NASCAR Sprint Cup owner-driver Tony Stewart was expansive on a number of topics this week, with one noteworthy exception.
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Ferdo Mikul via YouTube Kevin Ward Jr.is seen getting out of his vehicle to try and confront Tony Stewart.
The civil lawsuit alleges that Stewart, unlike other drivers on the track, climbed up the track after Ward stepped out of his auto, gunned his engine, and caused his 700 horsepower vehicle to slide and strike Ward with his right rear tire.
It is sad that Kevin Ward Jr. died in the accident, but if a grand jury didn’t indict Stewart, how can a civil court find him guilty of the wrongful death of Kevin Ward Jr.
According to ESPN.com, New York law does not allow the Ward family to collect damages for pain and suffering but does allow parents to recover loss of expected future support and care that their child could have provided. The parents go on to claim that Stewart chose to “terrorize” Ward on the track, stemming from an ongoing feud between the competing racers.
“I don’t think I will ever be the same from what happened the last two years”. He did not race at Watkins Glen last year, and he has tried to avoid the topic as much as possible. Instead, family and friends gathered for Ward’s funeral on August. 14 at South Lewis Senior High School, from which Ward was graduated in 2012.
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Sports psychology professor at Queens University in Charlotte Kevin Burke said an accident like this can have a lingering impact on Stewart and others around him.
He said: ‘I want to be available to them if they want to talk about it, ‘ he said.
Stewart has yet to comment on the lawsuit as he prepares to race in this weekend’s event at Watkins Glen worldwide. The lawsuit comes one year after Ward was killed.
While, Stewart’s name has not been mentioned among Chase for the Sprint Cup candidates this season, a win on Sunday would propel the driver, who is now 25th in the point standings, into the playoffs.
For the last two seasons, Tony Stewart, the winningest driver at Watkins Glen global, has been a spectator, not a participant at the 2.45-mile circuit in upstate New York.
At the time, Stewart said it was tragic that a young driver had lost his life, but that it was an accident, pure and simple.
Stewart needs a victory to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. “We ran decent last week and that is a positive sign, but I don’t know if moving the needle two weeks in a row (is a given), I don’t know if that gives me a definitive answer right now”.
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“The thing I’ve learned about the Sprint Cup Series is it doesn’t matter whether somebody needs a win or not”, he said. “I’m actually praying for rain on Sunday”.
