Because of the staggered wheels, steering is more difficult in sprints. The car’s natural inclination is to turn left, which means drivers sometimes have to hit the throttle and pull a hard right just to go straight. Expert car control is even more essential on dirt, where the track changes throughout the night. The groove on the outside or “top” of the track is generally considered the fastest. It’s also where, by the end of the race, the dirt tends to get pushed up and hardened into a steep angle known as the “cushion.” Hit the cushion too fast, and it could send you into the wall. Instead, to pass a car on the top part of the track, a skilled driver may use a technique known as a “slide job”: when a car on the inside track intentionally turns a corner too sharply, causing it to skid to the top with, ideally, enough momentum to slide just in front of the other car.

That’s the move Stewart tried on Aug. 9, 2014. That night, Stewart, still a star in Nascar, arrived at the Canandaigua Motorsports Park in upstate New York for a dirt race in the Empire Super Sprints series. Fourteen laps in, Stewart, trying a pass, slid into Kevin Ward Jr.’s car on a turn, edging him off the track. Ward hit a wall and spun around. He climbed out of the car unscathed but angry. He stomped onto the track, pointing toward Stewart’s car. The stakes were much higher that night for Ward, who was 20, than they were for Stewart. Ward had dreamed of joining Nascar since he was a boy. But racing Stewart that night would bring Ward as close to Nascar as he would ever get.

The yellow flag flew, signaling that cars should slow down. Drivers passed Ward as he stood there, still pointing at Stewart. Then, just as Stewart reached Ward, he sped up and fishtailed, the right rear wheel hitting Ward and pulling him underneath. Stewart’s car dragged Ward for a few seconds before flinging him 50 yards down the track. An ambulance rushed the young man to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Stewart refused to say anything to me about Ward’s death, but he has maintained publicly that he didn’t see him until it was too late. The racing community is divided: Stewart’s fans call it an accident, while others point to his infamous temper as evidence of malice. Everyone agrees that Ward should not have exited his car on a hot track.

The sprint driver Tyler Graves, who was in the stands that night, ignited widespread condemnation of Stewart when he told a reporter, “I know Tony could see him. I know how you can see out of these cars.” He added: “Kevin was pissed, and he let Tony know. And Tony was trying to give the message back that he wasn’t happy, either. He went over the line with it.” An avalanche of op-eds in the racing press speculated on whether hitting the throttle indicated that Stewart was trying to swerve at or away from Ward. To this day, any mention of Stewart on the internet draws comments alternately accusing him of getting away with murder or defending him from character assassination.