With the boundless exuberance of a driver who had just won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series Race, Noah Gragson climbed the catch fence on the frontstretch at Daytona International Speedway after taking the checkered flag in last Saturday’s NASCAR Racing Experience 300.
As he got halfway up the overhanging fence, discretion suddenly became the better part of valor.
“Normal fences at these race tracks are pretty much straight up and down, but that one was inverted, so it was like leaning over the track,” Gragson said on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, venue for Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “I was climbing up there, and I was like, ‘Man, if I fall, that’s going to suck, that’s going to be terrible, that’s going to hurt.
“’Cause you’re pretty high up there. It’s taller than any of the other fences, and the banking’s going down, so if you fall, it would have hurt pretty bad. I was a little worn out. I wrapped my hand inside the fence, trying to make sure I didn’t fall. I was like, ‘Man, I don’t need to get much higher. This is good for right now.’”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
