The NASCAR Cup series outing in the Road America track was a quiet affair with not very few natural cautions coming out the Xfinity Series race that took place the day before was more than just a quiet affair with multiple crashes and an intentional wreck caused by one of the future cup Series prospect at the track, which had not justification.
Noah Gregson was fighting for eighth place with Sage Karam as they have been having a back-and-forth battle pushing and bumping each other for a long time. On the 25th lap of the race, Noah Gregson who was clearly frustrated by his rival took the matters into his hands as he hooked a right into Karam’s door forcing both the drivers to spin out of the race.
As the crash unveiled at the straight between turns 3 and 4 the drivers who were behind the duo came crashing to both of them as the limited visibility on the track followed the smoke that was produced by the wreck. Though none of the drivers were injured they were some serious crashes that took place which could have had a different outcome at another time.
The NASCAR community was quick to call out Gregson for his irresponsible driving even his team JR Motorsports owner and Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. called him out saying “I told him that I could stand behind him through just about anything, but I could not defend that. And that’s a difficult thing for me. That’s a difficult position for me or anybody to be in. It’s when you want to support somebody and you’re helping somebody try to achieve their goals, but they do something you can’t defend. That was just the message I gave him,”.
NASCAR imposes a heavy penalty on Noah Gregson prompting a strong reaction from the NASCAR fans on Twitter
The Xfinity series championship contender was given a $35,000 fine and was docked his 30 championship points. The Jr Motorsports team also saw their 30 owners’ championship points being reduced. Though the high-speed wreck was condoned by many the penalty has produced a mixed reaction on Twitter as most debated the severity of the penalty.
Ridiculous penalty he did nothing wrong
— Bean (@bean2713) July 6, 2022Getting rid of all his playoff points is a little harsh. I mean nobody got hurt. It wasn't a wreck while they were doing 190 mph but he still needed reprimanded for what he did. I'm sure that Nascar wasn't the only one's that reprimanded him. I bet Kelly and Dale both was on him
— Doug C (@Combsdg1) July 6, 2022Yeah he only took out a bucketload of drivers out a race because he got frustrated someone raced him hard, not to mention he turned into someone in the middle of a straight out of anger. Are you serious now
— Meltered (@FlyingTrains1) July 6, 2022One of the worst decisions in nascar history
— Bean (@bean2713) July 6, 2022Big @NoahGragson fan here (always gonna stick up for him). Only thing I see he should have done different is punted the 45 in the next corner out in grass by himself. I think the penalty comes because of the amount of cars that got tore up and an injured driver.
— 🏁Cale Shonk 🏁 (@CaleShonk) July 6, 2022That's a poor decision…he simply did the same thing that Nascar has always encouraged…beating and banging
— Patrick (@luckybasscat88) July 6, 2022Turning someone at high speed down a straightaway AND in front of the pack is absolutely justified in being a penalty.
— Motorsports fan (@nascarfan242015) July 6, 2022Serious question. Is this a new rule, Bob? We’ve seen multiple drivers “intentionally” wreck other drivers this year and through our years past. Believe we’ve even had ones admit that they have done it. Or is this just NASCAR being inconsistent with they’re rules, as usual.
— Jared Groot (@grooter412) July 6, 2022Deliberately wrecking a driver on one of the fastest straights at Road America? Said incident caused Brandon Brown an injury? I like Noah, but to say he did nothing wrong is a reach.
— Paul 光 の 戦士 (@FairfallXIV) July 6, 2022sage clearly tried to intent wreck gragson on the second contact…gragson was just successful 🤷♂️
— Barrett Coffey (@bhcoffey) July 6, 2022I think let boys be boys could be fun to watch. He made it clear how he will race. Let’s see if people will race him that way and how he reacts. If he is willing to do that he shouldn’t mind if it’s done to him. Old school.
— Shits&giggles (@Greg_of_Dundalk) July 6, 2022It puts him 69 points behind Ty for the reg season championship which he was absolutely in contention for, so while it’s not a death blow, it all but eliminates him from that conversation.
— Amateur Racing Fan (@amateurnascar) July 6, 2022Not enough.
Gragson isn't a one-time offender, he does this stuff all the time, so this penalty feels incredibly hollow.
— Alex Marzu (@marzuski14) July 6, 2022He has 23 playoff points. Idk if this total reflects the -30 but if he was only -39 before then he is all but out of the running for the regular season title which awards +15 playoff points through each round. 10 races to make that deficit up before their playoffs start at Texas pic.twitter.com/YGGEgx5jaX
— Jeff Robertson (@JeffryRobertson) July 6, 2022ncG1vNJzZmiemafAtb%2FPqKmtsl6YvK57zZqqnJmiYrumw9JmqaKcmZjCrbvUrGSpnZ6WubXFjKGcZpyZmXqvu9OhoKefXay%2FsLrGZqWaq5OWv27A1qKrrZ2iYr%2BmrcKtqmasn2K7sK3HZp6rnZeovK95wZ6gp59dpbKvrcuisZ6cXZu8s3nToZxmpaWhwap5wpqpZpuilsCpecinZK2glWLFp7XNoquyZaOav6qx0mg%3D