Stewart Breaks Shoulder Blade

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Stewart Breaks Shoulder Blade
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Tony Stewart sustained a fracture of his right scapula in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race when a flat right front tire sent his No. 20 Chevrolet into the SAFER barrier on the outside retaining wall of turn one. Stewart was running in the 25th position when the accident happened on lap 33 of the 400-lap race. According to doctors at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., a CT scan revealed a minimally displaced fracture at the tip of the right scapula. Stewart is scheduled to meet with Joe Gibbs Racing's team physicians on Tuesday for further evaluation. An update on Stewart's condition will be provided following that evaluation. ...Daily Headlines

From Insider

POOR TONY! {{{{{GENTLE HUGS}}}}}
 
He's pretty tough, though.
It may bother him in the car, (especially if he gets in the wall again), but I don't think it will affect his driving.
 
he's spliting the ride with bliss for the next 3 or 4 races is what i heard..for good reason

Dover- physical, wall is right there, ask labonte (i think?)
Pocono- no hit is a soft hit. Ask schrader or park (or JR)
infineon- bad right arm + road course = driver change lap 5
 
I remember hearing Junior talk about the pain of a broken scapula when he was running in the Busch series --- that is some serious pain Tony is going to have to endure.
 
Bucky Badger said:
So YOU want to be a Busch Wacker........Thats what can happen....
Click to expand...
what my dad was saying..

"If i was Joe Gibbs, i'd be tellin tony, 'you aint gettin back in that 33 under my watch'"
 
I'm surprised that Stewert didn’t blame the wall for jumping out in front of him.
 
SO, who wants to wager that Tony will at least TRY to get in the car for Dover?
 
he's gonna try, no way he's gonna lose the points. He'll prolly qualify the car and maybe go the first stint or 2 then hand it over.
 
I Thought that it had already been decided that Bliss was going to share seat time with him?
 
I don't like the guy but I think he will drive until he can't stand the pain any longer. He could go the entire race as long as he does not get into anyone or anything. Thats tough to do at Dover for anybody though.
 
LOL, Kam...............now that's stretching it some!!!!! LOL
 
UPDATE: Tony Stewart will start Sunday's Neighborhood Excellence 400 at Dover International Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing President J.D. Gibbs said Tuesday afternoon. Gibbs said during a break of the test of the "car of tomorrow" that the team would release an official statement later in the day updating the condition of Stewart, who broke his shoulder blade in a crash during the Coca-Cola 600 last Sunday. "He's definitely sore, no doubt about it," Gibbs said. "We'll know more here in a little bit." JGR Senior Vice President Jimmy Makar said the team is looking at its options and has a short list of drivers available if needed to spell Stewart this weekend. Mike Bliss, a former JGR driver, is on that list. Bliss was at the track Sunday in case Stewart had to get out of the car from beings sore as a result of a Busch Series accident. "Usually an injury like that comes from the seat, and the design of the area of the seat, we're looking at that to see if there is anything we can do or something that needs to be given some attention," Makar said. "Bobby [Labonte] sustained an injury at Darlington years ago, a lot worse than Tony's. We think we know what it is, and we're going to address that area to see if we can get some more support under the shoulder." The accident, coming on the heels of a hard accident the day before in the Busch Series event, was the result of a bead melting in the tire. The outside of the tire was fine as far as temperature, Makar said. "That's something we see on occasion at short tracks - we use a lot of brakes and get a lot of brake heat," Makar said. "For a speedway like this, that's a really odd thing to see. Tony said he wasn't using an excessive amount of brake compared to what he has done here in the past. We're kind of shaking our heads a little bit about why that happened, where that heat came from."(SceneDaily.com) and hearing reports that Ricky Rudd is being considered as an option to drive the #20 Powerade Chevy at Dover.(5-30-2006)
 
AND from Nascar.com


Stewart will start Dover despite shoulder injury
Rudd to qualify No. 20, take over in race if Cup champ can't continue
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
May 30, 2006
06:17 PM EDT (22:17 GMT)




CONCORD, N.C. -- Tony Stewart plans to start Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Dover International Speedway after breaking his shoulder blade during multiple crashes last weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"That's Tony,'' said Jimmy Makar, the senior vice president for Joe Gibbs Racing during Tuesday's Car of Tomorrow' test at LMS. "We've got to try to start the race for points, even if he just gets out after a few laps.


