Three-time Sprint Cup champ healthy after restful offseason
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Two years removed from an accident that left him with a shattered right leg, and less than six months after another on-track incident took the life of a fellow racer, Tony Stewart said his desire to race "is probably stronger than it's ever been."
"I'm not happy about the last two years of my life by any means," Stewart said during Tuesday's Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom. "It's given me more drive and desire to go back and get back to the old form that our fans and our sponsors are used to seeing. I'm looking forward to it. This is probably the most prepared I've been in awhile for a season to start."
Stewart, a three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, missed the final 15 races of the 2013 season after breaking his leg in an accident during a sprint car race in Iowa.
Following multiple surgeries, Stewart, 43, returned in time for the 2014 season, and competed in the first 21 points races before tragedy struck again. This time Stewart wasn't injured, but fellow racer Kevin Ward Jr. died from injuries sustained when he was struck by Stewart's car during a non-NASCAR race in New York.
Stewart sat out three NASCAR races following the incident before returning to complete the remainder of the season. An investigation into Ward's death cleared Stewart of any criminal wrongdoing.
For the second year in a row, Stewart hopes to begin rebuilding a career just as doctors rebuilt his right leg.
Tuesday, the limp was hardly noticeable and Stewart said the leg feels "much better."
That, and the fact that he spent a portion of his offseason at home relaxing rather than competing in non-NASCAR affiliated races has helped.
"Normally during the offseason I go to a couple of races, especially through the holidays," he said. "I just stayed home and relaxed and enjoyed time with my family and friends.
Racing wasn't totally off his radar, however. During this month's Chili Bowl Nationals, one of the year's largest sprint car events, Stewart provided his services to work with the track's "grounds crew." He spent long hours helping groom and prepare the racing surface each day.
"My leg hurt," he said, "but it was sore from being on my feet all day. It wasn't pain (related to the injury).
"Physically, even after the (Dec. 1) surgery, this is the best I've felt since the accident happened two years ago."
But can Stewart, the winner of 48 Sprint Cup races return to the form that helped make him one of the most successful drivers of the past decade and a half? His last victory came early in the '13 season, at Dover, Delaware, and the late-summer problems resulted in his missing NASCAR's last two championship playoffs, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
"I really haven't seen much difference externally," SHR co-owner Gene Haas said of Stewart. "He looks like the same Tony that I've always known. He's always enthusiastic. I think he really loves racing so that makes up for a lot of ... the pain that he's gone through."
Stewart is one of five full-time drivers in the series 40 or older. Six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson will turn 40 later this year while defending series champ Kevin Harvick turns 40 in December.
"I've never questioned who I am and what I do," he said. "We've had two rough years back to back; I would never wish that on anybody. Deep down inside, I know who I am as a person and I know who I am as a driver. That's what I want to get back to.
"That's what makes the start of 2015 so exciting for me. It's flipping the page and getting ready to get focused again on what we love doing."