William Sawalich and Corey Day ignite fiery feud with heavy crash at Gateway

Here is the thing about short-track tempers: they rarely cool down in just seven days. William Sawalich and Corey Day tangled once again in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and this time, the fireworks left a massive mark on the field at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Just one week after a messy run-in at Darlington Raceway that knocked Sawalich out of the race, the bad blood boiled over on Lap 134 of Saturday's event at the 1.25-mile track.

The flashpoint came when Justin Allgaier pushed Day from behind, washing Day up into Sawalich's left-side door in Turn 1. Still carrying the frustration from Darlington, Sawalich answered back down the backstretch. He aggressively swung left into Day's right-side door, sending the No. 17 Chevrolet careening into a hard hit against the inside SAFER barrier. Day was credited with a dismal 33rd-place finish after being evaluated and released from the infield care center.

That retaliation completely upended Day's championship hopes. Entering the weekend fifth in The Chase presented by Mobil 1, Day tumbled three spots to eighth in the standings, now sitting 69 points behind the new series leader, Sheldon Creed, with seven races remaining. Day admitted the gravity of the situation bluntly after climbing out of his wrecked machine. It is a massive blow for a driver who felt he had a top-five car before the contact.

"It's going to take us winning maybe three times now to have a shot at this in the next seven races," Day stated. Meanwhile, Sawalich kept his cards close to his chest when pressed for comment by The CW, offering only that he is solely focused on next week at Bristol Motor Speedway and the job he needs to do for his team. The pair's turbulent history also includes earlier clashes this year at the Daytona International Speedway season-opener and at Circuit of The Americas in February.

The collateral damage from the feud heavily punished Justin Allgaier as well. The driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet suffered right-front damage in the initial contact, was forced to pit, and ultimately dragged his wounded machine home to a 13th-place finish. That result cost Allgaier the series points lead for the first time since the Feb. 28 race at Circuit of The Americas, dropping him to second behind Creed by just three markers. Frustrated by the ricochet effect on his own championship campaign, Allgaier sought out Jeff Meendering, crew chief of Sawalich's No. 18 Toyota, for a discussion on the pit wall.

Reflecting on the brewing rivalry between the two youngsters, Allgaier did not mince words about how collateral damage changes the equation. While acknowledging that everyone loves the gloves-off, aggressive nature of the sport, the veteran noted the friction it creates when innocent bystanders get swept up in personal vendettas.

Now, the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series heads next to Bristol Motor Speedway, where The Chase continues on Friday, Sept. 18.