Stewart ready for Daytona, no standby driver planned

Tony Stewart

Rhonda McCole/AR1.com

Tony Stewart will not have a driver on standby this weekend at Daytona International Speedway as he plans to get back in a racecar for the first time since breaking two bones in his right leg in August.

Stewart, whose leg was punctured by a front-end piece of the sprint car he crashed when trying to avoid another vehicle in an Aug. 5 race at Southern Iowa Speedway, has estimated that his leg will be 65 percent healed when practice starts Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

The three-time Cup champion has had three surgeries to repair his leg, including one where an aluminum rod was inserted. After undergoing intensive therapy, Stewart expects his leg should have the full strength he needs to race.

The 42-year-old Stewart will have 105 minutes of practice Friday for the Sprint Unlimited, a 75-lap race Saturday night. Teams also have nearly four hours of practice Saturday for Daytona 500 qualifying, which is scheduled for Sunday. Stewart will then have two days off before a full schedule of Cup practices and races leading into the Feb. 23 Daytona 500.

A Stewart-Haas Racing spokesman said that the team has no standby driver tapped for the weekend. Mark Martin, who insists he won’t race again, tested for Stewart last month.

“I’ve had to sit through the end of last season and the whole offseason, so I feel like I could get in a car right now and go race," Stewart said in a Stewart-Haas Racing news release. “So, there’s isn’t any anxiety as far as what’s going to happen, it’s more about being anxious to get started and get going again. I think that probably will override any pain that may exist."

To help get him ready to race, Stewart's team built a module that includes a seat, a steering wheel, steering column and pedals for Stewart, who would sit and hold the pedal down for 20 minutes to simulate the pressure of having his foot on the throttle.

“Fortunately, we’re not in a situation where I’ve got to do 100-yard sprints," Stewart said. “If we had to do that ,we’d be in a lot different situation. I’ll still have to deal with G-forces, vibrations and all of the things that a racecar driver navigates.

“We obviously won’t know exactly how the leg will respond and the amount of pain there may be until I’m in the car for the practice session before the Sprint Unlimited. Those are variables we still don’t know yet, but the stuff that we’re doing in therapy, it’s very encouraging." Sporting News