Following the recent skirmish at Daytona and a potential clash at COTA last weekend — stemming from a close call between Noah Gragson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. that nearly sidelined the latter — the newest recruit of Front Row Motorsports took to Twitter to lighten the mood about the incident.
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The playful exchange escalated into a brief back-and-forth on social media, sparking speculation on whether it was mere jest or signs of a burgeoning rivalry. Nonetheless, Stenhouse clarified that the interactions were all in good spirits.
Referencing the Daytona 500 incident, where with just 15 laps remaining, Stenhouse tried to thwart a move from Joey Logano, who was receiving a push from Gragson, leading to a collision involving eight cars, including Gragson and other front-runners, Gragson tweeted, “So close to getting @StenhouseJr back from Daytona,” following their near miss at COTA.
Stenhouse responded with a wry comment, “Need to run more dirt, sent that a little fast for a slide job,” playfully critiquing Gragson’s maneuver. However, the exchange didn’t end there; Gragson retorted with an even better comeback, “Can’t hear you that far down the leaderboard. Speak up.”
While this initially sowed seeds of doubt among fans regarding the emergence of a new rivalry, Stenhouse clarified in a recent media session that the exchanges were purely playful.
He said, “No, we’re friends, but it’s definitely fun. I think, you know, he’s obviously got a lot of energy and excitement around him. And so, yeah, I like to give it back to him a little bit.” Stenhouse emphasized that there’s no bad blood between him and Gragson; rather, Gragson enjoys having fun and challenging others, to which Stenhouse is more than happy to respond in kind.
Stenhouse revealed, “Before I sent one tweet back to him yesterday, I told him I was sending one. He says — well, I got one in the chamber ready to send back. So, you know, I don’t know. He seems like he has a ton of free time on his hands, so I’m sure he’s always looking for ways to spice things up.”
Currently, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. occupies the P10 position in the driver standings with 80 points, trailing the leader, William Byron, by 36 points. He has secured one top-5 finish at Atlanta and two top-20 finishes. On the other hand, Gragson finds himself in the P27 slot with 42 points, having achieved one top-10 finish at COTA.
Given the track records, Phoenix appears to favor Gragson slightly more than Stenhouse Jr. While it remains to be seen if their paths will cross during the race, any on-track interaction between the two could potentially intensify scrutiny over their recent social media exchanges.
