“Nothing is going to change that tragedy”: When Tony Stewart made a clear remark about his broken leg’s involvement in his NASCAR retirement

When Tony Stewart retired following the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series season, a few of his fans thought it was due to him breaking his leg a few years ago. Some even thought that it was because of the emotional toll that he was suffering following the untimely demise of Kevin Ward Jr.

However, none of that turned to be true. Back in an interview from 2015, the four-time Cup Series champion explained that neither his broken leg nor the death of 20-year-old Ward played a role in his decision.

“Zero percent…not 1 percent of it has anything to do with it," Stewart said (via ESPN). "This is strictly what I want to do. My leg feels fine. There is nothing wrong with my leg. The tragedy, nothing is going to change that. It happened, but it's not going to direct the rest of my life.”

When asked if he would ever race again, Stewart said,

"I'm still going to race when I want to go race."

Following his retirement, Stewart shifted his focus to his brainchild, the Superstar Racing Experience, which he founded in 2020. He won the 2021 series championship and the 2023 event at Eldora Speedway. However, due to unfavorable market conditions, the series announced that it would not race in 2024.

Stewart currently races his wife Leah Pruett’s #14 Top Fuel Dragster in NHRA under the banner of Tony Stewart Racing. In his debut season, i.e., 2023, he ended up second with 636 points. Stewart and Pruett recently welcomed a baby boy, who they named Dominic James Stewart.

“We’re going to accomplish a lot”-Tony Stewart celebrates 25 years of Tony Stewart Racing

Tony Stewart during qualifying for the NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip - Source: Imagn

2025 is going to be Tony Stewart Racing’s 25th year of full-time competition in motorsports. Since its inception, Tony Stewart Racing, also known as TSR, has earned several accolades in sprint car races and drag racing events all over the country.

In just its debut season, TSR won the prestigious Knoxville Nationals, an event that Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson won this year. TSR also fields an NHRA dragster in the Top Fuel category and a Funny Car under its banner. Last year, Tony Stewart won Rookie of the Year as the driver of his wife’s dragster.

Looking back at the success of his team, the Columbus, Indiana native said Wednesday,

“When you hit a milestone like 25 years, you’re kind of forced to pause for a second and hit the pause button, look over you shoulder, look at what you’ve done. You sit back and look, ‘Wow.’ You don’t forget about it but your mindset’s always in front of you and not behind you. It’s nice to just take moment and look back and say we’ve had some really good moments in motorsports, and we’ve written records in history books that are going to last a long time.”

“There never was a real plan, I guess,” Stewart further stated. “We started the team, and we wanted to just win races and contend for championships. We never said, ‘25 years from now, we’re still going to be here and we’re going to accomplish a lot.’”

Throughout his illustrious career in NASCAR, Stewart amassed 62 victories, including 49 in the Cup Series, 11 in the Xfinity Series, and two in the Craftsman Truck Series. Notably, Tony Stewart is the only driver to have won a championship in NASCAR as well as in IndyCar.