Stewart bows out of Knoxville Nationals

Two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Tony Stewart will not race in the Knoxville Late Model Nationals, which runs Thursday through Saturday in Knoxville Iowa.

He will however sign autographs for the first 750 fans to fill Knoxville Raceway's grandstands for Saturday's championship show.

"As much as I wanted to race in the Late Model Nationals at Knoxville, I thought it would take away my main focus of winning a Nextel Cup championship," Stewart, who will compete in Sunday's Cup race at Kansas Speedway, said in a news release Monday night. "We have over 400 people back at Joe Gibbs Racing pouring everything they have into giving me the best race cars possible to win a third championship. I owe it to them to remain healthy and focused on achieving that goal."