NASCAR Driver Tony Stewart Missing the Start of the Race Season With Back Injury

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Tony Stewart will miss the start of his final NASCAR season after fracturing his back in a nonracing accident.

Stewart-Haas Racing said the three-time NASCAR champion sustained a “burst fracture of the L1 vertebra” when he crashed on an all-terrain vehicle Sunday. He had surgery Wednesday.

An interim driver was not named Thursday. Drivers report to Daytona in one week for the season-opening Daytona 500.

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