Ricky Stenhouse Jr was fined $75,000 by Nascar on Wednesday for fighting with Kyle Busch after the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Stenhouse’s father, who joined the fracas, was suspended indefinitely from Nascar events.
The $75,000 fine was the largest ever handed down by Nascar for fighting. Busch escaped penalty for his actions. Nascar also suspended Stenhouse mechanic Clint Myrick for eight races and engine tuner Keith Matthews for four races for their parts in Sunday’s incident.
“I think it’s fair to say that when you have crew members and family members that put their hands on our drivers, we’re going to react,” Nascar’s senior vice-president of competition Elton Sawyer told SiriusXM Nascar Radio on Wednesday. “There’s not a lot of detail I’m going to get into due to the fact that these are appealable penalties, and I want to make sure that we’re fair to that process.
“With that being said, and we’ve been consistent about this, when crew members and family members get involved, we are going to react. That’s exactly what we did.”
The two drivers tangled on the first lap before Busch seemed to deliberately bump Stenhouse on the second lap. Stenhouse parked his damaged Chevrolet in Busch’s pit stall and aggressively climbed the spotter’s ladder, exchanging words with members of Busch’s crew.
Stenhouse also told reporters that he intended to confront Busch once the race was completed. “I’ll handle it,” Stenhouse said. “You can just watch afterward.”
He lived up to his promise: the drivers exchanged words before Stenhouse, wearing shorts and T-shirt, landed a right hook on Busch and a melee broke out involving members of both teams. Stenhouse’s father, who has no professional affiliation with his son’s team, then went after Busch, throwing punches.
During the fight, Busch also threatened to wreck Busch during this Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Bring it,” Busch replied. He added: “I suck as bad as you,” implying both drivers are not having great seasons. Neither driver has won a race this season. Busch is 13th in points standings and Stenhouse is 26th.
after newsletter promotion
Busch’s car owner isn’t taking the threat from Stenhouse lightly, however. Richard Childress vowed to fight Stenhouse himself if he goes near Busch’s car at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
