stewart
Tony Stewart broke his right tibia and fibula Monday night in a sprint car wreck at Iowa. Stewart will miss his first Cup race since 1998. Creative Commons

NASCAR racer Tony Stewart broke his leg when he wrecked his sprint car during a race at the Southern Iowa Speedway Monday night. Stewart was leading the 30-lap race in Oskaloosa when the multi-car incident with a lapped car occurred.

Bad news never has good timing. However, the timing of the crash Monday night is downright awful as it has caused the three-time Sprint Cup Series Champion to break his right tibia and fibula just ahead of the Watkins Glen weekend. Tony Stewart will miss Tuesday testing at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the team will have to look for a replacement driver ahead of Watkins Glen as well as a a number of races that follow. While Stewart is currently 11th in the Sprint Cup Championship standings, his chances of taking another title this year are slim to none.

"It looked like he got into a lapped car," race winner Brian Brown told The Des Moines Register. "When I got close, he was flipping cage down. I didn't really have time to watch and see what was going on."

The sprint car crash in Iowa on Monday night marks Tony Stewart's third wreck in the last 30 days. Last week, Stewart was involved in another crash while fighting for the lead at Ohsweken Speedway of Ontario, Canada.

Given the frequency of Stewart's mishaps lately, the racing driver has been dealing with a good deal of criticism from media and fans. Following the crash in Canada, reporters asked Tony Stewart whether he should continue his dangerous extracurricular activities. The racing driver responded:

"You mortals have got to learn, you guys need to watch more sprint car videos and stuff. It was not a big deal. It's starting to get annoying this week about that. That was just an average sprint car wreck. When they wreck, they get upside down like that."

Despite Tony Stewart's recent series of wrecks, it should be noted that Stewart is one of the most consistent racing drivers on the Sprint Cup grid. The upcoming race at Watkins Glen will be the first Cup race that Tony Stewart will miss after an remarkable series of 521 consecutive starts dating back to 1998.

Watch the videos below to learn more about Tony Stewart's crash in Iowa: