Boys, have at it.
Back about a decade ago, NASCAR had been taking a lot of heat for having too many rules, issuing too many penalties, and policing drivers’ actions too heavily on the track. So ahead of the 2010 season, a NASCAR official announced their new policy: Boys, have at it.
And Kyle Busch wants to get back to that when it comes to post-race scuffles on pit road.
The talk of NASCAR this week has been the pit road confrontation between Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain after last week’s race at Kansas Speedway.
Gragson was angry that Chastain had raced him too hard earlier in the race, causing the two cars to get together and ultimately leading to Gragson cutting a tire and ruining his day a few laps later. And after the race, Gragson let Chastain hear about it on pit road – something many drivers in the garage area felt was a long time coming.
But ultimately, Chastain ended up getting the better of his competition yet again. When Gragson confronted Chastain and began angrily pushing him while grabbing his firesuit, Chastain told him to stop a few times before ultimately landing a mean right hook square on Gragson’s jaw.
The two were quickly separated by security before Gragson could get a swing in at Chastain.
And Kyle Busch thinks they were separated TOO quickly.
During his media availability today at Darlington Raceway ahead of the Goodyear 400 tomorrow, Busch was asked about the confrontation between Gragson and Chastain. And in typical Kyle Busch fashion, he didn’t hold back on his own frustrations with Chastain:
“I’ve had issues with a lot of guys and Chastain’s been the most frustrating one because he has it every single week… It’s like, guy hasn’t even learned a single lesson…There’s a common denominator.”
But Busch isn’t sure that Gragson was the right guy to confront Chastain for his aggressive moves. He said with a laugh:
“I don’t know if Noah was the right guy. I think Denny has more reasons to do that. But Noah obviously wanted to show his frustrations. And I think Noah had somewhat similar philosophy as I did where it’s like, same guy every time, I’m not gonna take that crap.”
However, he also thinks security broke up the fight too soon after Chastain threw a punch:
“I feel like security stepped in about 10 seconds too quick. You let one guy get a hell of a hit in and then you block the other guy from getting a hit back. You gotta at least let the guy try, and then maybe get in.”
And Busch has an idea how to fix things going forward – and increase NASCAR’s ratings at the same time:
“I would seriously urge NASCAR to go with some hockey rules. Once you get to the ground we’re gonna break it up, or once one of you guys look gassed we’re gonna break it up.
Let ’em get a good 30 seconds in. It’s gonna be way better for TV and ratings are gonna go off the charts.”
I mean, I’m all for it.
And I have a feeling Gragson would say the same thing after he wasn’t able to take a shot at Chastain after getting punched in the jaw.
