Stewart hurt again in crash during Coke 600

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Melted bead in tire apparent cause; No. 20 won't return to track

CONCORD, N.C. -- Tony Stewart cut a right front tire heading into Turn 1 on Lap 35 and slammed the outside wall hard. The crash came just four laps before the team's first planned pit stop of the night.

Stewart remained in his car for several minutes after it came to a stop inside Turn 2, and he got out gingerly with assistance from trackside safety personnel. He held his right arm, injured Saturday night in a crash during the Busch Series race, as he walked to the ambulance.

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli had just asked for Stewart's opinion for changes during the upcoming stop when the accident occurred. Stewart turned down into Turn 1 and the car went straight to the outside wall.

Zipadelli said the bead apparently melted on the right front tire, which triggered Stewart's trip to the wall and ultimately, the hospital.

"We don't understand it," Zipadelli said. "The outside of the tire looked good; just the inside on the bead was torn up. We were just talking to him [when the accident occurred], and he was relaxed and confident. We were just making it good for later tonight."

Immediately upon hearing the news that Stewart was on his way to the infield care center and that the car would be towed back to the garage, Joe Gibbs Racing officials began locating Mike Bliss, who is the team's relief driver.

Team officials called Bliss to stand by in case Stewart was unable to shake off last night's injuries, and were planning to put him in the car if they got it fixed. Zipadelli said that wouldn't be the case.

"There's too much damage to the right front suspension," Zipadelli said. "We don't want to put him out there with the kind of load that the suspension takes here. We'll just go to Dover and catch up."

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update on stewart


CONCORD, N.C. - Tony Stewart is expected to start Sunday’s race at Dover, Del., but how many of the 400 laps he will attempt to complete remains in question.

Jimmy Makar, senior vice president for Joe Gibbs Racing, expressed confidence Stewart would be able to at least start the Dover race despite fracturing his right shoulder blade in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.

“If it’s anything like we saw with Bobby (Labonte in 1999), there isn’t much you can do for it. It’s more of a pain threshold type of thing,” Makar said.

The team has hired veteran Ricky Rudd as a relief driver for this weekend. He will practice and qualify Stewart’s No. 20 Chevrolet and substitute on Sunday if needed.

“It’s Tony. You know he’s going to try. We have to try to start the race for points, even if he gets out after a few laps,” Makar said. “I feel like he should be able to do that.”

Stewart is currently fourth in Cup points, 231 behind series leader Jimmie Johnson. Stewart is a two-time Nextel Cup champion, having won the title in 2002 and 2005.

"Tony's our driver and we'd love to have him in the car, but we want him to be 100 percent, not just for one race but for the rest of the season," said Greg Zipadelli, crew chief for the No. 20 team.

"We'll do what we have to do until he heals up. This is a strong race team that's no stranger to adversity, so I know we'll make the best of this situation at Dover and in the weeks to come."

Al Shuford, a certified athletic trainer formerly with the NFL's Carolina Panthers, will work with Stewart to get him ready for his limited participation at Dover and what is expected to be his full participation during the Nextel Cup race weekend at Pocono on June 11.

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ATLANTA -- Tony Stewart said on Wednesday that he'll likely drive only until the first caution in Sunday's Neighborhood Excellence 400, then hand off to back-up driver Ricky Rudd.

Stewart said during a sponsor appearance at an Atlanta-area Home Depot that he would run, "probably until the first caution and then we have Ricky Rudd lined up."

"When you're healthy it's a long 400-mile race, yet alone when you're dealing with an injury," Stewart said.

Stewart suffered a non-displaced fracture at the tip of his right scapula after hitting the wall in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. It's an injury that has been quite common in in recent years among NASCAR drivers. Stewart is at least the fourth different driver to suffer such an injury since 1998; Bobby Labonte, Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson each had similar fractures.

"It's not a freak deal," Stewart said.

Despite the injury, Stewart kept the scheduled appearance and seemed in good spirits, even removing his shoulder sling to take part in a brief remote-controlled car race.

He still won, of course. Stewart said it was the first time all week that he had been able to get out of the house.

The injury had kept Stewart out of a scheduled tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, with teammate J.J. Yeley filling in for him.

It is not known whether Rudd will be needed at Pocono on June 11, but Stewart said that he expects to be 100 percent healthy in six to eight weeks.

The key is avoiding a re-injury of the damaged shoulder.

"If I hit a wall, I have already got a fracture that is going to be re-aggravated or be a worse injury," Stewart said.

The injury came at a bad time for Stewart, who was caught up in several crashes in May. Ironically, Stewart also had to use a relief driver in his championship year of 2002 when he was badly bruised in a crash at Darlington.

With 400 daunting miles at the bumpy, steeply-banked mile at Dover on the docket for this weekend, Stewart knew he wouldn't be able to go the distance.

"Even if it was Pocono, I might not be able to make it the whole day," said Stewart. "I guess if you were going to have a weekend where you had to have it, this is not a good weekend to have it."

Once Stewart gets through Dover and Pocono, it considerably easier. Michigan's smooth, wide turns will be much less stressful of his shoulder, and Stewart said he should be fine by the time the circuits hits Sonoma for the season's first road-course race.

As long as don't re-injure this, we should be in good shape," Stewart said. "The last two days, I have noticed a big difference in getting [my] strength back."

To his great disappointment, Stewart said that he wouldn't be able to drive his own dirt car in Eldora, Ohio next week.

"We have our Prelude to a Dream at Eldora next weekend and I have got 20-plus guys coming up to run that race," said Stewart. "I was running a brand-new car and I was looking forward to doing it and I can't do that.

"It is just hard. The hard part is that you have got to sit there and do the things to protect the injury."

Labonte broke his right scapula during a Busch Series practice session in 1999, and he abstained from further Busch competition for four full seasons.

Stewart said he would get back into a Busch Series car as soon as he is healthy, and he has no qualms about risking injury by running those races.

"Trust me, I don't have any issues about getting back into a [Busch Series] car," said Stewart. "If you're worried about me getting hurt, they wouldn't let me get out of bed in the morning and they wouldn't let me drive to the shop.

"I can get hurt worse driving to the shop than I can getting into the racecar. If you look at how many races I've run and how many injuries in 27 years, it's a pretty good percentage. I have crashed more passenger cars than I have had injuries in racecars."

Even so, Stewart said he would like to see changes made to the current cocoon-like seat design, which heavily restricts driver movement in the car.

"The thing I have not liked with a lot of the new seat designs is that it does not let your arms have a lot of movement," said Stewart. "It's like having the wheel far away from you, and I like having the wheel close to me and being able to keep my elbows down.

"A lot of the new seat designs don't allow that kind of movement."