Stewart drives a sprint car for first time since August

Tony Stewart drove a sprint car Monday for the first time since badly breaking his leg in an August crash, according to Stewart's Twitter account. Stewart, who co-owns Stewart-Haas Racing and also drives the team's #14 car in the Sprint Cup Series, tweeted six pictures of his sprint car and added, "Guess who got back in a sprint car for the first time today 🙂 #smokewillrise. This was a huge day for me," Stewart tweeted to his 240,000 followers. "9 1/2 months since I've been in one." Stewart likes to race sprint cars as a hobby, as do many NASCAR drivers who came up through the dirt ranks.

But Stewart snapped his right leg in two places after crashing during an Aug. 5 sprint car race in Iowa, which forced him to miss the rest of the 2013 NASCAR season. Three surgeries later, Stewart is still feeling the effects of his injury despite returning to the track. He has a rod in the leg, walks with a limp and said he will not be 100% for months as physical therapy continues. But it should be taken as a good sign that he's feeling well enough to get back in a sprint car again. It's unclear when he might race one, though — Monday's session at an unspecified location was "only a private test," according a tweet from Eddie Jarvis, Stewart's business manager. Jarvis tweeted the driver "has been waiting for several months to get back in a sprint car." USA Today