NASCAR driver Tony Stewart announced on Thursday that he will return to competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this weekend at Richmond.
Stewart announced his return via Twitter. As we previously reported, Stewart suffered a burst fracture of the L1 vertebra in his back in an ATV accident in California on Jan. 31. The injury caused him to miss the first eight races of the season. Brian Vickers and Ty Dillon have been filling in for Stewart while he’s been out. Stewart plans to start the race at Talladega next week then have Dillon get in the car early in the race, according to ESPN. He will then run the full race at Kansas the week after Talladega.
"We're taking a strategic approach to my return," Stewart said in a statement. "Richmond is a track where I feel very comfortable and because it's a short track, the speeds are substantially less. The Goodyear test in Indy is sort of a controlled environment, allowing me to get more acclimated with my car at higher speeds. We'll start the Talladega race to get the points, but understanding the style of racing and the higher potential of getting involved in an incident, we thought it was best to minimize the amount of time I'm in the car. I'll return fulltime at Kansas [the following week] and enjoy every moment I can in my final year of Sprint Cup.”
He went on to say that he appreciates all the support that he has gotten.
Last September, Stewart announced that he was retiring after the 2016 season. He has 48 wins and three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, according to NASCAR.com. It will be interesting to see how Stewart does in his final year since he has struggled in recently and hasn’t won since Dover in June 2013. NASCAR has granted Stewart a waiver so that he's eligible for the Chase if he wins a race and gets in the top 30 in points.
NASCAR is in Richmond this weekend for the ninth race of the season.