It’s official, Tony Stewart will miss the start of his farewell NASCAR season.

The Stewart-Haas Racing team announced that Tony Stewart sustained a "burst fracture of the L1 vertebra." Stewart was involved in an ATV accident Sunday and was in surgery on Wednesday. In an exclusive with NBC Sports, Don Prudhomme says that he and Stewart were riding with Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Ray Evernham and Rusty Wallace when he got separated from the group and involved in the accident.

Tony Stewart
From Flickr user TequilaMike
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Initial reports said that Stewart flipped his ATV, however its now been confirmed that Stewart just landed hard after catching air. The group riding with Stewart said that he was missing for about an hour and a half before they found him. Stewart was able to remove himself from the ATV and was moving his arms and legs when he was found.

A replacement driver for Stewart has not been named yet.

Stewart remains hospitalized in North Carolina.

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