Tony Stewart still dealing with tragedy, personal setbacks

No driver owns more victories at Watkins Glen International than Tony Stewart, who holds five wins on the twisty road course located in Upstate New York. But Stewart hasn’t had the chance to add to that win total the past two seasons, as a pair of events outside of NASCAR have precluded the three-time Cup Series champion from racing at Watkins Glen.

On Aug. 5, 2013, Stewart badly broke his right tibia and fibula when he crashed in a dirt sprint-car race at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa. The injuries required multiple surgeries and kept him out of the car for six months until he returned in February for the 2014 season-opening Daytona 500.

And last August, five days following the one-year anniversary of breaking his leg, Stewart was involved in a far more tragic incident that claimed the life of a fellow driver.

While racing a sprint-car at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park, Stewart struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. The 20-year-old had just been in an incident with Stewart and was out of his car walking towards the racing surface when Stewart clipped Ward with the right rear wheel of his car.

“I’m trying not to think about it,” Stewart told reporters during a charity event Wednesday at Texas Motor Speedway. “Unfortunately, I have a feeling it is going to get brought up a lot this week. It doesn’t help you to move forward.”

An autopsy determined Ward died of “massive blunt trauma.” Stewart called the incident “100 percent an accident” and a New York grand jury absolved him of any wrongdoing when it elected not to bring charges. A toxicology report also found enough marijuana in Ward’s system at the time of his death to impair his judgement.

Ward’s death has had a profound effect on Stewart, who in the days and weeks afterward became a recluse. Except for eating and using the bathroom, he remained in bed ignoring calls, texts and other inquiries from friends regarding his wellbeing. He has not competed in a sprint-car race since Canandaigua, a dramatic departure for someone whose passion for dirt track was so intense that he used to barnstorm around the country racing multiple times per week.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be the same from what happened the last two years,” Stewart said. “I don’t how you could be. I don’t know how anybody ever could be back to exactly the way they were. But not being back exactly the same as I was doesn’t mean I can’t become better in some ways. I think there are always positives that come out of every scenario.”

Perhaps coincidentally, or perhaps not considering all he’s gone through personally, professionally and physically, Stewart’s on-track performance has waned considerably over the past 24 months.

His last Sprint Cup win occurred in June 2013, and currently he’s immersed in a career-worst season. Stewart has only two top-10 finishes through 20 races and resides 25th in the standings. Unless he can conjure a victory in the next five weeks, he will miss the Chase for the Sprint Cup for a third straight season.

Stewart, 44, dismisses any talk that his broken leg, age or Ward’s death are contributing to a dismal 2015 season that’s seen him lead a mere 14 laps and post an average finish of 24.2 -- nearly 12 positions worse than his career average entering the year.

The co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, which also fields Cup teams for Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick, says a bevy of rule changes, including a significant horsepower reduction, are the reasons for his struggles.

“The whole season has been frustrating,” Stewart said. “It’s been a doubled-edged sword because you’ve got two of your drivers (Harvick and Busch) running really well each week, then two of us aren’t where we want to be yet.

“On one side, it’s encouraging because you know that the organization is capable of doing it, and on the other side, you are frustrated because you can’t figure it out yourself.”

Stewart, though, is “optimistic” that a return to form will soon occur. Providing some semblance of hope is consecutive strong qualifying efforts the past two weeks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway that also saw Stewart run well on race day, including a ninth at Pocono.

“It’s been a decent couple of weeks,” Stewart said. “I think it’s a little early to pass judgment whether we got it figured out. But at least we qualified well the last couple of weeks, that’s been a bonus, definitely.”

To help get through his recent slump, Stewart thinks back to 2011. In that year, he went winless during the regular season, barely qualifying for the Chase. But when the playoffs started, a switch seemingly flipped, with Stewart winning five of 10 races to earn a third series championship.

“It’s never a guarantee and there is no guarantee that it will happen this time,” Stewart said. “You at least have that in the back of your mind that you have done it before and it can be done,” Stewart said. “It leaves you with the feeling that the rest of year is salvageable.”