KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — All of the attention at the end of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway was on Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson. The two had made contact with half a lap to go, with Hamlin coming away with the win while Larson held on for second.
Boos reigned down over Hamlin as he climbed out of his car in front of the crowd. But moments later, the attention swung to pit road and a confrontation between fifth place finisher Ross Chastain and 29th place finisher Noah Gragson.
Chastain, who has drawn the ire of many drivers this season with his aggressiveness on the track, found himself in another heated confrontation Sunday. He had gotten into Noah Gragson with about 60 laps to go, and Gragson, who walked up to the Trackhouse Racing driver afterward to make his displeasure known.
Gragson put his hands on Chastain, who responded with a sweeping right hook that appeared to connect. Gragson tried to return the punch, but he was pulled away by security and NASCAR officials.
“I'm sick and tired of it,” Gragson said of Chastain's driving style. “The guy runs into everyone. When you have guys like Chase Elliott and other guys telling you to beat his (expletive), everyone is just sick of him.”
Chastain accepted some of the blame for the contact but didn't have much to say about the punch.
“I got tight off four for sure,” Chastain said. “Noah and I have a very similar attitude on the race track. We train together, we prepare together, we know every little bit about each other. I definitely crowded him out of four.”
Kyle Busch had railed against Chastain over the radio before crashing out of the race on a restart. Afterward, Busch seemed to take aim at the performance of the Next Gen car, which he said made it too difficult to pass.
“Not racing like it once used to be,” he said after dropping an on-air expletive. “You’re faster than a guy, you run him down three-tenths a lap and you stall when you get there. Part of it’s the car. They can aero block you, pinch you, burn up your tires and do everything else to hold their position and then you get passed from behind. Very frustrating.”
STAGE WINNERS
Hamlin took the opening stage for his second of the season, and Martin Truex, Jr. finished second after his win in last Monday's rain-delayed race at Dover. The top four spots and six of the top seven in the stage belonged to Toyota.
The second stage ended in a mess when a caution flew and the leaders pit with eight laps to go. Joey Logano took the lead, tying the Kansas Speedway record with the 26th change in the race. And when the green flag dropped, Busch jammed behind a four-wide move and went for a spin, bringing out another caution and giving Logano the stage win.
PENALTY SITUATION
Tyler Reddick's car failed inspection twice on Saturday, resulting in the ejection of car chief Michael Hobson, while Brennan Poole lost car chief Dave Jones when his car also failed twice. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. started at the back after having to change his water pump gauge and Corey LaJoie joined him in the rear after making some pre-race adjustments.
UP NEXT
Next week is the “Throwback Weekend” at Darlington, and it's increasingly become a family affair. Elliott's No. 9 car for Hendrick Motorsports will look like his father Bill Elliott's car from 2003. Ryan Blaney's No. 12 will pay homage to father Dave Blaney's old sprint car. The No. 21 of Harrison Burton will look like father Jeff Burton's old paint scheme.
