The highly anticipated Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway kicks off the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season today -- but Tony Stewart won't climb into his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing race car.
Instead, it will be Brian Vickers climbing into 'Smoke's' Chevrolet for the sport's premier event.
Stewart injured his back in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Jan. 31 and underwent surgery for a burst fracture days later. This would have marked Stewart's last "Great American Race," as he will retire from Sprint Cup racing after the 2016 season.
The three-time Cup champion spoke to FOX broadcasters via telephone on Sunday before the race.
"It's the biggest race of the year and this was my last attempt to try to win the Daytona 500 so to be laying in bed in Charlotte is not the way I wanted to be spending this day, for sure," Stewart said. "Honestly, every day just keeps getting better and better. I'm getting stronger and getting more mobile."
"The last week and a half, I've been racing R/C cars a couple times and doing some stuff where I'm getting out and walking a lot, but the weird thing is the doctors want me laying on my back or walking. They don't want me sitting or standing. They want me either laying down or walking, so it's kind of hard to find many things that are in between there that aren't sitting or standing. But I walk on the treadmill, just walking around, I mean that's the stuff that I'm enjoying right now.
"It's like I told somebody a couple times ago, we've been through a lot worse than this. It's honestly just another bump in the road."