Part of Noah Gragson's broken brake rotor hit fan, Gragson responds
Toward the end of the NASCAR Enjoy Illinois 300, Noah Gragson suffered the same fate as many drivers when his brake rotor blew up. Turn 1 is a hard one at World Wide Technology Raceway, formerly known as Gateway International Raceway. That turn puts a ton of pressure and stress on the brakes and it led to multiple incidents on Sunday.
While all of that is fine and dandy, Noah Gragson’s brake rotor was the only one that managed to make it into the stands. A piece of his rotor flew into the crowd and hit a fan in the chest. The good news is, the fan didn’t seem to be hurt too much by it. They posed with a friend and the piece of metal that hit him.
“Hey [Noah Gragson], keep the parts of your car attached, will you?” the fan, Fred Glover, tweeted along with the photo.
This is a wound he will wear proudly it seems. But the best part is that Gragson responded after the race. Gragson took a massive hit into the wall. Likely the hardest hit of his career. But he still had time to reach out to Glover and try to make things right for the NASCAR fan.
“Send a DM. Hate something came off our car and you got hit by it. I’ll make it right for you and glad you’re alright.”
While the fan said he didn’t need anything from Gragson, hopefully, he at least gets some merch sent his way. Then again, he has a souvenir that many fans would love to have. And a cool story to go with it.
Noah Gragson’s day ends early after brake rotor blows
Multiple times today we saw these brake rotors just give up in Turn 1. It started with Carson Hocevar. Then, Tyler Reddick, had his brake rotor go out on him. Unfortunately for Noah Gragson, he was the third driver to have his rotor absolutely blow to pieces. It was a common theme.
This was a hard hit that Gragson took. If it was last year, he could have been seriously hurt slamming the rear end into the wall like that. It goes to show that NASCAR put in some much-needed changes and they have paid off.
Noah wasn’t the last one to suffer this fate. Bubba Wallace would fall victim to the same thing just as the race was coming to an end. That caution sent the race into overtime. Kyle Busch was able to drive away with the win and pick up his third of the season.