Former F1 driver Kevin Magnussen and Noah Gragson ran into each other at the Anduril 250 at Coronado Naval Base on Sunday. The No.4 Ford driver confronted Magnussen after the race, which led to a heated exchange. The NASCAR debutant dismissed Gragson following the post-race altercation.
Gragson and Magnussen bumped each other into braking zones, shut the door aggressively, slammed doors, and eventually ended with the No.4 Front Row Motorsports Ford spinning out.
After the race ended, Noah Gragson confronted Kevin Magnussen, consistently asking the former F1 driver, ‘what his problem was?’ The Danish driver isn’t one to back off from aggression and responded to the FRM driver with equal aggression. After consistently asking Gragson to get out of his face, Magnussen said,
“My problem is you in my face.”
Speaking with Front Stretch after the altercation, when asked about what Gragson said to him, Kevin Magnussen replied,
“A whole lot of stuff that I can’t say on camera.”
When questioned if he ever had an interaction like that in his career and whether his debut race felt like a fist fight, the Danish driver replied,
“I have not. You know, I’ve watched NASCAR before, so I know that’s how you guys play it, so it’s what it is. I mean, he was playing a bit stupid out there. He could have had a good race, but he chose not to.”
“I feel like it was in a fist fight the whole way through and honestly, everyone was driving so well and thinking, you know, yeah, it’s tough racing. But people have respectful hearts. So, I think, you know, I like that kind of racing and have a big respect for everyone except you know, that one guy, but you know, that’s, you know, I’ll deal with that,” Kevin Magnussen added
Noah Gragson reacts to heated argument with Kevin Magnussen
Gragson was visibly angry after the race and during an interview after he confronted Kevin Magnussen, the No.4 Ford driver bashed drivers who aren’t accustomed to NASCAR as he said,
“I don’t want to put all of them in this group, but a lot of these open-wheel racers that come race with us… They get fenders on their cars, they get bumpers. They’re driving up the inside, barrelling up the inside, pinballing it, blasting our inside doors. I don’t know why that is. The 91 just kept pushing off in there, then hit me again and ended our day.”
On Lap 38, after constant pushing and shoving between the No. 4 and No. 91, Magnussen hit the right rear of Gragson, which sent him spinning. The damage from the spin & the collision ended the Front Row Motorsport driver’s day.
Kevin Magnussen, who started P21, ran inside the Top 20 for most of the race, but fell back in the final laps as he was on older tires and finished P27.
