Stephen Nasse isn’t exactly politically correct.
That point was made apparent once again on Tuesday night during the Snowball Derby when he was involved in an on-track altercation with NASCAR Truck Series driver William Byron before rattling off a series of tweets about how flawed the pay-to-play system is in Super Late Model racing.
Nasse was contending for a spot inside the top-5 when he spun off Byron’s front bumper. Nasse is known for his quick wit and short temper and responded accordingly by seeking out and crashing the Hendrick Motorsports development driver under the ensuing caution.
The two had to be separated by track security before conducting interviews.
“I didn’t really expect that, honestly,” Byron said of Nasse. “You don’t ever expect someone to do that. There’s different race tracks where you can do that — figure 8 tracks. This is the Snowball Derby. I feel like I raced him with as much respect as I could. I caught him in the wrong spot. I got tight and slipped up the track. I hate it for my guys at KBM who have a lot of work to do with this car now.”
Nasse said he was taking a stand for short trackers against the pay-to-play development system.
“Byron drove over his head,” Nasse said. “It’s plain and simple. I’ve seen several replays from the tower and had 50 people come up to me and told me he drove over us. Their teammates, the 51 team, came over and said they understood. That’s KBM themselves.
“I’ve been racing for a long time and can’t seem to get respect from anyone. I came all the way back from dead last, did the same thing on Saturday night in the Pro, didn’t touch a single car. And the kids can’t seem to pass without crashing or hitting you.”
Does Nasse regret it now?
“Nope, not at all,” Nasse said. “I’ll take my car back to my shop and fix it with my bare hands. That’s something he isnt going to do because he can’t. I’ll wreck it every week if that’s what it takes to make the point because I’m the one fixing it.”
But that wasn’t where the conflict ended as Nasse picked up his phone and became a marquee storyline of the event.
Meanwhile, Christian Eckes went on to win the race out-dueling John Hunter Nemechek which was set-up by the dominant Chad Finley falling out due to a mechanical failure.
Pingback: My 10 favorite stories I wrote in 2018 | Weaver Writes Words