NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers Harrison Burton and Noah Gragson verbally and physically fought in the garage after Friday’s Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
With 13 laps to go in the 200-lap event, which Austin Cindric won to sweep the Xfinity Series races this week, Gragson’s No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet got into the rear of Burton’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Burton clipped the outside wall because of the contact, as did Gragson.
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“Just frustrated,” Burton told FS1. “That’s two times since we’ve come back after the COVID-19 pandemic on restarts. Same situation. We rallied all night to get our DEX Imaging Supra into fourth place, and then the 9 happens to start in third and — I don’t know — forgets what race track we’re at or what. But both times, puts us in the fence. Charlotte (Motor Speedway) and now here.
“I had a lot of people coming up to me afterwards saying that was a long time coming. So I guess that was a popular move.”
Both drivers were still able to finish the event. Gragson finished seventh. Burton was 12th.
DRIVERS REACTION: Burton gives his take | Gragson explains his side
Words were exchanged by the cars afterward. Burton appeared to push Gragson twice, who then threw the first punch. NASCAR officials stepped in to break the fight up.
“We’re all racing hard,” Gragson said. “I mean, us teammates are beating and banging for the finishes at the end. I don’t really have a comment. I haven’t really seen everything that happened.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., owner of Gragon’s team, offered his thoughts on how to potentially resolve the feud in short order.
https://twitter.com/DaleJr/status/1281782387995811842