NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Tony Stewart suffered a broken leg in a sprint-car race on Monday night at Southern Iowa Speedway.
The Stewart-Haas driver, a three-time Sprint Cup champion, was leading the race with only five laps to go when he was collected by a spinning car, pitching Stewart in to a roll, breaking the tibia and fibula in his right leg in the process.
According to local reports, Stewart was conscious and talking to safety crews at the scene. NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Kyle Larson was also competing in the race, gaining a front row seat for Stewart’s accident.
“I didn’t see how it happened, I just saw cars going everywhere,” Larson told local newspaper, The Des Moines Register. “I had to duck through the infield and luckily I missed it.”
It is not uncommon to see Tony Stewart competing in sprint-car races, regularly racing in open-wheel, short-track series with his team Tony Stewart Racing. He was recently unhurt in a flip last week, which made American national news.
“I am as careful as I am when I get in a car on a city street,” Stewart said in June, following the death of fellow sprint-car racer, Jason Leffler. “There will be more people that die in car crashes today than die in race cars today. It’s just part of it and I am one of those that believe when it’s your time, it’s your time.”
Stewart is expected to miss a number of races, with the team already searching for a replacement driver at Watkins Glen, effectively ending his chances of getting in to the Chase. He currently lies one point off of the top 10 in the Sprint Cup standings and in position for one of the wildcard entry spots.
