NASCAR announced Wednesday a litany of penalties stemming from the post-race fight between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch at North Wilkesboro Speedway, with Stenhouse and multiple members of his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing team being disciplined. Stenhouse has been fined $75,000 for punching Busch in the face to trigger the fight in violation of the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct (Sections 4.4.D in the NASCAR Rule Book).
Non-driver combatants who served as aggressors in the fight received more severe penalties: JTG Daugherty Racing tuner Keith Matthews was suspended for four races for his actions, while mechanic Clint Myrick was suspended for the next eight races. Richard Stenhouse -- Ricky's father and a non-competitor -- was indefinitely suspended after he pursued Busch to engage in close quarters combat.
Busch, who incensed Stenhouse by putting him in the wall on the second lap of the race in apparent retaliation for contact on the opening lap, was not fined for his role in the incident.
Tempers flare in the pits after the race! pic.twitter.com/TrWaLrY06Z
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 20, 2024
Speaking on SiriusXM, NASCAR vice president of competition Elton Sawyer seemed to signal that intent was part of the reason for Stenhouse's penalties. Stenhouse had intimated in interviews following the on-track incident that he would fight Busch afterward -- he did not have the option to leave the track, as a crossover gate on the backstretch is the only way in or out of North Wilkesboro -- suggesting that his actions in throwing the first punch were pre-meditated.
"When you wait 198 laps and you make those decisions that were made, again, we're going to react to that," Sawyer said. "… 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."
The penalties stemming from the Stenhouse-Busch fight were the most notable part of NASCAR's weekly penalty report. In the Craftsman Truck Series, crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz was fined $10,000 for an unsecured lug nut on Grant Enfinger's truck, and Dawson Backus -- rear tire changer for the No. 7 Spire Motorsports truck -- was suspended one race for non-conforming protective clothing/equipment (helmet straps).
In the Xfinity Series, Rowan Mason -- a mechanic for the No. 5 Our Motorsports team -- was indefinitely suspended for violating NASCAR's Substance Abuse Policy.
