Tony Stewart to return from back injury this weekend at Richmond

Tony Stewart will return from a serious back injury and make his season debut this weekend at Richmond International Raceway, the NASCAR champion revealed in a Twitter post Thursday morning.

Stewart suffered a burst fracture of his L1 vertebra in an all-terrain vehicle accident Jan. 31 that saw his dune buggy inadvertently go off a 20- to 25-foot drop. The three-time Cup Series champion and co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, who already announced he would retire at the end of the 2016 season, missed the opening eight races, including the Daytona 500, while recovering.

“I appreciate everyone’s patience and all the support they’ve given me the last couple of months, but the best medicine will come this weekend at Richmond when I finally get to go racing,” Stewart said in a statement.

Throughout the rehabilitation process, Stewart repeatedly said that there was no timetable on when he would return and would only do so upon doctors declaring him 100 percent healthy. Because of the severity of the injury he was expected to miss considerable time, with medical experts telling SB Nation a best-case scenario would be a return sometime early summer.

But Stewart said Thursday doctors were surprised by his most recent scan.

“As soon as the doctors said they were happy with my scans, I wasn’t going to wait any longer to get back in my race car,” Stewart said. “I want to make the most of my last season in Sprint Cup, and I’ve been on the sidelines long enough.”

Brian Vickers and Ty Dillon substituted for Stewart during his absence, with Vickers set to drive at Richmond. Dillon will continue as a standby for the May 1 event at Talladega Superspeedway, as Stewart will only start the race before giving way to Dillon due to the track’s propensity for violent multi-car wrecks. After Sunday’s race, Stewart will also take part in a Goodyear tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“We’re taking a strategic approach to my return,” Stewart said. “Richmond is a track where I feel very comfortable and because it’s a short track, the speeds are substantially less. The Goodyear test in Indy is sort of a controlled environment, allowing me to get more acclimated with my car at higher speeds. We’ll start the Talladega race to get the points, but understanding the style of racing and the higher potential of getting involved in an incident, we thought it was best to minimize the amount of time I’m in the car. I’ll return full-time at Kansas and enjoy every moment I can in my final year of Sprint Cup.”

Because Stewart did not attempt every Cup race he required a waiver to be eligible to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. NASCAR granted that exemption shortly after Stewart’s tweet declaring his return to competition. To earn one of 16 spots in NASCAR’s playoff, Stewart must win a regular season race and rank 30th or better in points after 26 events.

Kyle Busch received the same waiver after missing 11 races last season, and Stewart got one when he missed three races in 2014. Busch ended up making the Chase on the strength of four victories, while Stewart failed to qualify. Stewart last won a Cup race June 2013 at Dover International Speedway.

“NASCAR received the appropriate medical clearance documentation allowing Tony Stewart to resume normal racing activities,” NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell said in a release. “We also have granted the request from Stewart-Haas Racing for a waiver for Tony to be eligible to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

“As he begins his final season, we wish Tony the best of luck.”