Bristol Motor Speedway is the last great coliseum. Saturday, Sept. 19, drivers Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar engaged in a physical confrontation after the NASCAR Cup race that was the definition of a Roman coliseum event. They had a fight on television that included good punches, crowd chaos and post-fight finger-pointing. This fight made mainstream sports news. Go figure.
It began when Hocevar did what racers do: He tried to pass Blaney for the lead. When Blaney attempted to block him, Hocevar did not lift off the gas. As a result, Blaney spun out of the race. This had big championship points implications.
Blaney, who is a reasonable person, went to Hocevar’s pit after the race and grabbed him aggressively. Hocevar responded with two right punches to the face. As the team crews separated the drivers, Blaney snuck back to Hocevar and landed one good punch. It was WW-NASCAR!
Joey Logano won the NASCAR race after leader Ty Gibbs tried to crash Hocevar when Hocevar passed him for the lead with six laps to go. Gibbs’ actions cost both drivers the win and allowed Logano to slip by on the bottom while the feuding drivers blocked Kyle Larson. Larson finished second and took over the championship points lead. Hocevar took third, followed by Chris Bell, Gibbs, Josh Berry, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin.
Heading to Kansas on Sept. 27 with seven races to go, Larson has 2,206 points, followed by Hamlin with 2,205, Logano with 2,190, Bell with 2,189, Gibbs with 2,164, Blaney with 2,154, Tyler Reddick with 2,145, Hocevar with 2,121, Chase Briscoe with 2,119 and Wallace with 2,114. Daniel Suarez is last in the 16-car playoff field with 2,072 points, 134 behind leader Larson.
On Saturday night at Bristol, Sheldon Creed won the NASCAR O’Reilly race over William Sawalich, Brent Crews, Justin Allgaier, Corey Day and Taylor Gray. Allgaier was the series points leader entering the race. A tangle with Jesse Love cost him the playoff points lead. He is now 11 points behind two-time playoff race winner Creed. Carson Kvapil is third with 2,198, followed by Love at 2,198 and Sam Mayer with 2,157.
Jake Garcia won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol, beating Bayley Currey, Stewart Friesen, Justin Haley and Tristan McKee. McKee became the youngest driver, at 16, to score a top-five finish in that series. None of the 10 playoff contenders finished in the top five. Layne Riggs remains the truck playoff points leader, three points ahead of Kayden Honeycutt, who has 2,122 points. Chandler Smith is next with 2,095 points, followed by Ty Majeski at 2,095 and Gio Ruggiero at 2,086. The trucks race Sept. 26 in Kansas, with the Cup Series on Sept. 27.
NHRA drag racing at US 131 Motorsports Park saw the fastest run in history in the Top Fuel final when Shawn Langdon went 346 mph through the lights to defeat Spencer Massey in the Dodge Great Lakes Nationals. Jordan Vandergriff beat Matt Hagan in the Funny Car class, becoming the first driver to win a final from the 16th qualifying position since 2003. Troy Coughlin won for the first time in 41 meets in Pro Stock, defeating Matt Hartford in the final. Jon Hall won in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class. The meet saw repeated red-light starts that jumbled the playoff points standings.
Justin Sanders won $83,000 by beating Emerson Axsom, James McFadden, David Gravel and Buddy Kofoid in the Dennis Roth Classic at the Stockton Fairgrounds World of Outlaws feature. It was Sanders’ first Outlaws win. The cars did not run mufflers! McFadden won the Friday opener.
Thunderhill Park in Willows, California, will host two days of AFM motorcycle racing on the three-mile track, along with SCCA autocross on the skid pad. Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway ends its season Friday and Saturday, Sept. 25-26, with the Fall Nationals featuring 360 winged sprint cars.