NASCAR Suspends Team Owner Chad Bryant Indefinitely After Hot Dog Stand Attack on Corey Heim

NASCAR came down hard, eventually, on the team that jumped rising star Corey Heim in front of a hot dog stand at Martinsville Speedway.

On Tuesday, Sept. 29, NASCAR announced discipline against seven people connected to two separate fights during Saturday's ValleyStar Credit Union 300, a NASCAR Regional late-model race and the finale of the Virginia Triple Crown. The headline penalties: team owner Chad Bryant and crew member Steven Civitarese were suspended indefinitely, barred from the 2027 edition of the ValleyStar 300, and placed on probation for a year, according to NASCAR's official release cited by USA Today, the LA Times, Autoweek and On3. Bryant was fined $2,000 and ordered to complete a NASCAR-approved anger management program. Civitarese was fined $1,000. Some outlets, including the LA Times and Geo News, spell his last name "Civatarese" — NASCAR's own release used "Civitarese," and that's the spelling this article uses.

NASCAR said the pair violated Rule Book sections 12-6.1C and 12-6.1C2, covering member-to-member confrontations involving physical violence.

What actually happened

Heim, 24, finished second at Martinsville behind race winner Caden Kvapil, with Chad Bryant Racing driver Treyten Lapcevich right behind him. Unhappy with how Heim had raced him down the stretch, Lapcevich drove into the right side of Heim's car during the cool-down lap, according to USA Today. Heim's No. 22 Nelson Motorsports Toyota went airborne over the front of Lapcevich's No. 77, destroying both cars.

Lapcevich tried to confront Heim once the wrecked cars reached pit road, but Bryant physically stopped him, per video cited by Whiskey Riff and the LA Times. Minutes later, as Heim walked toward his team's hauler, Bryant and members of his own crew cornered him near Martinsville's well-known infield hot dog stand and started throwing punches. Heim didn't fight back. Henry County Sheriff's deputies broke up the fight after roughly 20 seconds, according to USA Today and Geo News.

Heim walked away largely unscathed and leaned into it publicly. He posted a selfie giving a thumbs up on X with the caption "Solid effort, but at least make it count next time," and later posted a photo of the hot dog stand's damaged menu sign, which took one of the punches meant for him, now hanging in his home, captioned "New office piece. Poor thing took a beating this weekend."

The other fight nobody's talking about

A second, less publicized altercation broke out between the heat races, involving drivers identified by different outlets as Brad Houseright or Brad Housewright and Chase or Chad Burrow, which left one driver bloodied, according to Autoweek and USA Today. Both drivers were fined $250 and placed on probation through the end of 2027. Two Burrow-affiliated crew members, Ryan Burrow and Dylan Jenks, were fined $500 each and also placed on probation through 2027. Nobody was suspended in that incident.

A driver-on-driver scuffle between the heat races drew fines and probation, while a coordinated, six-on-one ambush by a team owner and his crew against an isolated, unarmed driver drew suspensions. The punishment scaled to the conduct, not just the fact that punches were thrown.

Hamlin wanted more

Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing alongside Michael Jordan, didn't wait for NASCAR to act. Heim will drive full-time for 23XI next season and already won two Cup Series races this year on a part-time schedule, at the Brickyard 400 and Naval Base Coronado, per USA Today. On his podcast, "Actions Detrimental," Hamlin called Bryant's team "cowards" for waiting until Heim was isolated from his own crew to jump him, and said publicly that anyone involved shouldn't be allowed in a pit lane "for the next year, at least." NASCAR's indefinite suspensions of Bryant and Civitarese effectively meet that bar, though "indefinite" leaves open the possibility of reinstatement once Bryant completes anger management and NASCAR decides he's earned it back.

Treyten Lapcevich, the driver at the center of the on-track incident, distanced himself from what his own team did. "What happened with Corey after the race was wrong, and it should not have happened," he said in a statement Monday, adding that he wasn't involved in the ambush and doesn't condone it. His younger brother, Ryden Lapcevich, was fined $500 and put on probation through the end of 2027 for his role in the fight.

Neither Bryant nor Civitarese has issued a public statement responding to the punishment, and none of the sources indicate NASCAR sought or received comment from Bryant directly.

What's still open

NASCAR's discipline is an internal, sport-governing matter. It is not a criminal proceeding. Sheriff's deputies broke up the fight at the track, but none of the available reporting indicates Henry County has opened a criminal investigation or filed assault charges against Bryant or anyone else involved. Whether Virginia law enforcement pursues the matter independently of NASCAR's fines and suspensions remains an open question.