Atlanta: Tony Stewart crashed halfway through Sunday’s NASCAR race and finished 41st in his first time back since he struck and killed a fellow driver in a dirt-track race.
Stewart’s disappointing return to racing Sunday night came three weeks after the August 9 incident in upstate New York that killed 20-year-old fellow driver Kevin Ward.
Stewart started 12th Sunday and quickly made his way into the top-six, but after a restart on lap 122, he collided with Kyle Busch and hit the wall at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
He managed to continue, but his race came to an end on lap 172 when he blew his right-front tyre and slammed into the wall a second time.
Stewart ended up beating only two other drivers in the 43-car field.
Police have not made any charges in the August 9 incident, but their investigation is continuing.
That day, Ward and Stewart’s cars tangled and Ward’s went into the wall. An angry Ward walked on the track pointing a finger at Stewart, and the right rear section of Stewart’s car struck Ward, dragging him down the track a short distance. Ward died of massive blunt trauma.
Stewart pulled out of the NASCAR race the next day at Watkins Glen and also skipped races at Michigan International Speedway and Bristol, Tennessee.
