Ward family files suit against Tony Stewart

ALBANY, N.Y. – The family of a young driver struck and killed by Tony Stewart’s car on an upstate New York sprint racing track filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the NASCAR star Friday.

The lawsuit was filed as Stewart returns to Watkins Glen International on the one-year anniversary of the fatal crash.

The lawsuit accuses Stewart of gross negligence, saying he gunned his engine and put his car into a skid as 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr. walked onto the track after a crash at Canandaigua Motorsports Park on Aug. 9, 2014. The car struck Ward, and he was killed.

A grand jury declined to indict Stewart, who at the time called it “100 percent an accident.” There was no comment from Stewart, who was with his crew in the garage before a final practice Friday afternoon. Stewart-Haas Racing, the NASCAR Sprint Cup team Stewart co-owns, also declined comment.

Ward’s parents, Kevin and Pamela Ward, requested a jury trial seeking unspecified monetary damages, claiming wrongful death, reckless conduct, gross negligence and their son’s terror and suffering.