Driver Tony Stewart won't participate in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events at the Michigan International Speedway this weekend, his team Stewart-Haas Racing announced on August 14, five days after he fatally struck a racer during a low-stakes New York dirt track race.
His team added that he has not decided on future races yet.
Veteran driver Jeff Burton will drive in Stewart's place this weekend, the team said in the statement.
On Aug. 9, Stewart, 43, was competing at the Canandaigua Motorsports Park in upstate New York when he clipped the car of 20-year-old driver Kevin Ward Jr., according to video of the event published online shortly after the incident.
Ward then got out of his vehicle and onto the track and seemed to gesture at Stewart before being hit and killed by Stewart's vehicle.
"There aren't words to describe the sadness I feel about the accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr.," Stewart said in a statement after the incident, according to Reuters.
Stewart, a three-time champion and one of the highest-paid drivers in NASCAR, sat out last Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Watkins Glen, New York, but only after receiving a storm of criticism on social media.
Ward's father lashed out against Stewart in a newspaper interview over the death of his son on Aug. 12.
"Apparently, Tony Stewart was the only one driving out there who didn't see him," Ward Sr. said to the Syracuse Post-Standard.
Officials have said that the investigation into whether Stewart should face criminal charges will take a least two weeks, according to Reuters.
Stewart could be charged with second-degree manslaughter under New York law if prosecutors believe he "recklessly caused the death of another person," with negligent homicide another possibility, according to criminal law professor Corey Rayburn Yung of the Kansas University School of Law, according to CBS News.
Stewart has been fined three times for his on-track behavior, along with altercations with reports, race officials, and photographers.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
