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via Getty

via Getty

NASCAR is no stranger to physical altercations, even in its top tier—be it Bubba Wallace shoving Kyle Larson or Ross Chastain landing a heavy punch on Noah Gragson’s face. Incidents like these are not uncommon in the lower divisions of NASCAR as well where the competitors are much younger. That is exactly what happened at the Martinsville Speedway on Saturday in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300.

It was a late-model cars race and a full-blown fight took place after the second heat. An incident on the track boiled over into the garage that saw both teams get involved and dozens of people involved in the physical altercation. While some might argue that moments like this are normal in stock car racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr is having none of it as he brutally slammed the incident for ruining what he considered was an important day for late model racing.

A physical altercation between drivers’ crews disgusts Dale Earnhardt Jr

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The incident reportedly broke out between Connor Hall and Magnum Tate after the second heat of the race. According to FOXnews, the two drivers collided on track and Tate’s car was airborne for a moment before coming down and cleaning up Hall’s car in the process. The on-track incident was scary and both drivers had every right to be upset but what ensued in the garage afterward was absolutely barbaric.

The two crews had a massive argument in the garage after both drivers had come in and it didn’t take long before the situation went from bad to worse and there were about a dozen people throwing punches and putting each other in headlocks. A video of the incident revealed just how unsafe it was near the garage being someone not involved in the scuffle.

In all of the drama, driver Chris Horton Jr was the one whose race suffered even though he was not involved in the incident in any capacity. The brawlers fought on the hood of his purple #42 car that was just about to go out on track to race. The hood was left quite damaged at the end of the whole fight.

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NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr’s attention was brought to this matter by his close friend Mike Davis on a recent episode of The Dale Jr. Download podcast and the 49-year-old could not hide his disgust.

“It’s a terrible look. It’s such a terrible look,” he said. “It just frustrates me a little bit that we had this incredible moment for model stock racing. An awesome finish, right? But more people were really wanting to see this…what happened here, why’d this happen, show me that video, show me this angle…that took away from one of the biggest days for Model stock racing in the year,” the former Cup Series driver added.

In the midst of all this drama, it can be easy to forget who won the race and that is something that absolutely shouldn’t happen. Especially not when it comes to this particular race because the ending was absolutely sensational.

Martinsville race sees incredible photo finish despite physical altercation

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Landon Huffman and Trevor Ward were two men unwilling to give even an inch of space to one another as they approached the finish line. According to floracing, the two drivers had built a substantial gap to their competitors with 10 laps to go and were going door to door, banging fenders ever so often to the finish line.

As the checkered flag approached, Ward edged ahead of Huffman coming out of turn four to take the win in what can only be described as a picture-perfect photo finish. The driver of the #77 car was in tears after what might have been the biggest victory of his career as he dedicated the win to his dear departed grandfather.

“I started crying immediately,” said Ward. “And I don’t cry a lot. My Grandpa died about seven years ago, and that was the worst I ever wanted to cry. And I haven’t cried since. He would be proud of me watching me win this deal. He definitely is. He was with me tonight. We did it paw-paw.”

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Had the unfortunate incident taken place earlier in the day, it would have gone down as a fantastic Late Model stock car race on an iconic track like Martinsville. It still will go down as that but the brawl does throw a dark shade on what should have been an exciting day of racing. Incidents like these do more damage to the sport than people realize and in this day and age, are simply unacceptable.

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