The NASCAR community was abuzz for the last 24 hours over the finish to Sunday’s Truck Series race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The finish saw Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Noah Gragson and Todd Gilliland spin in the final turn of the last lap after Gragson attempted a pass on the inside.
After a lengthy discussion on the merits of Gragson’s move, NASCAR America analyst Jeff Burton wanted to remind everyone about who actually won the race.
Justin Haley avoided the wrecking leader to score his second win of the season and advance to the second round of the playoffs.
“Don’t forget Justin Haley in this,” Burton said. “We’ve spent so much time talking about this wreck and it opened the door for Justin Haley. But what a cool story. Here’s a guy who’s now moved into the second round. I agree, he’s certainly not the guy everyone’s talking about being the favorite. … As good as they’ve run, they’ve made a huge step in the way they’ve performed. You’ve seen him running in the front five a lot this year, especially in the second half of the year. We should not forget about him. He won the race! It’s being overshadowed by what happened.”
Monday night on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Late Shift,” Gilliland discussed the fallout of incident.
Gilliland said he and Gragson have only texted once since Sunday, but that “I definitely feel a little different than I did. People always say microphones get there fast and you really don’t have much time to think. I’ve just never really been involved in a situation like that. I was surprised how fast everything got there. At that point, I thought I jsut got wrecked in the last corner, I’ve seen it happen before and that’s just what happened to me.”
The rookie driver added “I’d say there’s definitely blame on both sides” for the incident among teammates.
Gilliland said he was done in by racing at “maybe 99 percent” over the last lap, enough to “where I knew I wasn’t going to make a mistake” while Gragson was going at “110 percent.”
“Everything came together perfect,” Gilliland said.
Watch the video below for the discussion on the Gragson and Gilliland wreck.
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