Clint Bowyer never considered replacing Tony Stewart after injury

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Clint Bowyer said replacing the injured Tony Stewart in the No. 14 Chevrolet was never a consideration for this season. He’ll finish his one-year stop-gap campaign at HScott Motorsports, he said, and then replace the retiring three-time Sprint Cup champion next season at Stewart-Haas Racing.

“How would you ever make that happen twelve days before the season, before you’re going to be racing at Daytona?” Bowyer pondered on Tuesday at NASCAR media day. “And furthermore, I wanted Tony to come back. I’m glad that he chose to come back and however many races that is, we need him here and I want him to come back and get back to his running up front and winning ways.”

Ty Dillon ties could put him in the No. 14

Stewart sustained a burst fracture in the L1 vertebrae in his back in an ATV accident on Southern California sand dunes, requiring surgery and rehabilitation that will force him out for an undetermined amount of time. Brian Vickers is replacing Stewart at Speedweeks but a longer-term replacement has not been announced.

Bowyer knew something was afoot when he began fielding inquiries about a possible Stewart injury Feb. 4.

“It was weird,” he said. “I heard about it though a friend and I was like, I said, ‘I don’t know,” and he kept saying, ‘Bull crap, I know you know. This is big.’"

Experts anticipate long, difficult recovery for Tony Stewart

Bowyer assured his friend he was unawares, then began a conversation with some co-workers in the race shop, asking if they had seen any such reports on Twitter.

“And 30 seconds later Zippy texts me: ‘Hey, can you take a call?’,” he said, referring to SHR competition director Greg Zipadelli. “And I was like “It’s serious.”

Follow James on Twitter @brantjames

PHOTOS: Behind the wheel with Clint Bowyer