Ricky Stenhouse Jr. kept his promise to see Kyle Busch after the NASCAR All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Stenhouse not only saw Busch in the garage Sunday night, but he also threw a punch at the Richard Childress Racing driver as the two went back and forth over their contact on the track. The night was over on the second lap for Stenhouse after Busch wrecked him in Turn 2. But without a tunnel at North Wilkesboro, Stenhouse remained in the frame and was waiting for Busch in the No. 8 truck after the race.
“Go back and watch the replay, I didn’t touch you. Not once,” Stenhouse was heard telling Busch.
“We all hit each other,” Busch responded.
“You hit the fence and then you hit me,” Stenhouse said, pointing toward the racetrack.
“I don’t think so, but if that’s what happened, that’s fine,” Busch said.
“Go back and look at it,” Stenhouse said before hitting Busch.
Once the punch landed, Stenhouse grabbed Busch and the two fell to the ground before being separated. NASCAR security took Stenhouse away while Stenhouse’s father, Ricky Sr., pursued Busch.
Stenhouse repeatedly shouted, “Dad,” as the situation worsened and more and more people became involved. “Bring my dad.”
Eventually, Busch made it to the tailgate of his truck, but he and Stenhouse continued yelling at each other about what happened on the track.
“I don’t give a damn,” Busch said. “I stink just as bad as you.”
Stenhouse finished last in the 20-car field. Busch was a non-factor in the 200-lap race and finished 10th.
“I feel like Kyle and I have always raced each other really hard up until the (Xfinity) Series when we were competing for wins week in and week out,” Stenhouse told Fox Sports after the fight. “We never had any problems, and then I crashed once at Daytona, and he’s talked bad about me a little bit since then, so I feel like we get along well off the track. I talk to him a lot.
“I’m not sure why he was so angry that I pushed him three at a time, but he hit the fence, came off the wall and ran towards me… When I was talking to him, he kept saying that I destroyed him, so Yes , it’s definitely a pent-up frustration with the way he talks about me all the time. But I know he’s frustrated because he doesn’t run as well as he used to and I understand that.
“We’re a one-car team here; we’re working really hard to go out and get better every weekend and we had a really good game plan (for today). Our car was really strong on Friday in practice. I was really looking forward to it.” from racing to the front. I think we had passed a couple of cars there, and I was excited for the rest of the night, and he ruined it.
“Being stuck here definitely doesn’t help the frustration. If there was a tunnel, he probably would have been at home watching its end. But here we are.”
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