Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

As a Smokey fan, I guess it was wishing thinking Tony Stewart would heal quickly and, due to his obsession and need to race, would jump back into a car soon. After all, this weekend’s Sprint Cup Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen would’ve been his 522nd consecutive Cup race.

All those optimistic thoughts were quashed today with the news of his second surgery on his broken right leg – Stewart-Haas Racing said a metal rod was inserted inside his leg to straighten his broken tibia.

The three times Sprint Cup champion broke both his tibia and fibula in his right leg on Monday night in a sprint car race at Iowa Speedway. His first surgery following the crash was to just clean and stabilize the injury. Stewart-Haas Racing hasn’t named a driver beyond this weekend’s Watkins Glen, although Max Papis will drive Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet at the Cheez-It 355.

Stewart was 11th in the overall Sprint Cup standings with just five races to go before the Chase. It’s a real shame, as he has won at Watkins Glen five times, so there was a good chance for him to grab some points. What also annoyed me was the amount of fire he received for “ruining that opportunity for his team and his sponsors”.

The guy just wants to race; he can’t help it. It’s in his blood, and it seems his childhood idol A.J. Foyt agrees:

“He ain’t no prima donna and life is short, and we don’t know how we are going to die or what’s going to happen,” Foyt told Fox Sports. “I just hate to see anybody badmouth Tony for anything he’s doing. If they are worrying about their jobs and him getting hurt, what’s to say he won’t have a heart attack tomorrow and die?”

Tony can’t die; he’s indestructible … almost.

James Harris is a NASCAR writer for www.RantSports.com Follow or Like him at GarglingGas