NASCAR: The Five Worst Wrecks Of Tony Stewart’s Career

No. 1 – Southern Iowa (2013)

The Start Of The End

Some people might believe that the accident in Upstate New York that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. should have been No. 1 on this list. Those people might not be wrong, but out of respect for everything that transpired that night and everything that has transpired since, we decided to leave that accident off of the list.

Instead, another accident on dirt takes the No. 1 spot and that is the dirt accident that took place in 2013 when Stewart broke his leg in Southern Iowa. The wreck was scary to watch and the fact that Stewart was not hurt even more is somewhat of a miracle. The wreck also was the start of a downward slide that Stewart has yet to be able to recover from.

The accident resulted in Stewart missing the remainder of the 2013 season, a season in which he was headed to the Chase. Stewart came back in 2014 at less than 100 percent due to the recovery process. 2014 got off to a slow start for Stewart and then the Ward Jr. accident happened. Stewart ran his first full season since 2012 in 2015. Despite running the full schedule, Stewart had the worst finish in his NASCAR career (in any season where he ran every race).

Stewart of course announced his retirement in 2015 (saying he would leave NASCAR after the 2016 season) only to have his final season put on hold following the sand dune accident in early February.

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The accident in Southern Iowa is not the reason for all of the struggles that have followed but it was certainly the start of what has been a road for Stewart.