Ricky Stenhouse Jr. threw a punch at Kyle Busch after Sunday night’s NASCAR All-Star Race.
Stenhouse and Busch had an animated conversation after the race following an early caution. Busch punted Stenhouse into the wall on Lap 2 and Stenhouse’s car went head-on into the wall.
With the North Wilkesboro track not having a way for people to get out of the infield while the race is going on, Stenhouse was forced to wait to exit the track until the race was over. After he and Busch talked about what happened, he flung a fist at Busch and a melee ensued with their crew members.
“I felt like Kyle and I have always raced each other really hard back to the Nationwide Series when we were competing for wins week in and week out, never had any issues,” Stenhouse said on Fox after the fight. “I wrecked him one time at Daytona and he’s kind of badmouthed me ever since then. I feel like we get along with each other OK outside the race track, I talk to him quite a bit and I’m not sure why he was so mad that I shoved it three-wide but he hit the fence and kind of came off the wall and ran into me and I don’t know, when I was talking to him he kept saying that I wrecked him.
“So definitely just built up frustration with how he runs his mouth all the time about myself but I know he’s frustrated because he doesn’t run near as good as he used to and I understand that. We’re a single-car team over here and working really hard to go out and get better each and every weekend.”
Stenhouse’s crew members appeared to try to tackle Busch after Stenhouse was tackled following the punch. The fracas didn’t escalate much further as Busch’s crew members made it clear that they didn’t want Stenhouse’s team on their hauler.
Busch appeared uninjured by the punch and it wasn’t clear in the immediate aftermath if Stenhouse made serious contact with his fist.
Here’s what happened to make Stenhouse upset with Busch. The two-time Cup Series champion appeared upset with Stenhouse early in the race because he got put three-wide on the opening lap.
Stenhouse telegraphed his confrontation with Busch in the immediate aftermath of the crash. He parked his car in Busch’s pit stall and said in a TV interview that he would be waiting for Busch. He even made a reference to a 2011 incident between Busch and his current team owner Richard Childress when Childress punched Busch after taking off his watch.
Stenhouse finished last Sunday night and Busch finished 10th. Joey Logano won the race after leading 199 of 200 laps.
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