Not too many casual racing fans knew the name Andrew Grady before last weekend, but the late model stock car driver recently made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
After Heat 1 of qualifying for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway, a heated Grady started throwing wild punches at competitor Davey Callihan while he was still strapped into his car. As you can see from the below clip, Grady had to be physically carried away from Callihan's car like a rowdy bar patron being thrown out by a bouncer.
We've got tempers boiling over at @MartinsvilleSwy
Andrew Grady takes out his frustration on Davey Callihan after an accident in Heat 1@FloRacing pic.twitter.com/DeBkUQ27Xy
— NASCAR Roots (@NASCARRoots) September 24, 2022
In a later interview, Grady explained that Callihan intentionally wrecked him (or at least he thought as much), so he decided to confront Callihan after the race. While he was walking towards Callihan's car, Grady said that Callihan gave him the finger (not the pointer, ring, or pinky, and definitely not a thumbs up), and that's when he decided to unleash fury with his fists.
"He flipped me off, so I started Mike Tyson-ing his head," Grady said. "At the end of the day, we were really, really good, the car was really fast, but you get these dumbasses and they have no business running a late model, much less a lawn mower."
"He wasn't close, he dive-bombed me, and wrecked Brandon Pearce in the process and I wanted to talk to him, but he flipped me off, so I started Mike Tyson-ing his head. You are in a grown-ass sport, and if you wreck a man, you can take a grown man ass-whipping, that's how I see it."
When given the chance to give his side of the story, Callihan claimed that he didn't flip Grady off. As for the intentional wrecking part, Callihan insisted that he was just trying to run a competitive race.
"Just hard racing," Callihan said. "I do apologize to the one, but we're fighting for our life out there. So just did what I had to do."
