Whose fault was it at the race this weekend(with video link)?

We just watched a guy die.

Did anyone notice his race number was 13?

You can clearly see his front wheels turn to the right, which to me says he was either trying to hit him or he was trying to spook him and the other guy got to close.

I was going to post about this, but I wasn't sure there would be any NASCAR fans on here. The situation is kind of complicated.

On one hand, sprint and even nascar has a history of letting drivers walk onto the track during a caution without a penalty. Obviously, there should be some type of safety precaution/penalty for this. Of course, the drivers often have to remove themselves from the vehicle after a wreck, as a safety measure, but I don't think the racing organizations should condone drivers walking onto the track for the sole purpose of throwing a tantrum. Yeah, it's entertaining, but as this incident shows, it's also dangerous.

I also think tony stewart does share some of the blame as well, which is sad, because he is a great driver. Do I think he struck Kevin ward on purpose? Absolutely not, but what he did was still reckless. I think stewart let his temper get the best of him, and hit the throttle as a blatant fuck you. With all of his years of driving, he knows very well that hitting the throttle on a turn at a dirt track will cause the back end of the car to swing out. He either misjudged his proximity to ward or did not see him, for some reason.

I think it was just a series of events that coalesced. Ward should not have been on the track throwing a fit; sprint should not have let him on the track; and tony stewart should never have been so reckless with the throttle during a caution. I think everyone involved has a part in this.

The whole thing is such a fucking tragedy.

Death is a sad thing and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone before their time, but, come on. Before we even get to whether or not Stewart meant to kill, scare, etc. Kevin Ward Jr., the guy shouldn't have been out on the track in the first place. Cars are going at high speed around him, it's dark outside, and it's probably really hard to see out of those types of cars in the first place. Not only did the victim endanger his life, he endangered the lives of everyone on that track. Yes, I do think that Stewart seems partially at fault here, too, but, unless the court can prove that he was intentionally trying to hit Ward, I don't think he should be charged for this tragedy. It's enough that he has to live with the fact that he killed a young person and probably ruined his career forever.

Pedestrians aren't supposed to walk out onto the freeway for a reason. Drivers are suppose to stop or swerve to miss pedestrians who walk out into traffic, not speed up and hit them. Both were partially at fault. Can't punish a dead man, though.

Ward should have never been on the track out of his car.

thats horrible but why did he decide it would be a good idea to run out in the middle of the racetrack? why didnt he just wait by his car it wasn't on fire or anything? dont they normally stop the race during a crash to clear the wreak? still though very upsetting

(off topic) what kind of cars were those? they were kind of cool looking

Watching that video was chilling :/

Disclaimer: I don't know much about motorsport, and all I know about this incident and the people involved is based on 67 seconds of footage and the comments in this thread. My key assumption is that neither of them made the decisions they would normally have made, that neither of them are idiots or murderous psychopaths.

It seems to me like a very sad accident. By getting into the car, motorsport drivers accept that there is a chance they could be seriously injured or killed, or that their actions could result in the serious injury or death of someone else. By competing in a high pressure atmosphere, they accept that there is a chance that their emotions could run so high that they make dangerous decisions they wouldn't usually make.

You can view what what happened in that race as an amalgamation of those chances. Assuming Kevin Ward wouldn't normally dance about in oncoming traffic, and assuming Tony Stewart wouldn't normally try to hit a person with a fast-moving vehicles, I don't think you can blame either of them. The conditions of sport are that it messes with your normal decision-making, and both Kevin and Tony must have known that before the race. In my mind, that makes it an accident of sport. It might sound like a cop out, but I don't think anyone is to blame (or at least, neither of them more than the other).

I don't think we can come to any intelligent conclusions from viewing the video or speculating. Time will tell as the investigation progresses, but it is unthinkable that any driver would intentionally run down another driver, in a sport where life and death are but seconds apart, at all times.