Dale Earnhardt Jr. delivers blunt verdict on William Sawalich, Corey Day wreck

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has weighed in on the William Sawalich retaliation on Corey Day from Gateway on Saturday. And he did it in the most Dale Jr. way possible. A week after a heated incident between Corey Day and William Sawalich at Darlington, which ended Day alleging that Sawalich threatened to wreck him in the Chase. The two hung into it again at Gateway, with tempers flaring and Chase implications on the line for Day. With 41 laps to go in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Nu Way 225, Day and Sawalich made contact racing for fifth. Day got into Sawalich after looking like he fired it too deep into the corner. Both corrected, but Justin Allgaier was pushed from behind into Day, and contact was made with Sawalich again. Sawalich immediately turned his car left into Day, sending the Hendrick Motorsports driver hard into the inside wall. Ending Day’s night. And causing damage to Allgaier as well. Dale Earnhardt Jr. describes what he saw While many saw it the same way, Dale Jr.’s breakdown is too colorful and entertaining to not share in its entirety. You can hear his voice as you read his quotes. “Everybody that watched at Darlington, these two were talking after the race. Sawalich was upset at Corey Day. ‘Hey man, you freaking, you’re gonna get it. I’m gonna wreck you.’ “Corey Day said that Sawalich had some pretty tough words. So you know there’s a history there, and they’re not happy. “This was just last week at Darlington. We go into this race. If you watch, getting down into turn one, Corey Day gets down in the corner, gets loose up the racetrack into the side of Sawalich. “Then as they are exiting turn two, Justin Allgaier, a few other cars are now packed up into the back bumper of Corey Day and pushing him on corner exit, and he continues to hit Sawalich. “Now that part, Corey Day has not much control over, but he’s already got into Sawalich in the middle of the corner, so I want to talk about Sawalich is in the outside groove, right? “You know this guy Corey Day’s on your inside getting into turn one, and you told him that you don’t want no more s***, right? You don’t want no more, you want to wreck him. “You’re mad at him because he’s been driving you like s***, and you want him to stop. Get down in the corner, and he slides up and gets loose underneath you and doors you. “Sawalich’s thought right there is: wrap the corner, you’re underneath me, hold your f***ing line, don’t hit me, right? And so Corey Day gets loose, doors him, and Sawalich sees red. “Now they’re coming up off of turn two, and Sawalich is driving his car, and he continues to get hit. He doesn’t know who’s pushing the 17. At that point, he doesn’t care. “‘He’s hit me in the middle of the corner, and now he’s hitting me more’ and he snapped. Sawalich swerves, doors him down the back straight away. Does the 17 wreck? Right there, 17 doesn’t wreck. “Off that initial hit, he doesn’t. He only gets wrecked because the 7 happened to be in his path as he’s trying to correct his car, and unfortunately for Allgaier, it ruined an opportunity that he had at a top five or a top 10 finish. “He got heavy right-front damage. I was upset about that. But what I saw Sawalich do happens a lot. “Guys door guys all the time. That was a very, you know, egregious and very severe dooring. It actually hurt Sawalich’s car pretty bad. “He had a tire rub. That’s taking it to the limit in terms of aggression. Trying to door a guy going down a straightaway.” The Verdict NASCAR will not penalize Sawalich for the hit. They announced no penalties for this week. Dale Jr. was hoping for this outcome and explained why. In the end, Earnhardt took a similar approach to this as Denny Hamlin did on Monday, although Dale Jr. didn’t call Day an idiot. If you’re Corey Day, why even put yourself near a guy who you know wants to wreck you… A guy who has nothing to lose because he’s not in the Chase. Meanwhile, Day is in the Chase with a lot to lose. “But guys do that. You door people under caution, whatever. You’re mad, you’re gonna go up there, you’re gonna show them you’re mad. “Sometimes the camera catches it. A lot of times the camera doesn’t catch it. “So a lot of people were calling for Sawalich to be parked after this race or be suspended by NASCAR. It’s not even close to a suspension in my opinion. Yeah, that right there is unfortunate for Day. “It’s terrible luck for his championship hopes because he’s got a ton of talent and he’s got plenty of race car to go up there and try to win this championship. “And he still might; a lot of racing left. But look, Sawalich warned him. “And I would say that Sawalich has nothing to lose. And that’s not the kind of guy you want to, I think, if you’re Day, you take a little extra care after what he said to you on pit road. After Darlington, you take a little extra care, and he didn’t, “You take a little extra care not to ruffle feathers with this guy. Don’t give him a reason to snap.”