standings with five races remaining to set the Chase for the championship field.

But Stewart had long refused to slow down his sprint car racing schedule, and passionately defended it following the June death of friend Jason Leffler in an accident at Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro, N.J.

He was just as impassioned last Friday at Pocono when asked about his accident last week in Canada in which Stewart flipped a sprint car five times.

His childhood hero, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt, defended Stewart on Tuesday for sticking to his passion and being a true “racer.”

Stewart took responsibility for triggering a roughly 10-car accident at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park on July 16 in which 19-year-old Alysha Ruggles injured her back.

Last week, in a sprint car race at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario, Stewart rolled his car five times but walked away. He stayed at the track to compete in the World of Outlaws race the next night and bristled at the NASCAR event at Pocono Raceway when asked about his harrowing incident in Canada.

Following Leffler’s death, Stewart defended track and sprint car safety.

On Sunday, veteran sprint car driver Kramer Williamson died from injuries suffered during a qualifying race at Lincoln Speedway in central Pennsylvania. Williamson, 63, was pronounced dead at York Hospital from serious injuries suffered in a crash that occurred Saturday night during the United Racing Company 358/360 Sprint Car Challenge.

Although it sounds cliche, Foyt believes racers want to go out doing what they love.

Gordon said it became too difficult for him to juggle various series when he went full-time NASCAR in 1991.