Tony Stewart and JGR will turn to Ricky Rudd for assistance at Dover. Credit: Autostock

Inside the Numbers
Ricky Rudd at Dover

Starts 55
Wins 4
Top-5s 14
Top-10s 26
Poles 4
DNFs 13
Avg. Start 13.0
Avg. Finish 13.9


"I feel like he should be able to do that.''

Rick Rudd, who has won four Cup races at Dover, will practice and qualify Stewart's No. 20 Chevrolet. He will be on standby to relieve the reigning Cup champion, who gets all points toward the driver's championship by starting.

"Tony's injury is unfortunate, and we are going to do everything we can to get him healed up quickly,'' said J.D. Gibbs, president of JGR. "Tony is as tough as they come, but we aren't going to take any chances on making his situation worse.

"We're very appreciative of Ricky Rudd. He's a proven winner who will allow us to stay in contention for the championship.''

Stewart fell from second to fourth in points after leaving Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 following a Lap 33 crash in which he hit the wall hard after his right front tire blew. He was taken to a Charlotte hospital, where doctors determined the tip of the right scapula was fractured.

Stewart was re-evaluated on Tuesday by Dr. Jerry Petty, a neurosurgeon used by many NASCAR teams. Petty said no surgery will be required.

Makar said X-rays determined the fracture likely occurred on Saturday night when Stewart crashed in the Busch Series race.

A NASCAR official said the fracture likely occurred because Stewart carried more padding in the rib area than the shoulder harness area.

"Usually an injury like that comes from the seat, the design of that area of the seat when he was hit hard on the right side,'' Makar said. "We think we know what it is. We're gonna see if we can get more support on the shoulder instead of the side of the ribs and under the shoulder area.''

This isn't the first time a JGR driver has performed with this type of injury. Bobby Labonte drove the week after breaking his shoulder blade in a Busch race at Darlington in 1999.

"If it's anything like what we saw with Bobby it's more of a pain threshold type of thing,'' said Makar, whose driver went from 93 to 231 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

"As long as he can sustain the pain and we can get local medicine to deaden that area of the back, he'll be OK to drive.''

JGR trainer Al Shuford, formerly with the Carolina Panthers, will be on hand to assist Stewart.

"Basically, we're just going to work with Tony to make him comfortable,'' Shuford said. "As Dr. Petty said, Tony's injury is something that only time and rest can heal.

"But we can help speed up that timetable with a rehabilitation program specific to his injury and his profession.''

Jeff Burton, testing at LMS, said Dover may be the worst track to go with Stewart's injury.

"He'll find a way to do it,'' Burton said of Stewart. "Tony's a tough guy and whatever you want to say about Tony, you can't say he's not a tough guy. Can't say he's not a real racer. He will find a way to do it.''

Asked if such injuries are cause to re-evaluate letting Cup drivers compete in Busch races, Makar laughed and said, "If it was up to Joe [Gibbs] he would have all of his drivers driving the Cup events, period.''
 
Hopefully he won't need help in & out of the car like Martin did years back w/ the broken ribs?.... He may need the entire pit crew to pull that off....maybe Home Depot would donate a fork lift ???
 
They could put in a roof hatch and get him out that way.
Also, I'm betting Lowe's is fast becoming one of his least favorite tracks...All Star Race-wrecked, Busch-wrecked, and 600-wrecked. It's a good thing he didn't run the Trucks as well. He could have gone 4 for 4.
 
Ricky doesn't have any recent seat time though, going to speculate here that Rudd is planning to maybe get in some practice for a certain ride at the end of the season? His name has been mentioned in association with the 88 UPS ride.
 
ATLANTA -- Tony Stewart said on Wednesday that he'll likely drive only until the first caution in Sunday's Neighborhood Excellence 400, then hand off to back-up driver Ricky Rudd.

