Getty NASCAR has responded after the Noah Gragson & Ross Chastain fight.
Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain had an incident on pit road after Kansas Speedway, which led to a punch being thrown. NASCAR has since responded and answered questions about any potential penalties.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, made an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on May 9. He faced questions about the incident and potential repercussions, and he explained that the sanctioning body decided against including anything in the weekly penalty report.
“No. I think we’ve looked at that, we’ve talked about it,” Sawyer said on May 9. “We’d had, and we’ll continue to have, conversations with Ross and Noah. As we’ve said before, our sport is an emotional sport.
“Our guys — again, using Sunday — everybody was on the edge so, when you feel like your day hasn’t gone the way that you had hoped it would, and someone may have impacted that with a way you’re not happy, you’re going to show your displeasure. So, we’ll continue to have some dialogue with those two organizations and make sure we’re in a good place.”
As Sawyer continued to explain, the incident involving Gragson and Chastain got to a level that they would not like to see in the future. However, he noted that this is an emotional sport and that there will be disagreements that they see.
NASCAR Altered the Rule Book During the Offseason
The questions about potential penalties were understandable considering some updates to the NASCAR Rule Book. The sanctioning body made some changes during the offseason that opened up the opportunity for some harsh penalties.
The previous version of the Rule Book that focused on member-to-member altercations listed the potential penalties as: “A loss of 25-50 driver/team owner points and $50,000-$100,000 fine… [possible] race suspension(s), indefinite suspension, or termination/membership revocation”
The updated version of the Rule Book listed possible penalties for striking another competitor as: “A fine and/or indefinite suspension, or termination/membership revocation.”
“AND THERE’S A FIGHT!” Ken Squier, 1979 #DAYTONA500.
With the fight between @RossChastain & @NoahGragson, here are 28 of some of the most recent fights in @NASCAR History.
Can you think of some that we’re missing?
#NASCAR #AdventHealth400 #NASCAR75 @KicknTheTires @JSchuoler
NASCAR has shied away from issuing penalties to drivers involved in fights. The most recent example was Austin Hill punching Myatt Snider at Martinsville Speedway. The Richard Childress Racing driver avoided any repercussions.
There are other drivers that have received penalties in the past for their involvement in fights. This list includes John Wes Townley, Spencer Gallagher, Marcos Ambrose, and Casey Mears as examples.
There Were No Instructions for NASCAR Officials
GettyNoah Gragson watches qualifying at the LA Memorial Coliseum.
One of the discussions in the immediate aftermath of the fight focused on the bystanders. There were comments about the NASCAR officials that did not get involved, as well as some about the security guard who grabbed Gragson’s arm before he could punch Chastain.
The lack of involvement from the officials is not by accident. Sawyer explained that they have instructions to avoid getting involved in these confrontations, and he said that they handled it well. The security guards do not have these same instructions.
“Our security people did get involved and they will get involved,” Sawyer added. “They’ll let them have their space in order to talk but once it rises to a level like it did on Sunday, they’re going to get involved and break it up. They all handled it very well.”
The main security guard standing nearby certainly got involved in the situation. He saw Chastain throw a punch, and then he reached out and grabbed Gragson’s arm in mid-air before the Las Vegas native could retaliate. He then moved Gragson away from the immediate area.