Brad Moran said that William Sawalich has escaped punishment after his Gateway clash with Corey Day sent the Chase contender into the wall. However, the incident has not simply been brushed aside, with NASCAR planning to bring the two drivers together in the O’Reilly hauler this weekend. Before the series could make that move, though, Hendrick Motorsports had already addressed the situation internally. The team sat down with Day, giving him a chance to discuss the incident and clear the air before Bristol.
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“We did have that conversation. We talked with Corey, you know, this week, and right away, you know, he owned it. He said, “Look, I got into him there in the middle of one and two.” I think there were some situations that, you know, started to unfold off of, off of turn two where Corey would’ve liked to have got off of, uh, the 18 and, and just wasn’t able to do so,” Hendrick Motorsports President and General Manager Jeff Andrews told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
That admission from Andrews offers a different perspective on an incident that had largely placed William Sawalich under the spotlight. When the two drivers (Sawalich and Day) collided at Gateway, Sawalich’s retaliation was the moment that caught attention, with his deliberate-looking turn toward Day sending the Chase contender hard into the inside wall. Before NASCAR could bring the two drivers together, however, Hendrick Motorsports had already addressed the matter with Day.
The incident began on Lap 134 at Gateway. Justin Allgaier, the then-series points leader, made contact with the rear of Day’s No. 17 Chevrolet as it entered Turn 1. The push sent Day’s car higher up the track, where it moved into the side of Sawalich’s No. 18 Toyota.
For Sawalich, that contact carried more weight because of what had happened the previous week between him and Day at Darlington Raceway. Day had made contact with Sawalich there, sending the No. 18 into the outside wall and effectively ending his race. The aftermath left the two drivers with unfinished business heading into Gateway.
Sawalich appeared to settle that score on the backstretch. He turned sharply left into Day’s right-side door, with the contact sending the No. 17 Chevrolet sliding head-on into the inside SAFER barrier. Day’s race ended with a 33rd-place finish, while Allgaier also sustained damage in the incident.
The reaction naturally centered on Sawalich. His move looked intentional to many watching the incident, especially given the history between the two drivers. Day had also claimed after Darlington that Sawalich warned him, “We’ll see how the rest of your Chase goes,” adding even more tension to their Gateway confrontation.
Yet inside the Hendrick Motorsports camp, the conversation apparently started somewhere else. Andrews said Day immediately acknowledged that he had made the initial mistake by getting into Sawalich in Turns 1 and 2. That does not erase what happened afterward. But it was an important conversation to have given that Day and his team are in contention to win the championship.
Day, on the other hand, has offered little insight into what was discussed behind closed doors with NASCAR and Sawalich inside the hauler at Bristol. When asked by Jordan Bianchi what message was delivered during the meeting, he declined to reveal the details.
“I’m gonna keep that private. Yeah, I think, uh, it was behind closed doors, so I’m gonna keep it that way,” he said.
Day, however, did confirm that the conversation involved both speaking and listening and said he felt the situation was now in a better place. While he acknowledged that he and Sawalich had been “definitely on different mental pages,” he also believed they had said what needed to be said.
That leaves a notable contrast in the aftermath. Public attention focused on Sawalich’s apparent retaliation, while Hendrick first made sure Day recognized his own role in creating the situation. For a driver fighting through his first Chase, that lesson could prove just as important as whatever NASCAR ultimately decides about the other side of the confrontation.