A few NASCAR drivers have been angry enough to trade blows with Ross Chastain the past couple of seasons.
Noah Gragson finally took up the challenge Sunday and went after Chastain.
Gragson and Chastain traded punches, shoves and angry words at Kansas Speedway after the NASCAR Cup Series race.
The two drivers appeared to land a couple of punches before being separated.
Chastain has angered several drivers the past couple of seasons with his hard-charging — some would say reckless — style. Gragson says Chastain had caused him enough trouble, leading him to confront the Trackhouse Racing driver.
In a surreal moment, Kyle Larson, being interviewed by FS1 at the time, paused in his interview to watch the fight.
“Got fenced by [Ross Chastain] … I’m sick and tired of it,” Gragson told Fs1 after the incident. “Nobody else has the balls to at least confront him, if you don’t at least grab him and do something, he’s just going to keep doing something. I’m over it.”
Not surprisingly, Chastain had a much different version of what caused the fight.
“Noah and I have a very similar attitude on the race track. We train together, we prepare together … we know every little bit about each other,” Chastain told FS1.
“I definitely crowded him up off of (turn) 4, he took a swipe at us off of (turn) 3 then came down and grabbed ahold of me. A very big man once told me we have a no-push policy here at Trackhouse.”
Race winner Denny Hamlin had an interesting reaction after being shown video of the fight.
NASCAR fans overwhelmingly sided with Gragson on social media, as Chastain has become the new bad boy of the sport for many fans.
[Photo Credit: FS1]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.