NASCAR breaks silence on backlash over Kyle Busch getting no penalty for North Wilkesboro clash with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is yet to decide on whether they wants to appeal the decision or not.

NASCAR breaks silence on backlash over Kyle Busch getting no penalty for North Wilkesboro clash with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr (Via IMAGO)

The highlight of the 2024 NASCAR All-Star race at North Wilkesboro was the fight between Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The RCR driver was punched in the face by the JTGD Racing driver during a heated confrontation over a wreck on lap two of the race. 

As an aftermath of the drama, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fined a whopping $75,000 and his crew member alongside his father was given a suspension. While the fans and racing community were okay with Stenhouse and crew getting penalized, they were baffled by the severity of the fine, as Kyle Busch didn’t get any. 

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Now NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer has addressed the drama and pointed out that the policy of NASCAR is to stay away from policing on-track incidents often. He believes Busch wrecking Stenhouse Jr. wasn’t a blatant move and is just a product of hard racing that NASCAR doesn’t mind seeing. 

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But we really as a sanctioning body want, and we do, want to stay out of the on-track incidents unless we see something that blatantly comes back to us that we need to react to. In this case, we reviewed it, we looked at it, we listened to audio, and again, hard racing, but also totally appreciate where the two drivers stand on it. We’ll let those guys decide and agree and disagree.
Elton Sawyer said via NASCAR SiriusXM Radio. 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has a lot of respect for Kyle Busch despite the clash 

While talking about their run-ins and how they will resolve the beef, Stenhouse Jr. asserted that he has nothing but respect for Kyle Busch. He pointed out that though he lost some of the respect seeing how the veteran handled their clash, he still has enough respect for him. 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Via IMAGO)
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Via IMAGO)
Obviously, he’s accomplished 10 times more in his career than I could ever think about, really, at this moment. We’ve had great battles throughout the years, and look forward to battling more. I lost a lot of respect in that situation, the way he handled it. But still got a lot of respect for what he can do behind the wheel.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said.

Both the racers have a character of not giving up and are very hard racers when it comes to the track. It would be interesting to see how their rivalry will grow from here, as they are going to race each other more often than not in the coming months.

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