NASCAR’s Brad Keselowski urges patience on Tony Stewart incident

Former NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski on Tuesday urged the public to be patient in seeking answers to the fatal incident involving fellow NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.

“The dust has to settle before anyone can have really a full opinion on it,” Keselowski told reporters on a conference call. “Right now I don’t even think everybody has all the facts. We have to get to that level first.”

During a non-NASCAR, sprint-car race Saturday night in upstate New York, Stewart’s car struck and killed another driver, 20-year-old Kevin Ward Jr., who was on foot.

Ward’s car had wrecked after making contact with Stewart’s car. An amateur video shows that Ward then climbed from his car, walked on the track and apparently was angrily gesturing toward Stewart as the three-time NASCAR champion circled back around. Stewart’s car then struck Ward.

Local authorities have not charged Stewart with any wrongdoing but an investigation continues. In the meantime, there has been heated public debate about who might have been at fault.

“Certainly a lot of emotion ... on this topic, which is good in the sense that people care,” Keselowski said. “My take on it now is to let the dust settle for a little bit and let some cooler heads prevail.

“But it’s obviously still very, very tragic and still very, very fresh, a raw wound,” he said.

Keselowski, who won NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series championship in 2012, also acknowledged that the practice of angry drivers getting out of their cars to point accusatory fingers at other drivers has become part of the sport.

“I would say it has become that way, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “It certainly has become common, accepted practice.”

Keselowski, a Michigan native, was speaking ahead of Sunday’s NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway. Stewart’s team said Monday that Stewart had not yet decided whether he will drive in the race.

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