Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. trade paint, fists in NASCAR All-Star Race
Sunday night was NASCAR’s All-Star Race, held for the second season in a row at historic North Wilkesboro Speedway. Joey Logano won the non-points event in dominant fashion, started from pole position and led all but one of the race’s 200 laps. It’s the most laps any driver has led in NASCAR’s All-Star Race.
But that is not the topic of conversation this Monday.
Instead, the main characters are Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who traded paint in the early stages of the race, and some fists in a post-race fracas.
It all started on just the second lap of the race, when Stenhouse got to the inside of Busch. With Michael McDowell on the inside of Stenhouse, the cars were three wide on the tight, short North Wilkesboro Speedway, and Busch ended up squeezed into the wall for a second.
As the broadcast team on FOX Sports noted that Busch was “not going to be happy about that,” it did not take long for the driver to strike back:
Busch nudges Stenhouse in the left-rear quarter panel, sending Stenhouse off the line, and into the wall.
His All-Star Race was over, almost right after it began.
Stenhouse’s frustration was evident almost immediately, as he parked his #47 Chevy in Busch’s pit stall box, and went to have what we can only assume was a friendly chat with Randall Burnett, Busch’s crew chief:
incredible level of petty here from Stenhouse – wreck me out, I’ll leave my wreck in your pit box to talk to your crew chief pic.twitter.com/pGJmNw9wE3
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) May 20, 2024
Stenhouse then chatted with FOX Sports reporter Jamie Little, and made a reference to a 2011 incident between Busch and Richard Childress, his current team owner, at the STP 400. Back then the 65-year-old Childress approached the 26-year-old Busch in the garage area after the race, took off his watch, punched Busch in the face and then put him in a headlock.
Speaking with Little, Stenhouse told the FOX Sports reporter “[m]aybe Richard will hold my watch after the race:”
Eventually the race ended, and as the kids like to say, it was “on sight:”
Stenhouse was waiting for Busch to explain his side of things, saying “I didn’t touch you” to Busch. After imploring Busch to “go back and watch it,” Stenhouse threw a hard right at the driver, which may or may not have connected. Things escalated even further when Ricky Stenhouse Sr. went after Busch.
Stenhouse Jr. is heard on video saying, “Dad. Get my dad.”
That’s when crew members jumped in to sort things out, and soon order was restored.
Here’s another angle of it:
For those wondering, NASCAR is back in action this weekend with the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte.
Perhaps everyone will have calmed down by then.
