Almost a year later, Tony Stewart says he's "trying not to think about" the accident in which Stewart struck and killed a fellow racer at a New York dirt track.
"I'm trying to not think about it. ... Unfortunately I have a feeling it is going to be brought up a lot this week," Stewart said Wednesday. "It doesn't help you continue to move forward with it."
On Aug. 9, 2014, the night before a race at Watkins Glen, Stewart's sprint car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. during a race at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park. The tragedy occurred when Ward, after a wreck that followed a side-by-side battle with Stewart, ran on foot toward Stewart's car under caution. Autopsy results showed Ward, who was 20, had marijuana in his system, according to the Ontario County (N.Y.) district attorney.
Stewart has said the tragedy was "100 percent an accident" and was cleared of any wrongdoing by a grand jury. He said in January he would not look back and talk about what happened in 2014 and has not raced on a sprint-car event.
Now he returns to Watkins Glen ready to race there for the first time in three years, and as a driver who has five Sprint Cup victories there, he looks forward to competing on the internationally known road course.
But with his return comes the reminder of why he didn't race at The Glen the two previous seasons. Last year he didn't race because it was a day after Ward's death. The year before, it was the first of 15 races Stewart missed after breaking his right leg in a sprint-car accident on Aug. 5, 2013, at Southern Iowa Speedway.
This season has been a challenge for Stewart on the track. He sits 25th in the standings, but is coming off a ninth-place finish Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
He spoke to reporters Wednesday during a Speedway Children's Charities event at Texas Motor Speedway, an event where he gives rides in a stock car to the participants.
"I don't think I'll ever be the same from what happened the last two years," he said. "I don't know how you could be. I don't know how anybody ever could be back to exactly the way they were.
"Not being back exactly the same as I was doesn't mean that I haven't become better in some ways. There's always positives that come out of every scenario."
