Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Jesse Iwuji apologizes for wreck during Charlotte Truck race

Jesse Iwuji

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA - MAY 26: Jesse Iwuji, driver of the #33 RBR Graphics Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Trucks Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2020 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Tuesday night’s Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was eventful for Jesse Iwuji, but for all the wrong reasons.

The 32-year-old driver and U.S. Navy officer was put under a microscope due to a crash he triggered on Lap 81.

Iwuji, who was making his first Truck Series start of the year, was racing toward Turn 1 when his No. 33 truck moved up the track and made contact with the No. 52 of Stewart Friesen. The contact turned Iwuji into the No. 30 of Brennan Poole. The wreck also included the No. 26 of Tyler Ankrum. Poole and Iwuji were eliminated while Friesen finished 30th.

On Wednesday, Iwuji posted a lengthy explanation for the crash and an apology to Poole and Friesen, saying in a tweet, “1st time in over 2 yrs where our mistake collected someone else in a race, can’t let it happen again.”

Iwuji cited a “bad vantage point” for his spotter looking up the frontstretch and bad timing leading to the contact and crash.

While Iwuji said he reached out to Friesen and Poole privately on Instagram, Poole responded on Twitter, saying “Things happen. I know what It feels like to be doing everything you can with limited resources. I admire your perseverance and dedication to this sport. Never quit chasing what you love.”

Read Iwuji’s full post below.