Kevin Magnussen got the full NASCAR experience during his Cup Series debut on Sunday at Naval Base Coronado, complete with an in-race rivalry with Noah Gragson, which overflowed into the post-race festivities.
The situation started when Magnussen made contact with Gragson in Turn on Lap 25, which shipped Gragson out of the way.
The contact led Gragson to chime on his team radio, “All these F1 dickheads just think they get fenders and a f—ing bumper, they just drive in the inside and just barrel into everyone. I’ve f—in’ had it.”
Under a caution for a crash involving Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Hill, Connor Zilisch, and others on Lap 32, Gragson showed his displeasure to Magnussen by flipping him off out the window and by scraping his car into Magnussen’s several times.
When the race went back green, Gragson shoved Magnussen into a group of cars ahead of them, which put Magnussen three-wide with Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon. Thankfully, Magnussen was able to get out of that situation without spinning himself or anyone else.
Gragson would then get around Magnussen, but with 37 laps remaining in the race, Magnussen would then drive in deep in the right-hand Turn 4, and would send Gragson spinning out with contact to Gragson’s right rear quarterpanel. Gragson’s No. 4 Ford would collide nose-first with the barriers, and his car would suffer major damage.
LMFAO pic.twitter.com/iKGrkt5krY
— Skid (@WhoisSkid) June 21, 2026
After the race, Gragson confronted Magnussen on pit road, and wanted answers to why Magnussen “wrecked the f— out of him,” to which Magnussen told Gragson to “f— off” and to “get out of my face.”
Noah Gragson confronted Kevin Magnussen post race
“What the f*** is your problem?”#NASCAR #Anduril250 pic.twitter.com/owi4olw4Zx
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneCPT) June 22, 2026
It was a heated post-race exchange, but unlike some of Gragson’s previous post-race exchanges, no fists were exchanged in the situation. Just words, harsh words. Gragson took exception to how he felt he was raced by Magnussen, who isn’t a regular in the NASCAR world.
“Yeah, we get destroyed,” Gragson said.
As for the post-race altercation, Gragson said, “I just wanted to know what his f—ing problem was.”
After the pit road verbal sparring, Magnussen was asked what he and Gragson said to each other.
“A whole lot of stuff that I can’t say on camera,” Magnussen quipped.
The situation with Gragson in Sunday’s race was a whole new experience for Magnussen, who says he has never had this kind of beef with another driver throughout his entire professional racing career, which included 185 starts in Formula 1.
“No, I have not. But I’ve watched NASCAR before, so I know that’s how you guys play it. So, it is what it is,” Magnussen said. “I mean, he was playing a bit stupid out there. He could have had a good race, but he chose not to.”
Magnussen said while it was a rough and tumble afternoon on the racetrack, he was impressed with the overall level of skill and respect shown by the majority of the drivers on track in the Anduril 250.
“Look, I felt like I was in a fistfight the whole race through. Honestly, everyone was driving so well,” Magnussen said. “I think, yeah, it’s tough racing, but people have respect for their hearts. You can’t mess around, you know? You’ll find out. So, I think I like that kind of racing. Big respect to everyone except, you know, that one guy, but I’ll deal with that.”
At the end of the day, Magnussen scored a 27th-place finish in his NASCAR Cup Series debut, a far cry from his father, Jan Magnussen, who collected a 12th-place result in his lone NASCAR Cup Series start in 2010.
But Magnussen says he learned a lot throughout the day, and feels that if he were given a restart button to do it over again, he would be much more competitive the next time around.
“It would have been so much better if we could start the race again now, because I learned so much about the car in the race. I felt so much more confident with everything towards the end of the race. I understood the car. I did my fastest lap by quite a margin, I think, in the race. The pace was there, the car was really good. Yeah, just super happy to get the opportunity to race in NASCAR.”
Will we see Magnussen compete in the NASCAR Cup Series again someday? Only time will tell, but if he does return, he’ll have to keep in the back of his mind that Gragson will be looking to settle the score from Sunday’s Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado.
