Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney brawl at Bristol after Bass Pro Shops Night Race

Bristol Motor Speedway earned "The Last Great Colosseum" moniker on Sept. 19 when Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar decided to throw punches following the Bass Pro Shops Night Race.

The fireworks began on Lap 457, when Hocevar wrecked Blaney out of the race in a battle for second place. Hocevar was looking to pass Blaney on the inside and Blaney tried to block. Hocevar didn't lift, and Blaney was sent spinning after making contact with the front of Hocevar's No. 77 car.

"I mean, I wasn't trying to wreck him," Hocevar said in a USA Sports post-race interview. "It just looked like to me, I had a run, he kind of went left and I spun him."

"We got clear off of (Turn) 4 and I tried to protect the bottom, and he crossed and never lifted, and I got crashed," Blaney said in a television broadcast interview after the initial wreck. "That's what I thought happened, and that's what it looked like happened."

Blaney led a race-high 202 laps and won Stage 2, but the crash resulted in a 33rd-place finish. Hocevar finished third behind winner Joey Logano and runner-up Kyle Larson.

But the battle between the two wasn't done.

Blaney approached Hocevar after the race and grabbed his fire suit, and Hocevar didn't wait to see what was coming. Hocevar's first right hand knocked Blaney's hat off; he connected a second one, and Blaney was dragged to the ground as people tried to separate the two drivers.

After a shouting match, Blaney lunged from a team member holding him back and tried to tackle him. He landed a left hand in the process.

"There wasn't a whole lot of talking. He just kind of said one thing and then went after me, and I wasn't going to take it," Hocevar said. "That was fun with the 54 (Ty Gibbs). I got ran into a lot for the win, and that was for second and he wants to come fight. I don't think anybody's left behind me, so they got an old-school Bristol show here."