Harrison Burton, Paul Menard have words after on-track clash at Loudon

LOUDON, N.H. – Uncle Paul was handing out life lessons to NASCAR’s youth Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Paul Menard, a 38-year-old full-time driver at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series level for more than a decade, took exception to some contact racing for position with Harrison Burton – less than half his age -- in the Xfinity Series’ ROXOR 200. When it happened once, he let it slide. A second brush from the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, however, and the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford decided to take matters into his own hands. With a hair under 50 laps remaining, Menard intentionally bumped Burton from behind to send the No. 18 spinning and effectively end his race. RELATED: Official race results Burton went back out after multiple pit stops for repairs, but the team opted to park the No. 18, with no more positions to gain and the damaged car a handful to drive. "You guys didn't deserve that. None of us did," Burton told his crew before finishing 29th, 31 laps shy of the 200-lap distance. Menard finished fifth. [ndmsvideo vid="6062211349001" iframe="true" play="false"] Burton – the son of NASCAR’s unofficial “mayor” of the garage in Jeff Burton – spent his childhood seeing post-race diplomacy play out over his father’s long career. As such, he calmly approached Menard on pit road to chat about the incident. The pair was unable to come to a satisfactory conclusion, agreeing to disagree with a few profanities tossed at each other for good measure. “He was mad that I ran into him in Turn 1 that one time,” Menard told reporters after he and Burton exchanged unpleasantries. “I was mad that he ran into me twice before that. It’s what it is. Some of these kids are really fun to race with and some of them just don’t get it. I think you’ve got to cut that (expletive) out at an early age. “I race with (Chase) Briscoe and (Noah) Gragson … some of these kids have a lot of talent and they don’t have to run into you to try to pass you. Harrison, I’ve never met the kid before. I know his dad really well. Got a lot of respect for Jeff. Really good man. But the kid ran into me a couple of times so that was enough. “As he races more in Xfinity and especially if he gets to the Cup level, they don’t put up with that stuff. I felt like it was my place to tell him that’s not cool. A lot of these kids are real smart, really clean racers and he kind of stood out from the crowd.” [ndmsvideo vid="6062235228001" iframe="true" play="false"] Burton, of course, did not feel the dump was warranted. “This isn’t F1 where if you touch someone you get a five-second penalty, this is NASCAR,” Burton said. “I barely touched him and I got wrecked. … I don’t know. He doesn’t care about anyone else but himself.” [ndmsvideo vid="6062237499001" iframe="true" play="false"] The Xfinity Series is a part-time gig for each of them – Burton is currently fifth in points in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports – so they likely won’t cross paths on the race track again for some time. When they do, however, Burton will be ready. And he’s taking the high road. “That’s all you can do is just beat people on the race track and show them that you’re going to outwork them. I’m fired up and ready to go for the next one. “I don’t see it that way and he doesn’t see it my way, so that’s how it is. This sport is hard and everyone works their butt off and tempers flare. Mine’s pretty flared right now.” Contributing: Staff reports