By Staff Report
NASCAR.com
Published: 4 days ago
2 Minute Read
A post-race argument quickly escalated to fisticuffs between Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Kansas Speedway.
Gragson confronted Chastain on pit road after close racing at the end of the AdventHealth 400 forced his No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet into the outside retaining wall. The two had a brief discussion before fists flew.
RELATED: Race results | Alternate angle of pit-road scuffle
Chastain squarely landed a punch before the two drivers were quickly separated by security. The discussion turned physical when Gragson grabbed Chastain’s fire suit and pushed him backward. Chastain shook free a few seconds later and connected with his right hand.
“I got tight off of (Turn) 4 for sure,” Chastain said of the contact that precipitated their scuffle. “Noah and I have a very similar attitude on the race track, and we train together, we prepare together, we know each other’s … every little bit about each other. Yeah, definitely crowded him up off of 4, and he took a swipe at us in 3, and then he came down and grabbed a hold of me, and a very big man once told me we have a no-push policy here at Trackhouse.”
Chastain finished fifth in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, while Gragson placed 29th in the 36-car field, five laps down after an earlier spin. It marked the second time in a three-week span that the two drivers had raced closely, and Gragson got the worst of it April 23 at Talladega Superspeedway.
“Just got fenced by the 1,” Gragson said. “He took care of us at Talladega. We’re Chevrolet teammates and he didn’t work with us there, and then fenced us here and I’m just over it. Nobody else has the balls to at least confront him, so if you don’t at least just grab him and do something, he’s just going to keep doing it, and I’m over it. It’s the second time. I have respect for (Chastain team owner) Justin Marks and the rest of the Trackhouse team, and that’s why I’m not wrecking him on the race track, but I’m ready to fight him. I didn’t even get a shot in because the security guards got in the middle of it, but nobody confronts the guy. He just keeps doing it, and I’m sick and tired of it.”