Noah Gragson has seen his fair share of issues with other NASCAR drivers in the past. While none of them have been in the NASCAR Cup Series, it is known that Gragson will wear his emotions on his sleeves and not back down.
The Legacy Motor Club driver has gotten into fights with several drivers, including Harrison Burton and Daniel Hemric, in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Gragson’s success on the race track was fueled by his aggressive driving and experience.
The Cup Series has been a different story as he is trying to learn the ropes as a rookie driver in NASCAR’s top level. However, Gragson has finally found himself in his first scuffle within the Cup Series.
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Noah Gragson says Chase Elliott encouraged him to fight Ross Chastain
Gragson was having a really solid day in the No. 42 car for Legacy Motor Club but it took a wrong turn when he found himself spinning on the backstretch with a flat tire. However, this didn’t magically happen.
Prior to the incident, Chastain went up the track in Turn 4 and gave Gragson little room, which led to the No. 42 car hitting the wall. It is important to note that the driver of the No. 1 car didn’t make contact with Gragson. Still, it was understandable to see why the rookie driver was upset.
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Gragson went up to Chastain on pit road after the race and confronted him for his actions. The Legacy Motor Club driver grabbed Chastain and the two started throwing punches back and forth. It was a crazy moment that was live on FS1 during Kyle Larson’s interview on pit road.
There was more to come from Gragson as he was interviewed after the pit road incident. Shockingly, Gragson namedropped the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion as a reason behind his actions.
“(Ross Chastain) completely used us up and fenced the (expletive) out of us. I am not going to tear up the (Trackhouse Racing) guys stuff up, I respect there hard work and everything. Nobody confonts the guy. I went down there and grabbed him. I’m sick and tired of it. The guy just runs into everyone. When you got guys like Chase Elliott, other guys telling you to go beat his (expletive), everyone’s sick and tired of him but nobody has the (expletive) to go up and get him. I’m tired of it.”
Noah Gragson on his fight with Ross Chastain at Kansas
Gragson is the first driver to truly confront Chastain after one of his mistakes. One weekend ago at Dover Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson viciously called out Chastain after causing him to wreck in Stage 1 and blatantly held him up in the closing laps of the race.
Nothing happened after the fact but it is the second straight weekend where the Trackhouse Racing driver has made someone else mad. It was not as bad as Larson’s incident but Gragson should be angry and Chastain should feel like he did nothing wrong.
That is the nature of racing and quite frankly, it won’t be the last time that something happens. More specifically, the rivalry between Chastain and Gragson is very much alive and this probably won’t be the only chapter.
In the meantime, whether you are watching it live or looking for how to watch NASCAR on TV or another streaming platform, Sportsnaut has you covered for the upcoming weekend at Darlington Raceway.