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Tony Stewart hospitalized with back injury

Tony Stewart (AP)
Tony Stewart (AP)

Tony Stewart was hospitalized after suffering a back injury in an accident on Sunday, according to Stewart-Haas Racing.

A team spokesman said that Stewart was injured in an all-terrain vehicile on the West Coast, according to multiple reports.

A team statement Tuesday afternoon said the three-time Sprint Cup Series champion was transported to a hospital and is currently under evaluation. He is able to move all extremities and is awake and alert. SHR will give an update on Stewart's status Thursday afternoon.

Stewart, 44, has already announced he is retiring at the end of the 2016 season, which begins on Feb. 21 with the Daytona 500, a race he's never won. He's 0-for-17 in the 500.

Now his status for NASCAR's biggest race appears in doubt.

Stewart is scheduled to compete in The Sprint Unlimited on February 13. Qualifying for the front row of the Daytona 500 is the next day and the qualifying races for the race are on Feb. 18.

"On behalf of everyone at NASCAR, I wish Tony a full recovery and look forward to seeing him back in our sport when he’s ready to return," NASCAR CEO Brian France said in a statement.

It's been a tumultuous last three years for Stewart. He missed the last 15 races of the 2013 season after he broke his right leg in a sprint car accident that August. He missed three races in 2014 after he was involved in an August dirt track accident in upstate New York when he struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. Stewart was not criminally charged in Ward's death and the Ward family brought a civil lawsuit against Stewart in 2015.

Last season was the worst of Stewart's illustrious career. While he ran all the races for the first time in three seasons, he had just three top-10 finishes and led 24 laps as he struggled with a Sprint Cup Series reduction in horsepower.

He's scheduled to be replaced by Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 car in 2017.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!