Tony Stewart disinterested in discussing argument with fan at Lucas

Tony Stewart

Tony Stewart had no interest in explaining what happened Friday when he approached a fan in the stands during the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals.

The three-time Sprint Cup champion made national headlines when he moved toward a heckler — who turned out to be off-duty Tulsa County Sheriff's Office Cpl. Kyle Hess — during the annual event at the River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"If anybody wants to know what happened, they should have been there to see for themselves," Stewart said Thursday during NASCAR's annual preseason media days at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. "I'm not going to waste my time on a NASCAR media day talking about an event that happened a week ago."

In videos posted on social media, Hess told Stewart he has never liked him. Stewart — whose smirk throughout the episode made him appear not as much angry but in more a feisty mood — called Hess a name, and it appeared that Hess pushed Stewart away before falling backward as they were being separated. Stewart had a few more words with Hess before leaving.

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident because of Hess' involvement but has not released any report or statement. According to the Tulsa World, officers talked to Hess, whom they determined had consumed enough alcohol that he should be escorted from the stadium.

Stewart, who works at the Chili Bowl preparing the track before and between events throughout the week, was asked whether he wanted to put any of what fans saw in the video into context, especially as people will make judgments about him as a result of what they saw on the video.

"They make judgments of us no matter what we do, so I'm not going to try to justify or explain what happened," Stewart said. "Everybody that was there knew what happened. I think you guys are smart enough to see in social media now, people are coming out and talking about what happened, and we'll leave it at that,"

Stewart is entering his final Sprint Cup season and left open the possibility of competing in the Chili Bowl next year. He has spent the past two years helping Chili Bowl organizers.

Two bad accidents have kept Stewart from dirt track events over the past 18 months. He broke his right leg in an accident in August 2013 and then was involved in the death of Kevin Ward Jr. in August 2014. The sprint car Stewart was driving hit Ward, who had walked on to the Canandaigua (New York) Motorsports Park track under caution after an accident.

Stewart faces a wrongful death lawsuit from Ward's family. He says he didn't see Ward (who was later determined to be under the influence of marijuana) until the last moment and that Ward attempted to make contact with Stewart's car. Ward's family contends that Stewart's temper got the best of him and that he intentionally got close to Ward before accidentally striking him. ESPN.com