Brian Vickers has been tabbed as Tony Stewart’s replacement in the No. 14 Chevrolet for the Sprint Unlimited and the Daytona 500, Stewart-Haas Racingannounced on Friday at Daytona International Speedway.
NASCAR Executive Vice President & Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Thursday that the No. 14 was eligible to run Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited (8:15 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), even though Stewart would not be behind the wheel.
Vickers, who was medically cleared by NASCAR, will work with first-year crew chief Mike Bugarewicz at Daytona. Bugarewicz will lead the No. 14 team after spending the past two seasons as a race engineer for the No. 4 team of Kevin Harvick.
Vickers drove the No. 55 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing in two races (March races at Las Vegas and Phoenix) in 2015. The 32-year-old had missed two races to start the year following surgery in December of 2014 to repair a patch covering a hole in his heart. A recurrence of blood clots found before the Fontana event last March kept him out of the car for the remainder of the season. Health issues also sidelined the driver in 2010 (blood clots in his leg and lungs) and 2013 (blood clot in his right calf).
The Thomasville, North Carolina native has three career Sprint Cup wins, with the most recent coming in July 2013 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when Rodney Childers (currently at SHR as Harvick’s crew chief) was atop Vickers’ pit box. In 318 Cup starts, Vickers has driven for Hendrick Motorsports (2003-2006), Red Bull Racing (2007-2011), Michael Waltrip Racing (2012-2015) and Joe Gibbs Racing(2013, three starts filling in for the injured Denny Hamlin).
Stewart, a three-time NASCAR premier series champion, will miss the beginning of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season after suffering severe back injuries last month in an all-terrain vehicle accident. According to Stewart-Haas officials, no timetable has been set for Stewart to resume competition, but he is expected to make a full recovery and return to the driver’s seat of his No. 14 Chevrolet this season.
Last week, SHR announced Stewart suffered a burst fracture of his first lumbar (L1) vertebra — the uppermost bone in the lower back — in the Jan. 31 accident on the West Coast. The incident came one day after the driver attended the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Stewart was evaluated at a local hospital and was awake, alert and able to move all extremities, according to the SHR release. He was flown back to the Charlotte, North Carolina area on Feb. 2 and admitted to a hospital. Stewart underwent surgery on Feb. 3, according to the team.
The 2016 campaign marks Stewart’s final season in the sport’s top series. Clint Bowyer has been tapped as Stewart’s replacement in 2017 after a one-year stint this season with HScott Motorsports.
