“You get punched in the nose for that”: When Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman had a fistfight

Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer punched Ryan Newman after the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race ended. They were battling for track position in the race's latter half, but neither finished in the top 10.

Piloting the #14 Ford for Stewart Has Racing, Bowyer started the All-Star race from pole position, sharing the front row with Kyle Busch. Meanwhile, Newman began the race in P6 in the #6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. After a few skirmishes during the race, Bowyer cut across the nose of Newman's Ford on the cooldown lap, which led to contact between both Fords and sent the pole sitter crashing into the wall.

As both drivers entered pit road, Bowyer rushed to Newman still in his #6 Ford, and started throwing punches at him.

Following the end of the race, Clint Bowyer was interviewed by Fox Sports and asked to share his thoughts on everything that unfurled between him and Newman throughout the race.

"It was a damn sure surprise fight. I don't know what the hell his (Newman) beef was. I thought he was a lap. Our day was over, we lost track position there, got sideways, crossed up, and basically just buying time there and seeing if something's going to happen at the end," Clint Bowyer said. [02:04]

"After the race he comes and runs into my back and turns me all around and I pull up next to him and he dumps me into four. Where I come from, you get punched in the nose for that, it's what he got."

Xfinity Series champion Bowyer's NASCAR career started in the 2004 O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. He secured 21 trips to victory lane, with 10 in the Cup Series. The Kansas native retired from NASCAR in 2020 and was replaced by Chase Briscoe in Stewart Haas's #14 Ford.

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"I didn't appreciate the way he raced me": Ryan Neman shed light on his pit road altercation with Clint Bowyer

Fox Sports interviewed Ryan Newman after Clint Bowyer punched him following the 2019 All-Star race. In the interview, Newman outlined his perspective on everything in the race and said:

"Well, the #14 shot me on the front straightaway earlier in the race. I just about turned him around and then after the race I just went up and tapped him in the back, let him know I didn't appreciate the way he raced me. He just cut across my nose at turn three so doesn't take much of a man to try to fight somebody with their helmet on. I think he should be embarrassed of himself." [01:30]

Neither driver was penalized by NASCAR for the fistfight on the pit road but NASCAR's former VP of Competition Scott Miller said that if such behavior continued in the remaining season, the sanctioning body would intervene.