By alley - Oct 14, 2014, 12:13 PM ET

NBC analyst: Tony Stewart's involvement in NASCAR on-track squabbles could have legal implications

Tony Stewart played only a peripheral part in the controversial post-race entanglements of Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin in Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte, but NBC Sports legal analyst Jack Furlong suggested on Monday’s episode of NASCAR AMERICA (see video clip below) that Stewart’s actions could have a significant impact on a possible civil suit against him.

Stewart was cleared by a grand jury last month of criminal charges stemming from the death of Kevin Ward Jr. in the Aug. 9 sprint car incident in New York in which Ward was struck by Stewart's car. However, the Ward family declared in a statement after the grand jury ruling that, "

This matter is not at rest and we will pursue all remedies in fairness to Kevin

," implying that they planned to bring civil litigation in the matter.

Furlong suggested that Stewart's actions, which included reversing into Keselowski's car after the Charlotte race, could help build a case that Stewart's penchant for recklessness played a role in Ward's death. "If I'm Tony's lawyer, I'm saying to him, 'Tony, run the other way – you cannot be in a confrontation, this could come back to haunt you,'" Furlong said.