Dale Earnhardt Jr. comments on “wild night” in CARS Tour after chaos unfolded in post-race brawl

Former Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. shed light on a chaos-filled night in the CARS Tour Throwback 276 race at Hickory Motor Speedway. Earnhardt Jr. co-owns the regional series with two-time Xfinity Series champion, Kevin Harvick.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. debuted in the Xfinity Series (formerly Busch) in 1996. He became a full-time competitor a few years later and clinched consecutive titles in 1998 and 1999. In NASCAR's top division, Dale Jr. secured 26 race wins but couldn't match his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., who won the Cup Series championship seven times.

Following an eventful Brickyard 400, the CARS Tour race did not disappoint the viewers. Dale Earnhard Jr.'s driver Landon Huffman returned to the CARS Tour at Hickory, driving the #37 for Carroll Speedshop. With 63 laps to go in the race, Huffman made contact with the left rear of the #1 of Andrew Grady, which ended the latter's race. Grady was infuriated and was witnessed hurling his belt at Huffman's #37.

Following the end of the race, a brawl ensued in the pit lane between the #1 team and the #37 team. Here's a look at the incident. (via Frontstretch on X)

Words were exchanged between the two drivers after the race. Denny Hamlin was brought into the conversation as Grady quoted Hamlin calling Huffman a "hack" and a "trash panda".

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also shared his thoughts on the mayhem that was witnessed at Hickory. Congratulating the winner, he wrote on X:

"Wild night for the @CARSTour. @hickoryspeedway is a bullring and always delivers fireworks. Congrats to @RonnieBassett04 on the win. His team has served the series well over the years. Tough night for race control but they held up the expectations and standards."

Ronnie Bassett Jr. went on to win his first zMAX CARS Tour race after an action-packed race at Hickory Motor Speedway. Bassett Jr. was not the first to cross the finish line, Ryan Millington had beaten him to the punch.

However, Millington was penalized by the race officials after the race ended, for making contact with Connor Hall in the last lap of the Throwback 276. Bassett Jr. finished the race in P2 and was handed the win by default.

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"Wants to call me a hack, that's fine" - Dale Jr.'s driver Landon Huffman lashes Andrew Grady's heated comments

Andrew Grady did not hold back on his words for Landon Huffman, as the latter spun him off and sent him into the barriers. The incident led to an untimely end for Grady, who was displeased with Huffman's move.

Grady was witnessed quoting JGR driver Denny Hamlin, who had once tagged Huffman as a wrecking driver. In a post-race interview with Frontstretch, Huffman responded to Grady:

"I'm not here to wreck people[...] I've seen him(Andrew Grady) crash more race cars than I think, races he's finished. He wants to call me a hack, that's fine. I got a couple championships and about 40 late model stock wins that he can suck on," Huffman said.

Unhappy with how his race ended, Andrew Grady further added that he would be having a conversation with Huffman about this incident before the pair leave The Hickory Motor Speedway.