Three-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart has agreed to settle with the parents of Kevin Ward Jr. five weeks before the wrongful death lawsuit over Ward’s death was supposed to go to trial. Ward died after being hit by Stewart’s car at a race during the Empire Super Sprints race at Canandaigua Speedway in on August 9, 2014. Ward was struck by Stewart’s car after leaving his own vehicle on track during a caution period of a race to express his displeasure with Stewart, as he’d wrecked while battling for position with Stewart. Stewart’s car hit Ward, tossing him 25 feet. Ward died 45 minutes later from blunt force trauma. He was 20 years old. Stewart had sought to dismiss the wrongful death and gross negligence claims brought against him in the Ward family lawsuit as both Ward and his father had waived their right to legal claims when they acknowledged the risks involved in racing in signing a waiver for the event.
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