NASCAR: No penalty for Noah Gragson after Texas interview

Noah Gragson won’t be penalized after using the F-word on live television following his narrow defeat in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

JR Motorsports’ Noah Gragson appeared to be well on his way to the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 late in Saturday’s round of 8 playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway.

The driver of the #9 Chevrolet led the race by more than a second over Richard Childress Racing’s Anthony Alfredo in second place and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Harrison Burton in third.

But once Burton cleared Alfredo for second place with just over two laps remaining around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Fort Worth, Texas, it was clear that this finish would be a close one.

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Gragson led Burton by about a half-second coming to the white flag. But Burton ran him down and passed him in the final corner to secure the victory.

Just like that, Gragson went from being locked into the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway for the first time in his career to being 24 points below the Championship 4 cut line and sitting in seventh place in the championship standings with just one race remaining in the three-race round of 8.

As for Burton, the victory was his third of the season and the third of his career, although he will unfortunately not advance to the Championship 4 since he had already been eliminated from the playoffs following the round of 12.

Here is what went down in the closing laps of Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.

As a result of the ending, Gragson was clearly frustrated. Here is what he had to say in the post-race interview (Warning: NSFW language used).

While the use of such language has resulted in fines/points penalties in the past, that won’t be the case this time. According to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Gragson, who did immediately apologize on air, will not be penalized in any way for swearing in this interview.

The third and final race of the round of 8 is scheduled to take place this Saturday, October 31. The Draft Top 250 is set to be broadcast live from Martinsville Speedway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.