NASCAR Cup Series

Defining moments of 2014: No. 2 -- Tragedy at Canandaigua

Published Dec. 30, 2014 9:42 a.m. ET

Tom Jensen

Editor's note: For the month of December, FOXSports.com will count down 31 moments that defined the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. This is No. 2.

The most emotional story of the 2014 season was also the most tragic: A fatal accident that claimed the life of 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr. after he was struck by a sprint car driven by three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart during an Aug. 9 race at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park.

Ultimately, Stewart was exonerated of any wrongdoing in the incident, but the story dominated the headlines in late summer.

Stewart and Ward were racing in close proximity when Ward hit the outside retaining wall during an Empire Super Sprints Series race. Under caution, Ward got out of his car and ran onto the track, gesturing angrily at Stewart. Stewart's right-rear tire hit Ward and threw him beyond the car, fatally injuring Ward.

The accident fostered sharp and divisive debate on social media.

Authorities in Ontario (N.Y.) County empaneled a 23-person grand jury to study the evidence in the case and on Sept. 24, Stewart was officially cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.

"Their job was to determine whether or not, based on all the evidence they heard, all the testimony they heard, whether there was reasonable cause to believe that Tony Stewart had committed a crime or not," Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo said of the grand jury. "Obviously their vote was that they did not reach that finding."

Tantillo said Ward was under the influence of marijuana when he hit the wall, got out of his car, ran onto the track and was struck by Stewart's car.

"There is toxicology evidence in the case relating to Kevin Ward that actually indicated that at the time of operation, he was under the influence of marijuana," said Tantillo. " ... The levels that were determined were enough to impair judgment."

Tantillo said two videos of the incident showed that Stewart did nothing out of the ordinary when Ward came on the track.

"The videos actually did not demonstrate any aberrational driving by Tony Stewart until the point of impact with Kevin Ward, at which point his vehicle veered to the right, up the track as a result of the collision," said Tantillo. "Prior to that, his course was pretty straight."

Stewart missed three Sprint Cup races after Ward's death, returning to the track at Atlanta Motor Speedway during Labor Day weekend.

He spoke of the Ward tragedy during a Sept. 29 press conference at Stewart-Haas Racing headquarters in Kannapolis, N.C.

"It's just been awkward because I know what a typical day was like for me and the things that were on my agenda for each day and what I thought about. You kind of get in that pattern," said Stewart. "This was something that obviously changed that pattern drastically. Everything you thought about, everything you worked on, you stop thinking about, you stopped working on, and this is all you thought about."

Stewart acknowledged that the crash had consumed him so much that he hadn't been able to attend to the business of running Stewart-Haas as much as he should.

"I've let my team down from that standpoint," he said during the Sept. 29 press conference at SHR. "I haven't been able to -- I've been a little bit of a cheerleader, but that's about all I've been able to contribute here the last seven weeks. It's just ... it's been hard for me to function day-to-day. There hasn't been anything normal about my life the last seven weeks, so it's been very hard to try to do anything to be productive to help those guys. You try to be a cheerleader, you try to keep them pumped up about what they're do being, but other than that, I haven't been able to contribute too much."

Stewart said he was dismayed by some of what he heard and read in social media and the mainstream media as well.

"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's in mourning. I'm in mourning. My family is in mourning. Picking sides isn't solving or fixing anything. It's a waste of time to pick sides.

"Instead of honoring a young man that had a promising racing career, people are picking sides and throwing -- it's like watching people throw darts at each other," said Stewart. "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 help each other. There is no point in it. It doesn't solve anything. It doesn't fix anything. At the end of the day, it's not going to make anybody feel any better about it."

The aftermath of the accident changed Stewart.

"As a race-car driver, driving a race car is all that consumed my life," said Stewart. "It's all I thought about, it's all I cared about, and everything else was second on down the list of priorities for me. I think this has given me the opportunity to sit here and think about other aspects of my life and what they're going to mean to me in the future. ... There are more things to our life than what we have as a profession. So it's made me think about some of those other aspects of my life that kind of have been put on hold for years."

Stewart told reporters he would try to resume his normal routine.

"I think after talking with you guys today we'll start getting back into doing meet and greets and appearances again," Stewart said. "I think it's important for me to do that and to take -- I think that's another step of making forward progress is getting back to trying to resume what was the best of a normal life before this. I think it's important for me to do that and get back to doing it as soon as possible."