Noah Gragson was in the headlines one week ago after feuding with ex-F1 driver Kevin Magnussen in the Dane’s NASCAR Cup Series debut. They traded blows for several laps, with the full-contact back-and-forth lasting at least 13 laps before Magnussen eliminated Gragson from the race. A post-race confrontation followed, with Gragson planning to fight Magnussen before being warned not to by his team.
At Sonoma, there were no confrontations (that we saw), but there was plenty of contact and payback during the race. Gragson found himself at the epicenter of one of thoise moments while battling deep in the pack, with things get very hectic on restarts. Cody Ware was also back there, and expressed frustration over the radio after getting used up by multiple drivers.
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“I don’t know what to do unless we just start wrecking people left and right. I mean, you can watch the in-cars,” lamented Ware over the radio. “I mean, we’re the only person that’s getting raced like this. I get dive-bombed by seven different people, then once they get around us, it’s just clean racing. So I don’t know what to do. I’m just sick of it.”
At one point, Ware got into the back of Gragson a few times through the first set of corners as the field stacked up, and then passed him as they avoided a spinning car later that same lap. They were battling for 30th place on the track.
Entering the Turn 11 hairpin, Gragson retaliated, sending Ware spinning. “I’m so f****** sick of this,” remarked Ware, as he got back rolling. It was one of many such cases on Sunday.
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Watch: Ware voices frustrations before being turned by Gragson
Gilliland vs. 23XI Racing
As we said, that was far from the only moment where tempers overflowed. Todd Gilliland found himself clashing with not one, but two 23XI Racing drivers at Sonoma Raceway.
Now, for when it all began: While trying to make his way through the pack, Bubba Wallace overcooked the entry to the Turn 11 hairpin, sliding sideways and into the door of Gilliland. He passed Gilliland in the process, so, going up the hill through Turn 1 moments later, Gilliland punted Wallace off into the dirt in apparent payback.
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“Sorry I lost it there, but feel like it’s so uncalled for,” radioed Gilliland. Wallace apologized over his own radio for instigating it, calling the retaliation ‘warranted.’
However, that was only half the story. In the moments after Gilliland sent Wallace off into the dirt, Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammate Riley Herbst got alongside Gilliland. Herbst got squeezed and dropped the right-side tires off the track, causing him to wobble and go fully off into the dirt.
While the contact with Herbst appeared to be accidental, the 23XI team was urging Herbst to stand up for himself in this mid-pack battles. “Be aggressive,” Herbst was told, and reminded to race them how they raced him as he found Gilliland again later in the race. Entering the Turn 11 hairpin, he slammed into the right-rear of Gilliland’s car, sending him around.
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Watch: In-cars: Everything that happened between Gilliland, Herbst and Wallace
NASCAR normally doesn’t really penalize drivers for such minor incidents, unless they voice intentions to purposely wreck another driver/cause a caution, or if the incident is serious enough (like right-hooking drivers into the wall at high speeds). Otherwise, this is all part of the ‘eye for an eye’ conduct that dominates the mid-field at road courses and short tracks throughout the year
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Winners and losers from a close NASCAR Cup race at Sonoma
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after Sonoma 2026
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