NASCAR star Matt Crafton denies sucker-punching Nick Sanchez, defends bloody melee

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NASCAR Truck Series driver Matt Crafton got into a fight that left fellow competitor Nick Sanchez bruised and bloodied after their race at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday.

Sanchez was seen on video bleeding from his nose and threatening Crafton. He said after the melee that he got sucker-punched while he was in the garage area.

Crafton explained his side of the issue Sunday in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter. He started by telling his followers what wasn’t caught on the video that made the rounds on social media.

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Matt Crafton walks on pit road after wrecking during the Love's RV Stop 250 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Sept. 30, 2023. (Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports)

"First, let’s address the ‘sucker punch.’ Before the cameras started rolling I approached Nick and said "hey" when he turned around I said ‘what the —?!’ to which he looked right at me and threatened me," Crafton started.

"That is when it all went to hell. I had his attention, words were exchanged, all before anything physical took place, so I did not ‘’sucker punch’ the guy. There may not be video, but there were plenty of eye witnesses."

Crafton said that what was missing was how Sanchez was driving during the race. Crafton got caught up in a wreck near Sanchez during the truck race. He wouldn’t be able to finish the race.

"What people don’t take into account is that he all but ‘sucker punched’ me at 200 mph. The way he pushed my truck gave me no ability to get out of the situation and he was told multiple times during that race the way he was pushing people was going to cause a wreck and