Tony Stewart returned to racing Friday, and most of his peers were beyond pleased to welcome him back.
"I'm excited to have my friend back," Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga.
"I think everybody has obviously been concerned and wants to support Tony in every way possible. Everybody has waited to see when this day would be. Obviously, Tony knew when it was time for him to come back to the racetrack and be a part of getting in the car again. We'll support him and hopefully get him running again and have a good weekend."
Stewart has not raced since Aug. 9, when he was involved in a collision that killed 20-year-old Kevin Ward during a dirt track race in upstate New York. An investigation into the accident is ongoing.
Stewart was said by close friends and team employees to be under a heavy emotional toll since the incident, which became a national story and attracted international media to Georgia this week.
"As I've watched and been very frustrated through a lot of this, you get outside our core media and the perceptions are tough to see and listen to," Harvick said. "For me, it's very important for those people to understand that our sport is just like a lot of other sports. There's a lot of emotion involved in what we do. You see those highlight reels of people throwing stuff - in this case Tony throwing stuff, but you get in the heat of the moment and you can make that highlight reel for most of us. It's tough to see and hear the things that are being tossed that way toward him."
After skipping three Sprint Cup races, Stewart is returning for Sunday night's Oral-B USA 500.
"Trying to feel something normal again might feel good to him," teammate Danica Patrick said. "It was a tragic accident, so there's no timeline when you work through that.
"I don't think he'd be here if he didn't feel like he was ready." Reported by Click Orlando 4 hours ago.
"I'm excited to have my friend back," Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga.
"I think everybody has obviously been concerned and wants to support Tony in every way possible. Everybody has waited to see when this day would be. Obviously, Tony knew when it was time for him to come back to the racetrack and be a part of getting in the car again. We'll support him and hopefully get him running again and have a good weekend."
Stewart has not raced since Aug. 9, when he was involved in a collision that killed 20-year-old Kevin Ward during a dirt track race in upstate New York. An investigation into the accident is ongoing.
Stewart was said by close friends and team employees to be under a heavy emotional toll since the incident, which became a national story and attracted international media to Georgia this week.
"As I've watched and been very frustrated through a lot of this, you get outside our core media and the perceptions are tough to see and listen to," Harvick said. "For me, it's very important for those people to understand that our sport is just like a lot of other sports. There's a lot of emotion involved in what we do. You see those highlight reels of people throwing stuff - in this case Tony throwing stuff, but you get in the heat of the moment and you can make that highlight reel for most of us. It's tough to see and hear the things that are being tossed that way toward him."
After skipping three Sprint Cup races, Stewart is returning for Sunday night's Oral-B USA 500.
"Trying to feel something normal again might feel good to him," teammate Danica Patrick said. "It was a tragic accident, so there's no timeline when you work through that.
"I don't think he'd be here if he didn't feel like he was ready." Reported by Click Orlando 4 hours ago.