NASCAR Fans Vote Injured Driver/Owner Tony Stewart Onto ’14 Videogame Cover

NASCAR today announced that driver Tony Stewart "won a competition fueled by social media to appear on the cover of next year's NASCAR '14 video game," according to Jeff Gluck of USA TODAY. Stewart "beat Jeff Gordon in the final round with 69% of the vote." He had the "highest vote total in all five rounds of the bracket-style competition and never had less than 64% in any matchup."

That Stewart won "wasn't a huge surprise — Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn't eligible for the contest after appearing on last year's cover — but that he prevailed by such a large margin was notable." Even more impressive was "how Stewart accomplished the feat without having a personal presence on social media."

NASCAR VP/Licensing & Consumer Products Blake Davidson said, "We were shocked by the dominance and without him pushing himself." Deep Silver, which "took over the publishing of the game from Activision, plans to capitalize on Stewart's cover appearance with an aggressive promotional push." Though a release date has not been set for NASCAR '14, Deep Silver said that it will be "very early in the season." USA TODAY