I have raced on a similar dirt track before. Ward was stupid as hell to be doing that but Tony saw him FOR SURE and had time to react.
I haven't driven on dirt tracks, but just from my driving experience in general, isn't it premature to make that conclusion? I would think that you'd need to have a better idea of the lighting conditions, what his windshield looked like in terms of visibility, his field of vision related to the vehicle in front of him, whether or not the driver's safety suit blended into his car from the angle Stewart was driving, where Stewart's attention was (i.e., was he focused on the wrecked car and the vehicles in front of him, rather than seeing the driver), etc., etc.
Maybe he saw him at the last second, and gunned his engine to try to rapidly change directions. I don't know enough about racing, but I've read a number of people say that this is what is probable.
I don't think criminal charges will come from this, because it's impossible to tell what Stewart saw, or what his intent was.
1. The amount of lighting going down on race tracks is usually way beyond necessary. In one race this year almost half the lights on the track went out and all the drivers agreed it was fine to finish the race (take that Superbowl!),
2. Do Sprint cars even have windshields? I thought they just had rock cages. No clue whether or not they allow tear-offs on the helmet visors though, which theoretically could get scratched.
3. Things are happening way too quick in the corner at those speeds to be looking at what's happening in straight in front of you, you're basically looking to the left the entire race trying to see what's coming up. It's not uncommon to see the left side of a driver's eye completely bloodshot after long, difficult races.
4. I guess there could have been so much camouflage that his suit blended in, but they're usually incredibly amazing at noticing movement. They give each other the tiniest waves and signals (such as when they're crossing the track to take pit road), that they somehow see while driving 200-220 mph, but I can't see sitting in my living room on HD television. He didn't just get out and stand there, I would guess he saw him waving and pointing at him almost as clearly as he could see a yellow flag waiving.
5. When guys use the accelerator to help them turn, it's because their back wheels aren't lined up with their front wheels. As you obviously know, correcting a turn is very different in RWD vs FWD. If you're turning to the left and begin to spin out, THAT's when you hit the accelerator and turn the wheel right, opposite of where you want to go. Despite sending your front wheels further up the track, it slides your rear wheels back to the left and re-aligns your wheels quicker than turning the wheel alone. Now you're higher up the track than you were, but you have more traction and more lateral bite to keep throwing it left.
Making your car get loose (meaning your rear tires don't have as much traction as the front) is hardly the best way to turn in the shortest distance. As you know, traction is the most important thing when turning, any friction used to accelerate or decelerate is friction that can't be used to turn you; and friction is the only force you get. That's why you constantly hear drivers complain about their car being loose. Like I said earlier, being a little loose can help you carry more speed throughout the turn by eliminating understeer, but it shouldn't be able to help you turn in less distance. Under a green flag it doesn't matter, because the extra distance you're going by oversteering is made up by your extra speed. But if a guy is about to hit the wall, he's letting off the gas, more throttle isn't going to do anything for him unless he had room to work with in the first place (which Tony didn't). It's just going to make your butt hit the wall instead of your face.
Left is understeer (hitting the gas in a FWD causing less traction in the front than back) right is oversteer (hitting the gas in a RWD causing less traction in the back than front), The red car straightens out much sooner than the blue one, meaning he has higher speed on the exit of the corner and can floor it down the straight-away sooner. But that also means his entrance into the corner has to be slower (or else he does what the red car continues to do), and obviously it's worse for dodging things on the high side of the track.
Andddd, last but not least, Tony Stewart's radio was almost 100% certainly screaming in his ear that there was a caution and what it was for as soon as it happened. There's even a good chance they told him he was getting out of his car and was angry (which they often do so the driver can avoid the person who is probably trying to someway do damage to his car in retaliation).