Tony Stewart, using the streaming platform Periscope, talked to his fans ‘ and showed the six scars on his back ‘ while rehabbing on a treadmill Friday morning just prior to his Stewart-Haas Racing team conducting a news conference naming Brian Vickers as his replacement in the #14 Chevy for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. ‘We are doing much better,’ Stewart said during the Periscope chat with fans. ‘We’re starting to get the pain under control and just didn’t want everybody to think that while everybody was at Daytona today that I was sitting on my ass here in Charlotte. ‘¦ Walking feels pretty good for my back right now.’ Stewart talked briefly about his Jan. 31 ATV accident, saying he was left for two hours in the sand before his friends realized he was hurt. Jeff Gordon, Ray Evernham and Greg Biffle were among those with him on the trip. ‘I didn’t hit the wrong dune,’ Stewart said. ‘I just went over one and just nose-planted into the bottom of it. It was about a 20- to 25-foot drop. It wasn’t exactly what I had planned when I went over the lip of it. I didn’t think it was straight down on the other side. ‘¦ I’ve never been hurt so bad running 5 mph in my life.’ Neither Stewart nor his team has said how long he will be out. He likely will miss two to three months, according to doctors who said that would be the time it would take for a burst fracture of the L1 vertebra to heal. Stewart was emphatic that he would not return to race in 2017, as the three-time Sprint Cup champion already has announced this would be his final NASCAR season. ‘I’m not doing another season since this happened,’ Stewart said. ‘I made my decision, and that’s it.’ SHR executive vice president Brett Frood said Vickers is expected to do more races but there is the possibility of another driver getting in the seat before Stewart’s return.(ESPN)
