UPDATE: Sunday, June 4, 2023, at 3:47 PM ET —
After seeing Jeb Burton claim that he landed three punches on Chandler Smith in their post-race scuffle, and a tweet from Jeb Burton saying that Smith, “Felt it,” Smith posted a behind-the-scenes video of the tussle.
While it looks like Burton did make some minimal contact on Smith, none of the shots landed on Smith’s head. Smith ends his video by flashing both sides of his face, which shows no damage, and Smith shrugs.
????? https://t.co/rnRk7Ihp6d pic.twitter.com/8w7Ib1cN8F
— Chandler Smith (@CSmith_Racing) June 4, 2023
While Burton left the track thinking he had evened the score, seeing Smith’s rebuttal in a public setting like Twitter will most likely do little to calm the feud between the two drivers.
ORIGINAL STORY: Saturday, June 3, 2023, at 7:46 PM ET
Jeb Burton was furious with Chandler Smith, and he had reason to be. With under 10 laps to go in Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway, Smith just wiped him out while battling inside the top-15.
In an instant, a decent run was dashed for Burton.
Here is the incident that had Jeb Burton so heated with Chandler Smith today: pic.twitter.com/LvIjpC1iGv
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 4, 2023
After the incident, Burton let his frustrations be known on his team’s radio:
Keep an eye on the No. 27 and No. 16 drivers post-race…?#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/D6WQcQWSQF
— Noah Lewis (@Noah_Lewis1) June 3, 2023
After the race was over, Burton wanted to confront Smith, who drives for Kaulig Racing — a team that Burton drove for a couple of years ago. And according to Burton in a post-race interview with Frontstretch, “I let my fists do the talking.”
"There's nothing to talk about. I let my fists do the talking."
-Jeb Burton on his altercation with Chandler Smith and Kaulig:
(from @TheBryanNolen) #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/i20xny4yFN
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) June 4, 2023
After he got a few shots in, Burton was cut off at the pass by Smith’s Kaulig Racing pit crew. At the end of the scuffle, one of the No. 16 crew members had Burton held in a headlock.
Once Burton emerged from the headlock, he got into a heated discussion with Kaulig Racing’s Chris Rice.
Here is a video of the post-race scene:
Here is the post-race scuffle between @JebBurtonRacing and the No. 16 @KauligRacing crew. Thoughts? #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/PQlq6RCXAi
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 3, 2023
While no video has surfaced of the alleged shots Burton got in on Smith, Couch Racer released some video of the tense talks between Burton and Smith before the teams broke the drivers up.
Never seen this much pointing. Have you? Should we show y’all the rest? Happy Race Day everyone. ? pic.twitter.com/AlmPwrTl7j
— Couch Racer (@CouchRacerShop) June 4, 2023
Whether you’re team Burton or team Smith, I think we can all agree team members have no business interjecting themselves in a squabble between drivers after a race’s conclusion.
