Cup driver Noah Gragson after making his debut in the series.
Magnussen was driving for the special one-off Project 91 Trackhouse
Racing entry – the same which Kimi Raikkonen used to make his Cup
debut in 2022. The former McLaren, Renault, and Haas driver was
competing in the race at NAS North Island, Naval Base Coronado as
NASCAR built a special circuit on the San Diego military base. The
Dane finished 27th overall, and even set the fastest lap of the
race in his Chevrolet machine, but following the race was
immediately confronted by Gragson of Front Row Motorsports
following a series of on-track clashes. The two had banged wheels
and doors earlier in the race, with Gragson then bumping Magnussen
out of the way at the chicane to take the position after a battle
lasting a number of laps. As they approached Turn 4 with a handful
of laps remaining in the second stage, Magnussen made his move. He
got up the inside of Gragson and tipped the #4 into the wall, even
appearing to throttle up during the critical pre-contact moments.
Gragson hit the wall, broke the right-front toe-link and promptly
retired. After the race, he was waiting for Magnussen, and
confronted the one-time F1 podium sitter. “What’s your f******
problem,” Gragson asked at point of the roughly 90-second exchange.
“You guys come over here, you f****** drive off into the corner,
just because you got fenders on it.” Retorting, Magnussen told
Gragson to: “get the f*** out of my face,” before telling him to
“f*** off” and “get out of my face.” The American then pushed the
Dane to find out what his problem was, with Magnussen telling
Gragson “my problem is you in my face” before finally asking him
“you don’t understand English or what? I am saying f*** off.” The
two then parted ways. The race itself was won by Corey Heim of
23XI Racing – the team owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and
current NASCAR star Denny Hamlin. It is Heim’s first Cup Series
victory, whilst Bubba Wallace finished second to complete a 23XI
one-two, with Hamlin, who races for Joe Gibbs Racing in 14th.