Ricky Stenhouse, Along With His Father, Are at High Risk From NASCAR After a Premeditated Attack on Kyle Busch

The All-Star Race seemed headed for a sleepy ending with Joey Logano sticking to the pole. But when Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s media warning turned into reality, fans and peers were stirred into life. After Kyle Busch bested the No. 47 driver, the latter nursed bitter frustration. Given that there was no exit tunnel, he had no option but to sit out the 200-lap race and let his rage boil.

So when Kyle Busch faced Stenhouse with a defensive attitude, he walked right into the lion’s den. Ricky Stenhouse Jr landed a blow, and his father also grabbed Busch’s collar. As the father-son duo and the No. 47 team pounced on Busch, severe penalties may be in the works.

The Stenhouse father-son duo faces NASCAR’s wrath

The North Wilkesboro brawl saw a wild uptick in fan popularity and added a new flavor to the All-Star Race. But NASCAR’s Senior VP of Racing Development, John Probst, warned that penalties were on the way. “I would say that we’ve already started looking at the tape. We’ll take a deep dive into that Tuesday, and certainly there will be some announcements, I would anticipate. There’s a lot of folks involved there, that we don’t like seeing.”

In anticipation of bad consequences, Ricky Stenhouse Jr already rescinded his threat to wreck Kyle Busch at Charlotte. But it may be too late for a detour, as NASCAR vlogger Eric Estepp recently outlined. “I wouldn’t be shocked if a small fine is headed Ricky Stenhouse’s way…He got crashed on lap 2, told reporters, hey, watch what’s gonna happen after the race, I’m gonna do something! Waited and waited 200 laps for Kyle Busch to show up. You can’t claim the heat of the moment at that point. Clearly, the punch was at least somewhat premeditated.”

Estepp also cast dark clouds on Stenhouse Senior’s fortunes. “The only folks who will get suspended could be Ricky Stenhouse Sr…Maybe some of the crew guys NASCAR typically doesn’t like, non-drivers getting physical.”

NASCAR lets off heated drivers leniently as it feeds entertainment for the fans. However, the same rule does not apply to non-drivers and family members. Last year in Talladega, the father of Truck Series driver Nick Sanchez got involved in a fight between his son and Matt Crafton. Crafton was slapped with $25,000 for breaking Sanchez’s nose. Nick was let off, but his father was suspended for two races.

Hence, Ricky Stenhouse’s father may expect a similar punishment for grappling with Kyle Busch. However, the Stenhouse emotions are understandable, as this year, their team is struggling.

Stenhouse Jr’s hard luck pushed him towards aggression

The year 2023 was a remarkable season for the JTG Daugherty No. 47 team. Ricky Stenhouse Jr cruised to a spectacular win at the coveted Daytona 500 race and topped off the season by ranking 16th in the driver standings. But 2024 has so far been a downer, except for a lone top-five finish at Talladega Superspeedway. The team held high hopes to win the $1 million All-Star prize money, which would have helped the single-car race team.

But along came Kyle Busch, who poured water on Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s plans. Stenhouse Jr admitted in a post-brawl interview, “We’re a single-car team over here, we’re working really hard to go out and get better each and every weekend. You know, we had a really good game plan coming in. Our car was really strong. Friday in practice I was looking forward to running to the front. I think we’d pass a couple of cars there. I was excited for the rest of the night and he ruined it.”

So even though NASCAR is cooking up punitive plans for Ricky Stenhouse Jr, the driver’s woes justify his aggressive actions.