Waltrip says Richmond incident with Mears was 'just an accident'
CONCORD, N.C. – Michael Waltrip says he lost his cool “for a split second” in Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway, which resulted in him getting parked after 355 of the 400 scheduled laps of the race.
Waltrip and Casey Mears were involved in an accident on the frontstretch, and when Mears bounced off Waltrip and into the wall, Waltrip rammed Mears’ car into Turn 1. NASCAR parked Waltrip for the remainder of the race.
“It was just an accident, and Casey’s a good dude,” Waltrip said. “I know he didn’t do it on purpose, and sometimes when somebody does something that I viewed as being pretty stupid – that will make you madder than if someone did something on purpose.”
That’s what happened with Mears, Waltrip said Tuesday during a break in the Sprint Cup Series test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
“It was unfortunate for me that I got wrecked, and as soon as he came off the wall he was just right there in front of me, and I lost my cool for a split second and ran into the back of him,” Waltrip said. “Then I got parked. I’ve never gotten parked before. I read in the paper where people got parked, but I didn’t know how you did that. Now I do.”
