{"id":1151250,"date":"2020-04-26T10:29:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T14:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1151250"},"modified":"2022-03-10T09:32:45","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T14:32:45","slug":"why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Why NASCAR Star Tony Stewart Was Never Charged in a Fatal Dirt-Track Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Few sports are as dangerous as auto racing, where high speeds and high stakes come together. NASCAR has had its share of tragedies, including the death of the legendary <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/dale-earnhardt-sr-went-from-high-school-dropout-to-racing-champion\/\">Dale Earnhardt Sr.<\/a> at the Daytona 500, but few deadly wrecks have been scrutinized like one involving <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/how-much-is-tony-stewart-worth\/\">Tony Stewart<\/a> in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-tony-stewart-was-at-the-center-of-a-dirt-track-fatality\">Tony Stewart was at the center of a dirt-track fatality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tony Stewart Crash 2014: Kevin Ward Jr.&#039;s Family Responds to Deadly Crash\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TtkFYFyZ1ac?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With\nthe NASCAR circuit scheduled to compete in nearby Watkins Glen, New York, the\nsame weekend, star driver Tony Stewart intended to have some fun by going back\nto his roots and racing a sprint car at Canandaigua Motorsports Park on Aug. 9,\n2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stewart had made a similar excursion the previous summer. A multi-car wreck at the track involved Stewart and sent two drivers to a local hospital with injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This time, Stewart\u2019s vehicle bumped the car driven by <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tony-stewart-killed-another-driver-but-is-he-to-blame\/\">Kevin Ward Jr.<\/a> on Turn 2, sending the local competitor into the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the caution flag out and the field coming back toward the wreck, Ward left his car and walked down the track, gesturing angrily at Stewart. As Stewart approached, his car clipped Ward and threw him hard to the track. First-responders transported Ward, who had raced sprint cars since 2010, to a nearby hospital; he was pronounced dead shortly afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With\nwitnesses giving conflicting accounts as to whether Stewart was following\nproper procedures with the caution flag out, the Ontario County Sheriff\u2019s\nDepartment began an investigation the following day. Stewart elected to not compete\nfor his Stewart-Haas Racing team for three weeks in the immediate aftermath of\nthe tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-six-weeks-of-investigations-and-grand-jury-testimony\">Six weeks of investigations and grand jury testimony<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tony Stewart addresses Kevin Ward&#039;s death\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AWf2-0JZWy8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The investigation\ninto the fatal crash involving Tony Stewart concluded in mid-September of 2014.\nOn Sept. 24, District Attorney Michael Tantillo announced that a grand jury had\ndeclined to indict Stewart on charges of manslaughter or criminally negligent\nhomicide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Tantillo, videos of the race did not support charges, and lab results determined that Kevin Ward Jr., 20, had enough marijuana in his system to impair his judgment. Tantillo said the grand jury did not hear details of the  toxicology report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further, Tantillo\nsaid that there were too many conflicting witness accounts to proceed with a\ncriminal case. The grand jury heard from two dozen witnesses, including experts\nin accident reconstructions, over two days and returned its decision after\nabout an hour of deliberations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I know 100 percent in my heart and in my mind that I did not do anything wrong,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tony_Stewart#Death_of_Kevin_Ward_Jr.\">said Stewart<\/a>, who was 43 at the time. \u201cThis was 100 percent an accident.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-family-s-civil-suit-never-reached-court\">The family\u2019s civil suit never reached court<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Parents of Kevin Ward Jr.: Tony Stewart &#039;Knew What He Was Doing&#039;\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HG5S_FtTdkU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nfamily of deceased driver Kevin Ward Jr., filed a wrongful death civil suit\nagainst three-time NASCAR series champion Tony Stewart in 2015, contending he\nintentionally drove dangerously close to Ward after he exited his sprint car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The case was never heard in court. Instead, Stewart and Ward\u2019s parents reached a settlement in the spring of 2018 for an undisclosed sum of money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ward\u2019s parents subsequently revealed that they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nascar\/2018\/04\/14\/mother-killed-driver-kevin-ward-family-forced-into-settlement-tony-stewart\/517706002\/\">accepted the settlement<\/a> because their lawyers had threatened to withdraw from the case if the family did not take the deal offered by Stewart\u2019s representatives. They said they were unable to find another firm to take the case so close to the scheduled start of the trial. