Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made the headlines in the All-Star race for their post-race brawl. Then NASCAR landed in controversy a few days later for handing out a $75,000 fine to the JTG Daugherty Racing driver. Stenhouse also saw a couple of his crew members and his father suspended. It has been a while since the saga but the veteran racer is still not over NASCAR’s decision yet.
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The team’s tuner Keith Matthews was suspended for four Cup races and he will be back next weekend while mechanic Clint Myrick will be out until the Pocono race in July. Stenhouse’s father was also suspended indefinitely by NASCAR. