No Charges for Tony Stewart in Death of Kevin Ward

An Ontario County, New York Grand Jury has declined to charge NASCAR driver Tony Stewart in the death of driver Kevin Ward in a dirt track accident at the Canandaigua Speedway on August 9th.

The incident occurred at the small track after Stewart and Ward got tangled up during a race. Ward spun out and after the incident, got out of his car and appeared on video to approach Stewart's car, still in motion at a fairly high rate of speed.

Ward died from the impact.

Stewart released a statement saying; "This has been the toughest and most emotional experience of my life and it will stay with me forever. While much of the attention has been on me, it's important to remember a young man lost his life. Kevin Ward Jr's family and friends will always be in my thoughts and prayers."

County D.A Michael Tantillo had asked the Grand Jury to consider charges of second degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. They could not come to a unanimous decision on either.

Most agreed Tantillo would have had a difficult time proving criminal intent in the incident and issue further complicated when he said Ward had been under the influence of marijuana that night, "enough to impair judgement".

Stewart took a 3-week leave of absence from racing after the incident. He still could be Civilly charged in the incident, but that has yet to happen.

NASCAR released a statement:

"There are no winners in tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Kevin Ward Jr. family and Tony Stewart as they all cope with this tragic incident at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. This has been a difficult time for everyone involved and we have respected the local authorities responsible for reviewing this case."

As did Stewart:

“This has been the toughest and most emotional experience of my life, and it will stay with me forever. I’m very grateful for all the support I’ve received and continue to receive. “I respect everything the District Attorney and Sheriff’s Office did to thoroughly investigate this tragic accident. While the process was long and emotionally difficult, it allowed for all the facts of the accident to be identified and known. “While much of the attention has been on me, it’s important to remember a young man lost his life. Kevin Ward Jr.’s family and friends will always be in my thoughts and prayers.”

Should Tony Stewart Race at Watkins Glen? (UPDATED)

If you are just waking up and reading through the overnight news, you probably low about the Tony Stewart incident at an Ontario County, New York dirt track.

A driver was killed after being hit by Stewart's race car during a heat at the Canandaigua Motorsports Track is being investigated by the county police department. The investigation began after 20-year old Kevin Ward, the driver in question, died in a local hospital.

We'll spare you the video in this post, it can be seen in our original report on the incident.

Scroll down or page or click on the link RIGHT HERE

The reason for the follow up column, according to Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart still plans on racing Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen. No, Stewart is not facing charges from the incident at the present time, but we're stunned that he feels like racing less than 24-hours later.

Will Stewart be charged: That might be difficult to prove. If you've seen the video, you can plainly see Ward, after being spun out by Stewart, get out of his car and he's quite visibly angry. You can also see another driver avoid Ward who is gesturing towards Stewart. Stewart appears at first glance to try and swerve around him as well, but wasn't able to get out of the way.

The Ontario County sheriff's department is investigating the incident as they should. And yes, someone died at the track. There should be an investigation. A detailed one at that.

Reports say Stewart is devastated and he should be. It's a perfectly normal reaction to a horrific incident.

But how do you get past it quickly?

We have interviewed Stewart multiple times and are well aware that he lives, eats and breathes racing. There are very few other things in life that he does or wants to do. He may feel as though racing will take his mind off the incident.

But how?

NASCAR is following all developments and at the current time does not feel they should keep Stewart off the track. They don't feel ready to keep him away. If for some reason charges get filed, then we have a different conversation. We aren't there yet.

The part that is difficult to understand, and you'd have to get inside Stewart's head to know the reason he's going back on the track. The question we and probably you have though is this: "How do you focus on what you are doing, knowing an accident you were involved in killed a man just a few hours before?"

Here's video from WROC-TV of a press conference held by Ontario County Sheriff Philip Provero who talks about the incident and how the investigation is proceeding:




UPDATE---10:25 a.m: Per Stewart's Crew Chief Greg Zipadelli: Stewart will not drive in the race at Watkins Glen. Reagan Smith will drive the car for this race.

Ed Note: This is the right thing to do. As much as Tony may have wanted to race, out of deference to what happened to Kevin Ward, he needed to not be behind the wheel today. Nobody knows how the investigation will progress, but this is the proper decision.

Stewart Haas Adds Kurt Busch

In a great scoop and score for Stewart-Haas Racing, Tony Stewart has added Kurt Busch from Furniture Row Racing for the 2014 season...

SHR offered a little over a week ago, Furniture Row counter offered and Busch went to SHR...

He now joins Stewart, Harvick, and Danica...

But didn't the HQ think he heard SHR say that there wasn't going to be a 4th team when he let go of Ryan Newman in the first place...???

So much for that...

"It was always our intention to extend Kurt's contract," FRR general manager Joe Garone said in a statement. "We made him an offer last week to continue as the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet in 2014 and beyond. Though he did not accept our offer we respect his decision and wish him future success. His driving skill and being a dedicated team player will always be appreciated. Right now, the main focus for Kurt and the team is to qualify for the Chase and contend for the 2013 Sprint Cup Series championship."

Busch is on the cusp of taking a western, one car team to the Chase... something a lot of people didn't think was going to happen...

Ever... but he has proven if he can keep his thoughts to himself, he can drive any car as well as anyone...

Busch's temper got him booted from Penske after the 2011 season which caused him to ride for FRR...
Stuff like this from Homestead got him in trouble, and it's very NSFW...
((HT: Jon Adams))


Ricky Craven discusses the second chance with Stewart Haas...