he wasn’t just in the middle of the track, he was going after Stewart’s car....it looks like they were playing a game of chicken and the guy lost...
Tony Stewart will not race in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race after he struck and killed
sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr., who had climbed from his car and was on the track trying
to confront Stewart during a race in upstate New York on Saturday night.
Greg Zipadelli, the competition director for Stewart-Haas racing, announced the decision
Sunday morning. Regan Smith will race in place of Stewart.
There is quite a gap between the first car that goes by the kid and the cars IN FRONT of the first car. That car appeared to see the kid because he was going slower than the rest of the cars and very purposefully went low to avoid the kid. The gap between the first car that went by (slowed car) and Stewart’s car was not that great. And Stewart was going faster than the first car and higher up on the track than the first car. Leads me to believe that Stewart may not have been able to see the kid, whereas the first car to go by did. That is speculation of course.
The reality is that all of this could have been avoided if the kid had lifted when Stewart slammed the door on him on his high side pass move. The kid got out of the groove and didn’t have the power to effect the pass. Stewart being down low in the groove, and having position on him, stayed in the groove and moved up the track to shut the door. If the kid lifted he may have lost more than one spot, but he would still have his life and a promising career.