NASCAR driver Tony Stewart looking to turn the page

For Tony Stewart, there is no other option.

No looking back; only focus on what’s ahead.

“I’m not happy with the last two years of my life, by any means,” said Stewart on Tuesday, the second day of the Charlotte Motor Speedway NASCAR Media Tour. “It’s given me my drive and desire to get back to the old form that our fans and our sponsors are used to seeing. This is the most prepared I’ve been for a season.”

That’s not good news for his competitors.

A three-time Cup series champion, Stewart seems determined to cash in on some of the same success enjoyed last season by Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick, who won his first series championship.

“Kevin winning the championship means we have the tools in place to have that kind of success, and it’s a matter of putting the magic together,” Stewart said.

“There’s definitely room for improvement on the other teams, and that’s what we tried to do in the offseason, to bring the standard of those three teams up to what Kevin has done.”

No one at SHR expects to replicate the results overnight, particularly with NASCAR implementing a new aerodynamic rules package.

A season without incident would be a welcome change for Stewart, however.

Fresh off a three-win season and ninth-place finish in the 2012 standings, Stewart appeared headed to another berth in the 2013 Chase when he broke his right leg in two places in a sprint car accident in August.

He missed the rest of the season, and his recovery has included several surgeries and extensive rehabilitation.

He was cleared to drive just in time for the start of the 2014 season, which he began with a new crew chief, Chad Johnston, and the duo got off to a slow start.

Then late in the summer, Stewart again faced a possible career-changing crisis.

At a dirt track in upstate New York on Aug. 9, a sprint car driven by Stewart struck and killed driver Kevin Ward Jr., who was walking on the track while the race was under caution. Stewart elected to sit out the next three Cup races.

He returned to action Aug. 31 at Atlanta, and on Sept. 24 a grand jury declined to indict him in the incident.

“This will affect my life forever,” Stewart said at the time of his return to racing. “This is a sadness and a pain I hope no one ever has to experience in their life.”

In the weeks afterward, Stewart and his No. 14 Chevrolet team slowly began to regain some semblance of consistent performance on the track.

Since the New York incident, Stewart has refrained from racing sprint cars, typically one of his favorite distractions from NASCAR.

Even without being in a car, Stewart said he has enjoyed his offseason, which included helping to prepare the track at the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla.

“This is physically the best I’ve felt since my accident, and I’ve enjoyed being on the road the last few weeks, being at race tracks and seeing friends,” said Stewart, who still has one surgery required on his leg.

“I’ve never questioned who I am and what I do. We’ve had two rough years back to back, and I don’t think I’d wish that on anybody. Deep down inside I know who I am as a person, and I know who I am as a driver, and that’s what I want to get back to.

“That’s what makes the start of the 2015 season so exciting to me – flipping the page.”

This story was originally published January 27, 2015 at 6:08 PM with the headline "NASCAR driver Tony Stewart looking to turn the page."