Talking with the media and answering questions in a group setting Monday for the first time since his involvement in the Aug. 9 incident which resulted in the death of 20-year-old driver Kevin Ward Jr., Tony Stewart said he is willing to “be available” to talk to the grieving family of Ward.
But Stewart also insisted that the incident in which the sprint car he was driving in a non-NASCAR-sanctioned event struck and killed Ward on a dirt track in New York was an accident.
“I want to be available to them if they want to talk about it,” Stewart said of Ward’s family during a news conference at Stewart-Haas Racing, the company he co-owns with Gene Haas. “At this point, I don’t need to talk to them for closure. I know what happened, and I know it was an accident. But I’m offering to talk to them to help them, if it helps them with closure.”
At least three of Ward’s family members have reached out to various media outlets and suggested that Stewart was negligent in his actions the night of Aug. 9. But after all evidence from an extensive investigation by the Ontario County (N.Y.) Sheriff’s Department was turned over to a grand jury, it was announced last Wednesday that no criminal charges would be filed against Stewart.
Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo also said that Ward was under the influence of marijuana during the race. The incident occurred after Stewart had clipped Ward’s car, causing the younger driver to wreck – and Ward then climbed from his car and started walking down the track toward the racing groove as the rest of the cars, including Stewart’s, circled the track under caution. Stewart’s car struck Ward seconds later.
Stewart admitted that he has had a very difficult time emotionally, as far as handling what happened.
“I think the first three days that I was home (after it happened), I really didn’t do anything,” he said. “I didn’t get out of bed. I didn’t care if I took a shower. I left my room to go get food, and that you almost had to make yourself eat.
“In the first three or four days, I didn’t want to talk to anybody, didn’t want to see anybody. I just wanted to be by myself.”
Stewart did say that his return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, where he drives the No. 14 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing, has been somewhat therapeutic for him. He sat out three races after the Aug. 9 tragedy, but returned to NASCAR’s premier series at Atlanta on Aug. 31 and has participated in five races since then.
“We’ve been racing since Atlanta, obviously, but it’s not been business as usual by any means, and this is going to be a healing process for me,” Stewart said. “It makes you think about a lot of things other than driving race cars, but the one thing that’s probably helped me more than anything is being back at the racetrack and being around my racing family and remembering that I have a passion for what I do. So that’s probably helped me more than anything when it’s come to trying to make that next step forward.”
Even though he has had a life-long passion for racing sprint cars on dirt, Stewart admitted he is not certain he will ever race them again.
“I don’t know if or when I’ll ever get back in a sprint car again,” he said.
Stewart also said his brief time away from racing has given him time to reevaluate all aspects of his life. And to those who want to assign blame for what happened, he said that is a waste of time.
“To me, it’s worthless to pick sides,” Stewart said. “A young man lost his life, and I don’t care what side you’re on, it doesn’t change that. His family is in mourning. I’m in mourning. My family is in mourning. Picking sides isn’t solving or fixing anything.
“Instead of honoring a young man who had a promising racing career, people are picking sides and it’s like watching people throw darts at each other. It’s disappointing at this point, honestly, because instead of supporting each other – and the racing community is such a strong family – it’s dividing people that on a daily basis would (normally) help each other. There is no point in it.”
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