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Josh Brock apologizes for crew’s violent Redbud 400 threat

Aaron Bearden | STS

Josh Brock issued an apology on behalf of his team a day after the Redbud 400 at Anderson Speedway in Indiana.

After fighting back from two laps down, he was in a position to battle for the lead on a late restart. While no one was catching Raphael Lessard, Brock engaged in a door-to-door battle with Stephen Nasse. It ended with Nasse giving him a shove on the final corner of the final lap that put his No. 17 in the wall.

The Brock crew surrounded Nasse on pit road, one of them threatening the polarizing Super Late Model start and promising physical harm to his family. It’s something Brock would not condone.

“We are more than a team, we are a family,” said Brock. “We win as a family and we lose as a family.  Any time something happens to our family, we defend one another.  After the incident on the track some of my race family took their defense too far over the line.

“In this sport, tempers run hot and it was the end of a long and stressful race where we overcame a lot of adversity to have a chance.  I was mad, as was everyone wearing a Josh Brock Racing uniform, but that can’t be an excuse.

“As the driver and leader of this team, I take responsibility for the actions of my team and apologize to Stephen and his team for our involvement in the altercation after the race.  We raced each other hard, just like we are supposed to at the end of a prestigious race like the Redbud 400, but this time it ended with a wrecked race car and some unfortunate social media attention.”

“It was a really tough way to end the day,” Brock said. “I felt as though we had one of the best cars here and wanted the chance to see if we had anything for Raphael.  After going two laps down early because of involvement in another incident, the team stuck together and battled hard.  We knew it was a long race and we had a good car.

“Slowly we got our laps back and then raced our way back to the front and put ourselves in a position for a win or top-three finish. It’s disappointing when that’s taken away from you.”

READ MORE: Raphael Lessard earns redemption with Redbud 400 victory

With qualifying cancelled due to weather, the field was set by practice times, putting Brock in third for the drop of the green flag. On Lap 120, he made contact with Greg Van Alst, leaving him stalled on the frontstretch and down two laps.

And yet, he found himself back on the lead lap and inside the top-10 by lap 322.  From there Brock continued his march to the front, breaking into the top-five with just over 25 laps to go and the top three on lap 386.

That led to the last lap crash with Nasse and the ensuing infield altercation.

READ MORE: Here’s everything you need to know about the Josh Brock, Stephen Nasse altercation

Brock now looks to put the Redbud 400 in his rearview mirror and concentrate on his number one goal for the 2018 season, to win an ARCA/CRA Super Series Championship.  He currently leads the point standings with one race left before the tour’s chase for the championship begins.

“We will not let this incident take away from what our team and family are all about, ” said Brock. “Over the course of 400 laps, we got down, but we never gave up.  We will continue to build our program to be the best it can be while we look to win the 2018 championship.”

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Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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