Noah Gragson’s fierce personality is well-known. In his first season as a Cup Series rookie, he got into a massive altercation with Ross Chastain in Kansas. He did not care a bit about their age difference and grabbed Chastain’s collar, following which the latter landed a punch. Now the Cup Series star got involved in another scuffle – despite no physical confrontation, the strong feelings were apparent.

Unlike Gragson’s poor reputation from 2023, when he was suspended for an insensitive social media action, now fans rallied beside him. Ahead of the 2024 Snowball Derby, Joe Gibbs’ young talent William Sawalich rubbed Gragson the wrong way. And he even tried to justify his actions – albeit proving Gragson right in the process.

Practice for the Superbowl of Late Model Racing was marred by untoward events. Mother Nature interrupted and shortened practice as a bout of rainfall pushed back the two sessions by an hour. A part of Five Flags Speedway peeled off in front of Majeski in Turns 3 and 4 and it ripped right through the nose and ductwork of the No. 91 chassis.

But natural elements aside, the racers themselves created room for ruckus. During the second practice session, the Joe Gibbs Xfinity star moved Noah Gragson off the bottom of the race track and the two argued about it in the infield. Noah Gragson called his opponent a “dip dot in the 62” and vented his frustration in a FloRacing interview. What he claimed went down during the session was as follows: “He blends up in the middle of 1 and 2, has his right sides over the line.” 

 However, William Sawalich had a different theory to back his actions. Posting a video of his in-car camera, he wrote on X: “MQ from today Pretty sure I was under the line. Told I was ☝️on the backstretch.” Contending with Gragson’s theory that he blended over the line, Sawalich also claimed that he had run out of room to blend any further.

Despite putting forward video evidence, Sawalich may not appease Noah Gragson soon. For the upcoming Front Row Motorsports Cup driver, the Snowball Derby is an emotion. He won the 2018 Derby race, but only after his teammate faltered due to a broken engine. So he is more than determined to win the 2024 race. “I want to win a second one just because this is the biggest race I run every year. This is bigger than the Daytona 500 to me. That’s just how much this race means to me.” What is more, he has friends here like Bubba Pollard and Zack Dunston. “Every time I come here, I end up with more friends and relationships. Today is special because we get to catch up before practice starts and it’s about getting serious and trying to win the race but I just love being here.”

And Gragson’s grudge towards Sawalich may be prolonged, as fans pointed out flaws in the latter’s argument.

NASCAR community backs Noah Gragson’s claims 

William Sawalich may be a Late Model phenomenon. The 18-year-old won the 2023 ARCA Menards Series East championship while scoring wins in all three ARCA platform divisions. But his Snowball Derby antics just earned him a spot in fans’ bad books. Somebody unequivocally dropped a harsh verdict, agreeing with Noah Gragson’s frustration. “You’re still a dip dot for going out right behind someone on a mock run then shipping them in practice.” As Gragson explained, he came into Turn 1 and 2 on a blistering race run while Sawalich would start off his laps later. Had there been a slight error from either driver, the Snowball Derby would have had an incident event before the main event started.

Somebody else even called out the race authorities for not taking notice of Sawalich’s egregious behavior. “Just throwing this out there…. If had not blended when he was supposed to, then why was he not penalized by the officials?? 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️” In any stock race, or even other racing series, there is a clear penalty for not merging from the pit road onto the race-track in a safe manner. Since Sawalich received no such penalty, the fan believed there was no infraction committed.

Some people even tried to give Sawalich a taste of his own medicine. Although Joe Gibbs’ star posted a video to justify his stand, fans claimed it justified Gragson’s opinion. Visibly, Sawalich blended his sides over the line, as one fan bashed the youngster: “Are you stupid or nothing? Your own video shows you above the line in the turn just like Noah said. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️” Just as Sawalich gets going, Gragson pulls into the frame as he takes avoiding action, moving off his line and towards the wall. That was all fans needed to side with the Cup Series star.

Another fan could not hold back his glee as Noah Gragson’s point was inadvertently proved by Sawalich. “So what Noah said is confirmed. Roger that👍🏼” Sawalich still has several chances to prove himself. But as he is slowly climbing the ranks – he is booked for a full-time Xfinity ride next year – a fan chided him for being irresponsible. They wrote: “dont drive like a bitch in practice and you wont get one. Simple as that 😂😂😂”

Evidently, Joe Gibbs’ star failed to score points in this debate. We can only wait and see if the two rivals face off again as the Snowball Derby kicks off tomorrow.