“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.”
Over the weekend, NASCAR raced for $1M at the short track of North Wilkesboro Speedway. The race ended with a fight between Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Kyle Busch.
Hear from NASCAR below.
On lap 1 Ricky Stenhouse Jr went three wide. As they ran out of room Kyle Busch found the outside wall.
On lap 2, retaliation was already underway. Busch drove into the left rear of Stenhouse Jr and didn’t let off the throttle until Stenhouse was hooked into the outside wall.
Stenhouse Jr was out of the race early. But, the old track lacks any tunnel to exit the infield. He was stuck at the track, watching the race unfold from the pit area.
198 laps later, Busch climbed from his car after the race and walked to his No. 8 hauler. Stenhouse Jr was perched there, waiting for him.
The two drivers exchanged only a few words. Each side disagreed with the other on the incidents that took place.
Stenhouse Jr then lunged forward, punching Busch in the face. Multiple crew members jumped into the scene as did the father of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
On Wednesday, NASCAR issued three suspensions related to the altercation. Additionally, Ricky Stenhouse Jr was fined a hefty $75,000.
Shortly after the announcement, NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer called into SiiriusXM and he explained the penalties and how they were reached.
NASCAR penalty report after the fight at North Wilkesboro
Elton Sawyer comments
“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 Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said Wednesday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“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.”
“When you wait 198 laps and you make those decisions that were made, again, we’re going to react to that.”
“Once we get to the point where it gets physical, we want the two drivers to be able to have time to express their differences. Once it escalates to a physical altercation, we are going to react.
“Granted there was no tunnel, granted there was no crossover bridge, better decisions could have been made throughout that period of time between the incident on the race track and the incident in the garage post-race.”
Watch the North Wilkesboro fight videos here
NASCAR All-Star Race Results: May 19, 2024 (North Wilkesboro)
Links
Kyle Busch | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | North Wilkesboro Speedway | NASCAR
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