SPARTA, Ky. — As I sat in the press box, waiting for the post-race press conference to commence, I witnessed multiple officials sprinting towards the garage. I thought that a fight broke out. Sure enough, my instincts were right, and it was an actual fight. After making contact on track on the final restart of the Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway, Harrison Burton confronted Noah Gragson.
“We rallied all night to get our DEX Imaging Supra into fourth place and then the 9 (Noah Gragson) happens to start in third and I don’t know if he forgets what race track we’re at or what, but both times puts us in the fence – Charlotte and now here,” he said.
First, he shoved Gragson. Then the situation simmered for about 10 seconds. Gragson, however, said something that prompted Burton to shove him, again. To which, he responded with a punch to his face.
It continued until they fell to the ground, and nearby crew members came in to break up the fight.
But then some crew members escalated the fight, further. Eventually, the officials swarmed on the fight and ended it.
“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,” Burton said.
It’s the second major run-in between Burton and Gragson since NASCAR’s return to action. During the NASCAR XFINITY Series race of the same name at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, Gragson got loose in Turn 2 and put Burton into the wall.
For Burton, his 12th-place finish extends a five-race streak of finishes outside the top-10, after he finished no worse than ninth in the first 10 races of the season.
He leaves The Bliuegrass State sixth in points, 151 behind Chase Briscoe. Gragson, meanwhile, leaves second, 19 back of Briscoe.
