NASCAR: Ross Chastain punches Noah Gragson as tensions boil over at Kansas Speedway

NASCAR drivers Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson had a post-race bust-up at Kansas Speedway on Sunday after Denny Hamlin pipped Kyle Larson for first position to assert the $7.5million prize pool.

Chastain, who has drawn the ire of many drivers this season together with his aggressiveness at the observe, pinned Gragson to the wall with about 60 laps to head, sending him for a spin, despite the fact that the latter did not be expecting the Trackhouse Racing driving force to make his displeasure recognized afterwards.

Gragson put his fingers on Chastain, who replied with a sweeping proper hook that seemed to attach. Gragson attempted to go back the punch, however he was once pulled away by means of safety and NASCAR officers.

‘I’m unwell and bored with it,’ Gragson stated of Chastain’s riding taste. ‘The man runs into everybody. When you could have guys like Chase Elliott and different guys telling you to overcome his a**, everybody is simply unwell of him.’

Chastain authorised probably the most blame for the spin however did not have a lot to mention in regards to the punch.

Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson had a post-race bust-up at Kansas Speedway on Sunday

‘I were given tight off 4 needless to say,’ Chastain stated. ‘Noah and I’ve an overly an identical angle at the race observe. We educate in combination, we get ready in combination, we all know each and every little bit about every different. I indisputably crowded him out of 4.’

‘An overly giant guy as soon as advised me we have now a ‘no push coverage’ right here at Trackhouse,’ he added. 

By the top of Sunday’s race – the fifteenth because the get started of the brand new NASCAR season in February – Chastain completed in 5th, whilst Gragson completed twenty ninth. 

Hamlin’s victory ended a 33-race winless drought for the Joe Gibbs Racing driving force, courting to final 12 months’s Coca-Cola 600. And at the side of claiming his document fourth win at Kansas, the 42-year-old gave his staff its four-hundredth win general in NASCAR’s most sensible sequence.

Larson, was once main within the ultimate laps on the most up to date race day of the season – 89 levels – however Hamlin were given the easier of him by means of spending with reference to 30 laps stalking his rival. He pulled along Larson at the ultimate circuit, making slight touch with the Hendricks motorsport pressure earlier than sending him bumping into the outdoor wall and giving himself a transparent trail to the end line.

Denny Hamlin got here out on most sensible in Kansas, finishing his 33-race winless drought on Sunday

The Joe Gibbs Racing driving force (11) pipped Kyle Larson for first position to assert the $7.5M prize pool

‘I used to be sideways. He was once sideways. I knew it was once going to be shut whether or not he may transparent me,’ Hamlin stated. ‘I used to be grinding his left facet, looking to stay the side-draft as a lot as I may. It’s this kind of super-sensitive phase and I hooked him at the top.’

Hamlin added that he deliberate to talk with Larson in regards to the end at some level.

‘I used to be in point of fact free,’ Larson stated. ‘He was once ready to after all get my inside of off two. It appeared he was once side-drafting me aggressively. I don´t know if he after all were given me became sideways, however became me into the outdoor wall and he were given the win.’

Next up is the ‘Throwback Weekend’ at Darlington in South Carolina on May 14, and it is more and more change into a circle of relatives affair. 

Elliott’s No. 9 automobile for Hendrick Motorsports will appear to be his father Bill Elliott’s automobile from 2003; Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 pays homage to father Dave Blaney’s outdated dash automobile; and the No. 21 of Harrison Burton will appear to be father Jeff Burton’s outdated paint scheme.