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NASCAR Explains Why They Did Not Penalize William Sawalich Nor Corey Day After Wreck During O’Reilly Series Race At World Wide Technology Raceway

September 16, 2026  ·
  John Trent

NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran explained why the sanctioning body did not penalize William Sawalich nor Corey Day after they two were involved in a wreck during the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Around lap 133, Day moved up and made contact with Sawalich’s door while the two were battling for fifth. As they were going through the corner Justin Allgaier then got into the back of Day. After exiting the corner, Sawalich came down and slammed into Day sending him spinning down the track, clipping Allgaier’s front and then into the inside wall. He slammed hard into the wall causing huge damage to his front end eventually ending his day.

After exiting the infield care center, Day told The CW, “I just hate if for my 17 guys. It was going to be, at minimum, a top 5 day for us. We had a really fast car. Just really unfortunate there. I hope that we can dig back out of the hole, but it’s going to be really hard. Just really unfortunate.”

When asked if he has a message for Sawalich, he said, “I don’t. No. I think he made himself look stupid enough for me to need to say anything.”

Speaking to members of the media, Day added, “I don’t have anything good to say to I’d rather not say anything at all.”

He also went into detail on how the accident happened, “I got down there beside [Sawalich]. I went to go pull to the bottom, but [Allgaier] had me pushed up into him. I couldn’t really do anything. I had nowhere to go.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it much,” he added. “It took care of itself by what he did.”

On whether he thought NASCAR should do something, Day said, “I don’t know. I’m not going to speculate.”

As for Sawalich, he told The CW, “I’m just worried about next week at Bristol and what I have to do for my team.”

“Just worried about next,” he reiterated. “Worried about next week.”

On Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, Moran explained why NASCAR decided not to issue a penalize in regards to the wreck. He began, “It seems like those two have quite a history going and a rivalry.”

“The way the incident was viewed is it was door-to-door contact,” he explained. “They were at it for a lap or so. When they made the contact, the 7 car actually made contact. The 17 car made contact with the 7 car’s nose, which really turned him. Turned him into an unfortunate position where he ended up against the inside wall, hitting the inside wall.”

“We didn’t feel it warranted a penalty, but those two drivers will be in the O’Reilly hauler this weekend with Elton and Eric Peterson, Managing Director. I’m sure they’ll have some conversations and get that one straightened out. That’s the way it was viewed and no penalty would be issued with that,” Moran elaborated.

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Author: John Trent