In a new interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Front Row Motorsports driver Noah Gragson revealed that he planned to punch Kevin Magnussen in their San Diego post-race confrontation, but was warned of “long-term consequences with my job” if he followed through on such a plan.
Racing at Naval Base Coronado, Gragson engaged in a multi-lap feud with Trackhouse Racing’s Kevin Magnussen, who was making his NASCAR Cup debut in the Project 91 entry.
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It lasted about 13 consecutive laps before Magnussen wrecked Gragson. After the race, Gragson confronted Magnussen, and they threw expletives at each other for 90 seconds before going their separate ways.
In a new interview on Thursday, Gragson expanded on his frustrations from San Diego with Magnussen, which led to his race-ending crash.
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“What I’m most mad about is that you’re in our ball field, in our ballpark, and we’re out here and we race the 38 race season,” said Gragson. “To come in here on Lap 3 and be jamming up the inside and running into guys and driving into their doors, not just myself but other guys, it’s frustrating and you see it a lot with guys in the past. Maybe I’m just a magnet to it, but Sage Karam comes to mind. You get other guys who come in from the open wheel and maybe not just open wheel, I mean some of the V8 guys, not Shane [Van Gisbergen] but Will Brown, we actually had a pretty funny conversation last year after Daytona, but I think they see how much rougher and how much more contact there is than maybe some FIA forms of motorsports.
“Where in F1, they kind of have a zero touching policy, like we do have a bit of contact but they feel like it’s 10x more than that and that’s what pisses me off. You’re coming into our ballpark and running into us so, he hit me super hard going into Turn 12, and then after I watched him do it to three other guys, and it made me mad and I raced him hard for the rest of the day. I was blocking him because I was over it. Sick and tired and then he wrecked us.”
Sage Karam actually responded to Gragson’s comments on social media, saying in a reply to the audio interview: “Maybe it’s just you pal.”
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Gragson’s job in jeopardy if he fought Magnussen?
Watch: Full recap of NASCAR clash between Magnussen and Gragson
Gragson then revealed that his post-race intentions were to actually fight Magnussen. Gragson has been involved in multiple physical altercations in the past, including Ross Chastain in 2023, Daniel Hemric in 2021, and Harrison Burton in 2020. However, he was warned of serious consequences if he actually punched Magnussen following the race San Diego.
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“I really, really, really, wanted to go fight,” admitted Gragson. “I was about to throw a punch and I got told right before I got over there that there’s going to be long-term consequences with my job if that was the case, and so I had to really restrain it.
“It’s a no-win situation. We’re not going to deal with that guy probably ever again, and if we do, it’ll be fun. I’d be excited, but if not, it is what it is. I’ve moved on. I’m racing again this next weekend and I’m going to do as best of a job as I can for the #4 team and, yeah.
“This season, there’s a lot of frustrations on top of that, and that that kind of boiled over to that moment, but that was kind of the ticking time bomb and it finally went off.”
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Gragson currently sits 29th in the NASCAR Cup championship standings, trailing both FRM teammates Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith, with a best finish of ninth. San Diego’s crash was also his third consecutive DNF, which likely added to the frustration.
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