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASCAR driver Tony Stewart was involved in a fatal accident during a dirt-track race in 2014. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":1151251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[253795,4898],"tags":[16060,447250],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why NASCAR Star Tony Stewart Was Never Charged in a Fatal Dirt-Track Crash - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three-time NASCAR series champion Tony Stewart was involved in a fatal accident during a dirt-track race in 2014.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why NASCAR Star Tony Stewart Was Never Charged in a Fatal Dirt-Track Crash\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three-time NASCAR series champion Tony Stewart was involved in a fatal accident during a dirt-track race in 2014.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-26T14:29:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-10T14:32:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Tony-Stewart-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"681\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Moriello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Sports7J\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Moriello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/\",\"name\":\"Why NASCAR Star Tony Stewart Was Never Charged in a Fatal Dirt-Track Crash - Sports7\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Tony-Stewart-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-26T14:29:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-10T14:32:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/625c659832a23452683545602e055cac\"},\"description\":\"Three-time NASCAR series champion Tony Stewart was involved in a fatal accident during a dirt-track race in 2014.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Tony-Stewart-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Tony-Stewart-1.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":681,\"caption\":\"Tony Stewart was involved in a fatal accident during a dirt-track race in 2014. | Jared C. 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John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"Sports7J\",\"john-moriello-1a11743\",\"\",\"\"],\"jobTitle\":\"John Moriello | Sports7 Staff Writer, Producer - Motorsports\",\"email\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why NASCAR Star Tony Stewart Was Never Charged in a Fatal Dirt-Track Crash - Sports7","description":"Three-time NASCAR series champion Tony Stewart was involved in a fatal accident during a dirt-track race in 2014.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why NASCAR Star Tony Stewart Was Never Charged in a Fatal Dirt-Track Crash","og_description":"Three-time NASCAR series champion Tony Stewart was involved in a fatal accident during a dirt-track race in 2014.","og_url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/","og_site_name":"Sports7","article_published_time":"2020-04-26T14:29:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-10T14:32:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":681,"url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Tony-Stewart-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Moriello","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Sports7J","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Moriello","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/","name":"Why NASCAR Star Tony Stewart Was Never Charged in a Fatal Dirt-Track Crash - Sports7","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Tony-Stewart-1.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-26T14:29:29+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-10T14:32:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/625c659832a23452683545602e055cac"},"description":"Three-time NASCAR series champion Tony Stewart was involved in a fatal accident during a dirt-track race in 2014.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-nascar-star-tony-stewart-was-never-charged-in-a-fatal-dirt-track-crash\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Tony-Stewart-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Tony-Stewart-1.jpg","width":1024,"height":681,"caption":"Tony Stewart was involved in a fatal accident during a dirt-track race in 2014. | Jared C. 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A graduate of St. John Fisher University, he finds inspiration in the underdogs and the fascinating stories sports can tell (both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). John expertly covers all aspects of NASCAR. Beginning with his 2014 coverage at Fox Sports of the aftermath of the dirt-race tragedy in which Kevin Ward Jr. died after being struck by a car driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, John has excelled as a journalist who specializes in the motorsports world. He previously spent more than three decades covering high school sports and worked as a beat writer covering Big East football and basketball, but NASCAR is now where the true expertise falls. John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com.","sameAs":["","Sports7J","john-moriello-1a11743","",""],"jobTitle":"John Moriello | Sports7 Staff Writer, Producer - Motorsports","email":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1151250"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1490513,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1151250\/revisions\/1490513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1151251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1151250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1151250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1151250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}