This past weekend, Justin Allgaier found himself out of the lead and out of the race after running into the back of Kris Wright’s much slower, lapped car. Wright has received a lot of hate for this; however, NASCAR team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a different takeaway from the majority of the mob.
Kris Wright is in his first full-time NASCAR National Series in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with OUR Motorsports. When OUR first signed Wright, fans were curious about the swap, as he was replacing Anthony Alfredo, a series veteran who had a solid season in the No. 5 last year.
However, Wright’s season has been tough, with him involved in several controversial accidents and moments. This tally includes a high-speed pit road accident at Daytona and a back-and-forth with DGM Racing’s Josh Bilicki that lasted almost three weekends.
After a few quiet weeks, Wright continued with his poor start to the season this weekend at Texas, when the driver of the No. 5 found himself slowing up in front of a hard-charging Justin Allgaier, who had led the most laps that afternoon and was attempting to cycle back to the front after a green flag pit stop.
Coming out of turn three, Allgaier ran into the back of Wright, who changed lanes several times in his much slower car. Allgaier spun out, smashing the inside wall and dramatically ending his dominant day. Fans online were immediately relentless, commenting on just how out of place Wright looked in that moment and the Xfinity Series as a whole.
For Wright, who was already part of a prior caution that afternoon, this couldn’t have been worse, as a driver with an already poor reputation wrecked the series’ most popular driver and reigning champion. However, Allgaier’s owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., had a different take on this incident on the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download.
The co-owner of JR Motorsports said that while he hates that this happened to his driver and his car, it is part of racing. Slower cars and more inexperienced drivers have been, and always should be, part of racing in NASCAR.
“I hate that our car was involved in that accident. I hate that it ruined Justin’s chance at a good finish,” Earnhardt said. “But I prefer a NASCAR where there are slow cars, inexperienced drivers, problems, potential issues.”
Like anyone who loves anything unconditionally, Earnhardt says he loves NASCAR when it has these imperfections. “When I think about my favorite eras of the sport or some of my favorite races or what, when I was so in love with this. It had all of those imperfections.”
The long-time NASCAR veteran and amateur historian says that the debate over who belongs on the track, and who doesn’t, is and always will be a major storyline of the sport. However, as he says that the “alternative” wouldn’t be so bad, “Having 40 Kyle Larsons out there, yeah, that’d probably be pretty entertaining, too.”
While Earnhardt supports Wright’s efforts to get back on track, he warns that Wright, like the field fillers of the past, needs to position himself better on the track. Earnhardt says that the driver of No. 5 did not make a wise choice at this particular moment.
“For years, theres been slow independents out there grinding it away on the racetrack. They always knew where to be. You know, that’s something this guy [Wright] needs to figure out is like, ‘Hey, man, where am I supposed to go to get to give the other guys the best chance to get around me?’ He didn’t choose this properly at this particular point. Hopefully next time he does.” — Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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