Josh Bilicki isn't happy with fellow NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey Lajoie. The two drivers had a run-in during Sunday's Bank of America Roval 400.
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The collision resulted in Bilicki's No. 78 spinning and crashing after leaving the pit lane at the end of stage two.
This contact between @CoreyLaJoie and @joshbilicki brings out a yellow late in Stage 2. pic.twitter.com/aB13q4GmD6
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 8, 2023
The crash ended what looked to be a solid day for Bilicki and his team. He finished the race in 26th.
Bilicki complained about Lajoie and his team, Spire Motorsports, in a post-race interview with Frontstretch.com's Stephen Stumpf.
"We got ran over," Bilicki said. "Actually, third time this year by a Spire car. It's almost like we got a target on our back. We were setting ourselves up in a really good position to run top-20, top-15 maybe, and he ran me right out of the pits."
He then continued by talking about how he'd get some B.S. apology from Lajoie.
"I saw in my rearview camera he was there and I left him room," Bilicki said. "I don't know if he overdrove, but, typical Corey. Gonna apologize for some half-ass apology and whatever, we move on."
"Typical Corey, gonna apologize for some half-ass apology."
Josh Bilicki on Corey LaJoie's hit coming out of the pits at the Charlotte ROVAL: #NASCAR
📹 @stephen_stumpf pic.twitter.com/yTPhi81uGl
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) October 8, 2023
His frustrations didn't stop with his post-race interview, as he later took to social media to further vent his frustrations with what happened.
Don’t even know what to say…just frustrated and disappointed. Feel like we’ve got a target on our back this year.
We had a great car and worked our way up to 16th by the end of stage two before the 7 car dumped us as we exited pit road. It set us back a lap and killed all of… pic.twitter.com/JfHgieI5Qy
— Josh Bilicki (@joshbilicki) October 8, 2023
His anger is warranted as the move by Lajoie was too aggressive, especially coming off of pit lane. Bilicki has all the right in the world to be frustrated, especially when he made several starts in the Spire Motorsports No. 77 in 2022.
Whether Lajoie offered an apology or not, the unnecessary incident impacted the rest of the race, including several of the playoff drivers' pit strategies. Silly moves by drivers further back in the field is part of racing but there are already plenty of challenges playoff drivers face whenever they are running at the Roval. Bilicki clearly wasn't at fault in this accident and Lajoie's thinking was questionable.
