If veteran race car driver Tony Stewart is able to remain unscathed after hitting and killing another driver in a sprint car race late Saturday at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in New York he should thank his lucky stars—and his PR team, which seemed to initially falter, but then rallied to handle the situation.

A damning video taken by a fan at the track (below) went viral almost immediately (and has nearly two millions views so far).

Some feel the video is too graphic and should be removed from YouTube, which would help Stewart’s case in the public eye. There is now a warning before allowing viewers to see the footage.

The video seems to indicate to many viewers that Stewart, 43, actually gunned his car during a caution right before hitting and killing 20-year-old Kevin Ward.

The video, with one woman screaming and another one yelling “He hit him. Tony Stewart just hit that guy!! Tony Stewart hit that guy!! Holy Shit!!” made many people think Stewart intentionally went out of his way to hit Ward. And when Stewart said he was going to race at Watkins Glen as if nothing happened it was really making him look bad.

Shortly after the accident the Stewart team announced he was still going to race the next day at Watkins Glen International in New York as if nothing had happened.

According to Newsweek, “The team’s competition director, Greg Zipadelli, called it “business as usual.” Later Sunday morning, Zipadelli reversed course, announcing that Stewart would not drive and that “we feel strongly that this is the right thing to do.”’

The initial decision to race at Watkins Glen was met by a “harsh backlash,” according to the Associated Press.

Crisis communications experts know that Stewart immediately should have let the public know he was “devastated by this horrible accident” and then talked in terms of the victim and the victim’s family. He also should have said he was “far too shaken to race the next day.”

Tony Stewart eventually issued a canned statement: “There aren’t words to describe the sadness I feel about the accident that took the life of Kevin Ward Jr. It’s a very emotional time for all involved, and it is the reason I’ve decided not to participate in today’s race at WGI. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and everyone affected by this tragedy.”

Stewart and his team handled this situation very poorly initially. If he is now able to survive with his image and sponsors intact he can thank his PR team for their efforts in turning the situation around.