Punches were thrown after the NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series unloaded for a double-header this weekend at Kentucky Speedway. The field raced on both Thursday and Friday night.
Watch the Noah Gragson vs Harrison Burton fight video below.
On Thursday, Noah Gragson won stage one and stage two, leading 87 laps (career high). However, his race came apart in stage three and he finished 11th.
They racked them again tonight.
Gragson drove to the front in stage one and took the stage victory on Friday. Unfortunately, as the field hit the pit lane at the start of stage two, Gragson was hit with a pit road speeding penalty.
Gragson was sent to the tail of the field. “The driver stepped on his you know what,” Gragson said on the radio as he dropped ancor.
Burton was also having a good race on Friday night. He finished 2nd to Gragson in stage one.
Contact with Gragson and Burton
Toward the end of the race, these two drivers found themselves on the track. With 13 laps to go, they lines up 4th and 5th.
21-year-old, Gragson and 19-year-old Burton ran even into turn turn three. But, Gragson didn’t go to the bottom. Instead, he went for the middle lane where the PJ1 was installed. The inside lane was unusable.
It looked like Burton expected him to go to the bottom. When he didn’t Burton was all over the right rear of Gragson into the corner. With downforce removed, the car didn’t turn. All that, on top of Gragson driving it hard into the corner.
Gragson washed up the track and got into Burton. They both chased it up the banking, each of them made heavy contact with the wall. The race remained green, as they gathered it up, the field drove by both of them.
Noah Gragson vs Harrison Burton
Fight
After the race, Harrison Burton found Noah Gragson on the pit lane. At first the two drivers appeared to be just talking it out.
A light push was then thrown by Harrison Burton. Shortly after, Burton took a few steps closer to Gragson as the two met face to face.
Burton gave another shove to the chest of Gragson. Then, Gragson stepped back, lined up the face of Burton and landed a punch right to the face of Burton.
The two drivers went to the ground and Gragson continued to throw punches.
A few crew members jumped into the scene from each team. One of them was tossed to the ground.
NASCAR officials ran into the scene and the altercation was extinguished.
Note: Burton approached Gragson with a mask. Gragson did not yet have his mask on.
Related: NASCAR has stiff fines in place for violating social distancing guidelines
Harrison Burton comments on Noah Gragson
“Just frustrated, that’s two times since we’ve come back from the COVID-19 pandemic. On restarts, same situation, we rallied all night to get into 4th place,” Burton stated to Fox Sports after the race.
“The 9 happens to start in 3rd and I don’t know, forgets what race track we’re at, or what. Both times, puts us in the fence. Charlotte and now here.”
“So, I had a lot of people coming up to me afterwards saying, ‘that was a long time coming.’ I guess that was a popular move [referring to the fight].”
“Honestly, it’s about these guys that work so hard on this race car. To get taken out like that, was frustrating. Sorry for our race team that that happened,” Burton concluded.
Noah Gragson comments on Harrison Burton
“I was battling with our Camaro all race. I sped on pit road early and got us in a hole,” Gragson said after the race.
“Back in traffic, this track is so much about just track position. I don’t know. Unfortunate day for our Switch team at JR Motorsports.”
Burton noted that the confrontation stated back in Charlotte. Did Gragson see a fight coming?
“Not really. We’re all racing hard. Us teammates are beating and banging for finishes at the end.”
“I don’t really have a comment. I haven’t really seen everything that happened,” Gragson concluded.
Related: Kentucky Race Results: July 10, 2020 (NASCAR Xfinity Series)
Noah Gragson vs Harrison Burton
Fight Video
Kentucky Speedway
July 10, 2020
Links
Noah Gragson | Harrison Burton | NASCAR | Kentucky Speedway
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