One of the main characters in the Ricky Stenhouse Jr.-Kyle Busch brawl following Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway was Ricky Sr., Stenhouse’s father.
Moments after Stenhouse threw the first punch at Busch, Ricky Sr. arrived onto the scene and got into a grabbing match and appeared to throw a punch at the Richard Childress Racing driver. Stenhouse could even be heard yelling “Dad!” multiple times. At one point, it looked like Ricky Sr. was on the receiving end of one of Busch’s punches.
As Stenhouse said on Corey LaJoie’s “Stacking Pennies” podcast Monday, dad just “likes to fight.”
“Dad likes to fight,” Stenhouse said. “Dirt racer from back home. I saw him and I was just making sure everybody wasn’t gonna [pummel him] or each other. And it looked like all the crew guys were grabbing each other, him included. Just grabbing each other.”
Ricky Sr.’s role in the brawl could yield some sort of discipline from NASCAR, perhaps having his hard card revoked. A hard card grants an individual full access to the garage area.
As for the brawl near Busch’s hauler, the wheels were set in motion after the two-time Cup Series champion dumped Stenhouse into the wall just two laps into the exhibition race. Stenhouse, stuck in the infield with nowhere to go since North Wilkesboro doesn’t have any exit tunnels, vowed he would see Busch after the race came to an end.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. eviscerates Kyle Busch after fight: ‘He runs his mouth all the time’
Stenhouse stayed true to his word, waiting for Busch outside his hauler. Once Busch arrived with a herd of media around him, it was on. The two exchanged words before Stenhouse threw a right hand at Busch, setting off a massive brawl between the two and their respective pit crews.
As the situation was being diffused and Stenhouse dragged away from the scene, he yelled, “I’ll wreck you at Charlotte,” to Busch. Busch responded to the comment, “Bring it. I don’t give a f***. I suck just as bad as you. Let’s go.”
“I feel like Kyle, and I have always raced each other really hard back to the Nationwide Series when we were competing for wins week in and week out,” Stenhouse said after the race. “Never had any issues. Then you know, I wrecked him one time at Daytona, and he’s been kinda bad mouthing me ever since then. I feel like we get along with each other okay outside the racetrack, I talk to him quite a bit.
“I’m not sure why he was so mad. I shoved it three-wide, but I mean, he hit the fence and kind of came off the wall and ran into me. I don’t know when I was talking him, he kept saying that I wrecked him. So, definitely built-up frustration with how he runs his mouth all the time about myself. But I know he’s frustrated because he doesn’t run as well as he used to. I understand that. We’re a single-car team over here, we’re working really hard to go out and get better each and every weekend.”
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