Tony Stewart, above, pulled out of the race at Watkins Glen on Sunday following the fatal accident Saturday night. (Derik Hamilton, The Associated Press)
The world of motorsports endured a tragedy Saturday night when NASCAR Sprint Cup driver during a race in upstate New York.
A video of the crash at Canandaigua Motorsports Park showed Ward, 20, stepping toward Stewart’s car on the dirt track before being hit and hurtled 50 feet.
Stewart, who had originally planned to race in the Cheez-It 355 Watkins Glen, Sunday morning.
“We gave Tony some time to sleep on it. He feels strongly this is the right thing to do,” said Greg Zipadelli, the competition director for Stewart-Haas Racing. “All you can do is what you feel is right, and we feel this is right. We get through today and do it the best we can as a group.”
In a statement released by spokesman Mike Arning on Sunday, ” to describe his sadness over the incident, and that “my thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and everyone affected by this tragedy.”
In the hours since the accident, many other drivers, writers, athletes, celebrities and fans have reacted strongly on Twitter to the fatal crash, and some media outlets have gone further to reflect on both Ward’s and Stewart’s career up until Saturday.
. has just released the following statement.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR)
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WHAM News: Family of Kevin Ward releases statement: “We appreciate the prayers and support we are receiving from the community, but we need time to grieve and wrap our heads around all of this.” Ward’s parents were reportedly in the crowd watching their son race when the crash happened.
As I head out to the car my thoughts and prays are with the Ward family
— Greg Biffle (@gbiffle)
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It’s sad that a lot of fans’ dislike of Tony Stewart seems to make it easy for them to nonchalantly insist he intentionally murdered Ward.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson)
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. has removed this tweet from this morning:
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala)
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Deadspin: Tony Stewart’s Temper Often Resulted In Conflict With Other Drivers: While everyone has strong opinions on the matter, no one has any real idea what happened when Tony Stewart ran over and killed Kevin Ward, Jr. during a race last night, and it’s possible we may never know what he was thinking from behind the wheel. What we do know is that Stewart has often found himself in conflict with other drivers on the track. As seen in the clip above—it’s almost exactly two years old—Stewart once notoriously threw his helmet at Matt Kenseth’s car in a very similar kind of confrontation he was involved in last night.
Has Twitter agreed on a jail sentence for Tony Stewart yet? Please advise.
— Tim Ryan (@TheSportsHernia)
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Who gives a damn whether Tony Stewart races sprint cars again? Someone died. Talk about the person who died.
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick)
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Racing with a heavy heart today…
Thoughts and prayers for the Ward family.
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson)
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Thoughts & prayers for all impacted by accident in NY last night, especially family of Kevin Ward, Jr. Heartbreaking for everyone.
— Brett Jewkes (@BJewkes)
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If wants to run anyway today I can’t argue against it. Death is part of their business. But spare us the “so we move on” BS.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann)
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Just staggering that Tony Stewart even thought for a minute that it might be appropriate to race today.
— Ian O’Connor (@Ian_OConnor)
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USA Today Sports: Ripple effects for Stewart, NASCAR, sponsors could be huge: After his car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. in a Saturday night race at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park, the ripple effects could be enormous across myriad racing series, sponsors and teams.
If I’m one of Tony Stewart sponsors, I’m making a call: “Yeah, I don’t want to be a billboard for running over people today.”
— Darin Gantt (@daringantt)
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This Tony Stewart situation is the most Effed up thing I’ve seen in a long time.
— Craig Sager II (@CraigSagerJr)
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Final thoughts on the Kevin Ward/Tony Stewart accident: I believe it was truly an accident. Condolences to those affected by Ward’s passing.
— Bo Churney (@bochurney)
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My god man… I didn’t know Kevin Ward but I’m very sorry to hear about what happened. Thoughts and prayers to him and his family..
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton)
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Wow rest in peace Kevin Ward Jr. 20 years old is way too young to go! Prayers to his family and friends
