Tony Stewart admits his sprint car racing days may be over

Some six months on from his involvement in the accident that claimed the life of 20-year-old sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr., Tony Stewart says he still has no plans to drive a sprint car, and may not do so again.

In the aftermath of the accident, Stewart admitted that he planned to stay out of a sprint car cockpit for the forseeable future, but the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio's "Tony Stewart Live" this week that he just might make that self-imposed moratorium permanent.

"I'm not going to be in a sprint car for a while, if ever again," said Stewart who, in addition to the Ward tragedy, suffered a severely broken leg in a sprint car crash in August 2013 that curtailed his Sprint Cup season. Stewart owns dirt car teams as well as Eldora Speedway, and announced earlier this week that he was buying the All-Star Circuit of Champions traveling sprint car series. He indicated that such behind-the-scenes involvement might be the way he indulges his love of open-wheel racing from now on.

"This is a way to give back to the sport. I'm passionate about it," he said.

Last September, Stewart was cleared by a grand jury of criminal charges stemming from the death of Ward Jr. in the Aug. 9 sprint car incident in New York in which Ward was struck by Stewart's car.