Stewart said during a sponsor appearance at an Atlanta-area Home Depot that he would run, "probably until lthe first cautuon and then we have Ricky Rudd lined up.


Tony Stewart is assisted to the ambulance. Credit: AP


Bad monthTony Stewart is pulled out of his car after hitting the wall hard
NASCAR TodayTony Stewart gets evaluated after a double-whammy weekend
Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836 HEADLINES
• Stewart crashes for second consecutive day at Lowe's


• Stewart injured in Busch Series accident at Lowe's


"When you're healthy it's a long 400-mile race, yet alone when you're dealing with an injury," Stewart said.

Stewart suffered a non-displaced fracture at the tip of his right scapula after hitting the wall in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. It's an injury that has been quite common in in recent years among NASCAR drivers. Stewart is at least the fourth different driver to suffer such an injury since 1998; Bobby Labonte, Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson each had similar fractures.

"It's not a freak deal," Stewart said.

Despite the injury, Stewart kept the scheduled appearance and seemed in good spirits, even removing his shoulder sling to take part in a brief remote-controlled car race.

He still won, of course, and he proved to be adept at signing autographs left-handed. Stewart said it was the first time all week that he had been able to get out of the house.

The injury had kept Stewart out of a scheduled tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, with teammate J.J. Yeley filling in for him.

It is not known whether Rudd will be needed at Pocono on June 11, but Stewart said that he expects to be 100 percent healthy in six to eight weeks.

The key is avoiding a re-injury of the damaged shoulder.

"If I hit a wall, I have already got a fracture that is going to be re-aggravated or be a worse injury," Stewart said.

The injury came at a bad time for Stewart, who was caught up in several crashes in May. Ironically, Stewart also had to use a relief driver in his championship year of 2002 when he was badly bruised in a crash at Darlington.

With 400 daunting miles at the bumpy, steeply-banked mile at Dover on the docket for this weekend, Stewart knew he wouldn't be able to go the distance.

"Even if it was Pocono, I might not be able to make it the whole day," said Stewart. "I guess if you were going to have a weekend where you had to have it, this is not a good weekend to have it."

Once Stewart gets through Dover and Pocono, it considerably easier. Michigan's smooth, wide turns will be much less stressful of his shoulder, and Stewart said he should be fine by the time the circuits hits Sonoma for the season's first road-course race.


Tony Stewart and JGR will turn to Ricky Rudd for assistance at Dover. Credit: Autostock

Inside the Numbers
Ricky Rudd at Dover

Starts 55
Wins 4
Top-5s 14
Top-10s 26
Poles 4
DNFs 13
Avg. Start 13.0
Avg. Finish 13.9


"As long as don't re-injure this, we should be in good shape," Stewart said. "The last two days, I have noticed a big difference in getting [my] strength back."

To his great disappointment, Stewart said that he wouldn't be able to drive his own dirt car in Eldora, Ohio next week.

"We have our Prelude to a Dream at Eldora next weekend and I have got 20-plus guys coming up to run that race," said Stewart. "I was running a brand-new car and I was looking forward to doing it and I can't do that.

"It is just hard. The hard part is that you have got to sit there and do the things to protect the injury."

Labonte broke his right scapula during a Busch Series practice session in 1999, and he abstained from further Busch competition for four full seasons.

Stewart said he would get back into a Busch Series car as soon as he is healthy, and he has no qualms about risking injury by running those races.

"Trust me, I don't have any issues about getting back into a [Busch Series] car," said Stewart. "If you're worried about me getting hurt, they wouldn't let me get out of bed in the morning and they wouldn't let me drive to the shop.

"I can get hurt worse driving to the shop than I can getting into the racecar. If you look at how many races I've run and how many injuries in 27 years, it's a pretty good percentage. I have crashed more passenger cars than I have had injuries in racecars."

Even so, Stewart said he would like to see changes made to the current cocoon-like seat design, which heavily restricts driver movement in the car.

"The thing I have not liked with a lot of the new seat designs is that it does not let your arms have a lot of movement," said Stewart. "It's like having the wheel far away from you, and I like having the wheel close to me and being able to keep my elbows down.

"A lot of the new seat designs don't allow that kind of movement."
 
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