There were many on-track collisions in Sunday’s Music City Grand Prix, but the aftermath of the clash between Romain Grosjean and Josef Newgarden was the most public.
Late in the race, Newgarden made an ambitious, late-braking dive to place himself fully alongside Grosjean in a battle for the seventh position.
The Frenchman did not yield the position, and ended up with his Andretti Autosport Honda stuck in the tire barriers while his competitor was able to drive away.
Grosjean did not immediately climb into the waiting safety vehicle after exiting his car, and made sure to make an angry gesture at Newgarden the next time he drove past.
Speaking with NBC about the incident after the race, the two-time champion made no apologies for his aggressive maneuver.
“Well, I was alongside him fully, if not a little bit ahead,” said Newgarden. “I haven’t seen it from the outside, but [I was] certainly not trying to [hit him]. I’m already ahead of him at that point.
“Welcome to IndyCar. It gets tight. You know, he’s been on the worst end of that. I don’t know what to tell him. You know, good thing I was ahead. That’s the biggest thing. You’re gonna want to be ahead of this guy on this type of moment.
“It’s tight street course racing. Let me tell you what, I about got taken out six times myself. If you’re not aggressive back, then you get run over.
“That’s IndyCar racing. You gotta learn that pretty quick. I don’t like it, but that’s the game that we’re in.”
Newgarden’s post-race comments, and possibly the pass attempt in the first place, were surely influenced by Grosjean’s previous race moves, which have drawn criticism from other drivers for being too aggressive.
Since switching to IndyCar in 2021, Grosjean has been involved in a few on-track feuds with other drivers, including some with his own team-mates following intra-team collisions.
Both drivers, along with the rest of the field, will have next weekend off to regain their composure following a busy four week, five race stretch, before tackling the final three races of the season.
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