Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has had some time to reflect on his altercation with Kyle Busch, which took over headlines following the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race.
The veteran wheelmen had an viral brawl after No. 47 wheelman was sent into the wall by Busch on Lap 2 of the 200-lap race. With $1,000,000 on the line, both drivers were on edge and looking for every edge they could gain early in the race, and the money could’ve gone a long way for Stenhouse Jr.’s single-car team.
A large contingent agreed that on the ensuing replay, it looked like Stenhouse didn’t really do anything wrong to Busch. He ran up the middle and Busch got into the wall. So, the No. 47 wheelman was certainly stewing over the situation, and ended up confronting Busch after the race, resulting in an epic fight.
As part of this week’s edition of 12 Questions with Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, Stenhouse Jr. was asked if he would’ve changed anything about the altercation if he could, but the former Daytona 500 champion decided there wasn’t much he would do differently looking back on it.
“I mean, you might do it somewhere else. But I was pretty fired up,” Stenhouse Jr. elaborated. “I got my point across. It was taken very well in the garage and with a lot of the fans. Yeah, there’s the backside of it that comes along with the suspensions and fines and things that definitely suck. But on the other hand, I felt like we gained a lot of respect from a lot of the competitors and teams in here for really just standing (our) ground. They all felt like I got wrecked for no reason the same way we did.
“Sitting in the hauler for that whole race, I was really mad. And then I’d calm down and then I’d be mad again. I saw the replay of it a couple of times and looked at some data stuff and I got really fired up. Things happen when you get crashed on accident and it’s just a racing thing. But that was blatantly crashed. So if I do anything different, I would maybe choose a different location.”
While Ricky Stenhouse Jr. elected not to continue his feud with Kyle Busch over the last couple of weeks, it’s evident he’s satisfied with the punishment he delivered to the No. 8 wheelman.
It doesn’t change the fact that he was unfairly wrecked out of the All-Star Race, but he certainly gained some respect from drivers and fans alike for taking care of his business when the time called to do so, even if NASCAR hit him with a hefty fine for it.
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