“It Was Perfect”: Kyle Larson on Noah Gragson’s Scuffle With Ross Chastain

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season was a rough one for Noah Gragson. Aside from being dropped midway from his seat, there were also conflicts with other drivers. One of the notable incidents was when the former Legacy Motor Club driver decided to confront Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, post which fellow Cup driver Kyle Larson and his brother-in-law then shared their views regarding the incident.

The scuffle between Chastain and Gragson erupted after a disagreement on the racetrack and ended with the watermelon man sucker-punching the LMC driver to the shadow realm.

Discussing the incident, Larson mentioned, “Ross is like I mean it was perfect, grabbed Noah’s throwing hand, had him, and then got him.”

Thereafter, the HMS driver’s brother-in-law and World of Outlaws driver Brad Sweet added, “What are we doing grabbing… You basically know the next phase is swinging… But the only thing that made me laugh was that he swings and hits him pretty good and then in typical Ross, ‘Oh no, we are not fighting.'”

Later on, Larson added, “He’s like man, I am good now the security has got him… I’ll say man Noah, he ate that punch really well. I’ll give him that… Ross hit him hard… It sounded hard, and he didn’t make him flinch at all.”

Why did Noah Gragson decide to fight with Ross Chastain?

Well, before Chastain changed and mellowed out for good, he had a reputation for making enemies, with almost everyone driving around him. This was mostly because of his aggressive and reckless driving style. At one point, it had become the norm to expect at least one wreck per race where Chastain was the culprit.

Hence, when racing at Kansas Speedway earlier this year, Gragson had enough when the watermelon man decided to push him up into the wall. Speaking with the press later on, Gragson explained, “I’m sick and tired of it,” referring to the Trackhouse Racing driver’s style of driving. “The guy runs into everyone. When you have guys like Chase Elliott and other guys telling you to beat his ass, everyone is just sick of him.”

On the other side of the spectrum, Chastain admitted to a part of the blame for the on-track incident, adding that things like this happen amid a highly competitive environment.