Tony Stewart: "Picking sides doesn't solve or fix anything"

NASCAR star Tony Stewart said Monday that he thinks about the on-track death of sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr. every day and he is disappointed that people are "picking sides" in the wake of the fatal crash.

Speaking five days after learning he would not face charges in Ward's death, Stewart admitted that initially he was "hurt by some the things" written about him after the three-time NASCAR champion struck and killed Ward last month in Canandaigua.

"I tried to do my best to insulate myself but I finally started to read what's out there," he said. "Picking sides doesn't solve or fix anything. It's a waste of time, instead of honoring a young man with a promising sprint car career. It's like watching people throw darts at each other. It's dividing people that on a daily basis would help each other. At the end of the day, it won't help people."

Prosecutors said last week that Stewart will not face charges. They also disclosed that Ward had enough marijuana in his system the night he died to impair his judgment.

Stewart said the relief he felt after the prosecutors' decision was short-lived. He also said the revelation that Ward had marijuana in his system was irrelevant.

"For me, it didn't change anything," he said. "The end result was the same."

Stewart again recounted his spiral of depression in the immediate aftermath of the crash.

"I didn't do much of anything, to be perfectly honest," the 43-year-old driver said. "I didn't get out of bed. I didn't care if I took a shower. ... All you thought about was what had happened and asking yourself 'Why? Why did this happen?' "

In an open letter published Monday in USA Today, Kevin Ward's aunt was critical of Stewart's actions after a caution was issued when Ward's car crashed.

"Tell me how a NASCAR star totally forgot what caution means," Wendi Ward wrote. "Maybe he should get a different headset so he is able to hear on the radio that the car in caution is up high, so go low. Or was he low until he rounded the corner and saw Kevin Jr. standing up for himself?"

Stewart said Monday that he has replayed the incident in his head every day but repeated that it was "100 percent an accident."

The three-time NASCAR champion said that while he is uncertain if he will ever get into a sprint car again, he never considered quitting racing because "that would take the life out of me."

Stewart said that while he expects time will help him recover from the tragedy, he will never forget what happened.

"It will never go away," he said. "It's always going to be a part of my life."