Nate Ryan

USA TODAY Sports

The practice of drivers exiting their cars under caution is facing scrutiny in the wake of Kevin Ward Jr.'s death Saturday in a sprint car race.

At least three short tracks have instituted rules prohibiting the practice, and NASCAR also is expected to review the situation. But at least one Sprint Cup driver isn't sure an edict is needed.

"Whether it's racing or society, I'm not aware of any rule or law that works without the ability to enforce it," Brad Keselowski said during a Tuesday conference call with news media.

"I don't know how you can enforce a rule like that unless you had a robot on the track to grab the person and put them back in the car.

"The only way you can enforce it is with a penalty system afterward. Really at that point, it's not effective. It's a difficult rule to try to make work."

Ward was struck and killed by a sprint car driven by three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart during last Saturday night's Empire Super Sprints race at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park. After spinning from contact with Stewart, Ward scrambled out of his car and down the banking to confront Stewart as his car went by under yellow.

Keselowski ran across the track while cars circled under yellow after a crash during a Nationwide Series race last fall at Kansas Speedway.

"I hate to put myself in NASCAR's shoes," the 2012 Cup champion said when asked if he expected a rule change. "I think sometimes we put so many rules in place, it's almost impossible to enforce them all. I don't know what the line is or if there should be a line or an area that needs a rule. Man, I'm glad I don't have to make that decision."

With Ward's funeral scheduled for Thursday, Keselowski said his take was "to let the dust settle for a little bit and let some cooler heads prevail. Certainly, a lot of emotion charged on this topic, which is good in the sense that people care. I don't want to understate that. But it's obviously still very, very tragic and still very, very fresh. A raw wound.

"I don't even think everybody has all the facts. I think we have to get to that level first. For me personally, have some respect to the family, get through their process, then kind of dig into the hows, whys, whats (and) how we can possibly prevent something like that happening in the future."

Among the most active drivers on Twitter, Keselowski said it was "extremely difficult" to witness the social media storm in the wake of Saturday and weighing how to engage.

"The last thing I want to do is sound like I'm the guy who has all the answers on that because I clearly don't," he said. "It's difficult because I feel like when I remain silent, I kind of feel like a wuss that I'm bowing out of controversy. I believe in all those things that a good nation goes down when great minds remain silent. I think we live in a great nation, and we still live in a great time, whether we realize that or not.

"I always have that temptation to speak my mind on those topics. But then on the other side you have to realize for whatever reason, all these media fronts are very, very polarizing. It seems like no matter what you say, someone will be offended.

"The reality of our situation in this sport right now is we rely on corporate America to fund our teams and my own career. I need to have as many fans as possible to justify those expenditures. If you alienate any one part of that fan base, you're really inhibiting your own future career. In that sense, it kind of feels like a lot of times you're trapped as a driver. I'm sure it's more than just a driver. It's other forms of public figures. You just try to navigate it with as much balance as possible. That's really the only solution that I have"