Noah Gragson was the talk of the NASCAR world this past weekend, after he intentionally wrecked Sage Karam at the Xfinity race at Road America in Elkhart, Wisconsin.
And in doing so, wrecked a TON of other drivers in the field.
Although Gragson claimed that he did it because Karam doored him multiple times, he was penalized 30 points and was fined $35,000 by NASCAR for the move.
With that being said, NASCAR legend and co-owner of Gragson’s team JR Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr., weighed in on the situation on “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio…
And he wasn’t happy.
According to NBC Sports, Earnhardt Jr. said:
“I was disappointed and absolutely planned to discuss that with Noah and I have this week. Basically my message to Noah is that he needs to take that out of his toolbox… he cannot be intentionally turning into guys on the straightaway.”
He also added that these types of actions could seriously hurt Gragson’s chances of getting to the Cup level:
“He wants to get to the Cup level, and we want to help him get there.
Whether he’s driving a Cup car for us one day or someone else, when he makes those type of decisions, and this is what I told him, I said ‘You’re hurting that opportunity, you’re tarnishing, staining your reputation.’ And that’s the last thing you want to do when you’re trying to get job offers.
And 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.”
Karam also said to NBC Sports’ Kim Coon on Saturday, following the race:
“Unfortunately, he let his emotions get the best of him today. I’ve seen that with him. He walks around like he’s like the big man on campus around here and everything, and then he does stuff like that.
It’s just not a good role model that he is.”
Gragson said of Karam after the race:
“I don’t know if he’s not used to stock car driving, but it seems like the open-wheel stuff, you can’t really go in there side-by-side and hit somebody in the door number when they’re turning and wrecking them and running them off on exit.
Maybe he thinks that because we have fenders, you can do that. I don’t know the deal. It is what it is, and you saw the result.”
He also added:
“Just got run over. That’s one thing if you’re faster than someone. I pointed AJ (Allmendinger) by all day. (Karam) would just throw it off in there and run you off the racetrack in the corner and door you and run you off the track.
Finally after the third time, I’m over it. It’s obviously not the ideal situation for him and his team, but for three times I’m done with it.”
Noah Gragson currently sits at 4th in the Xfinity Series standings.
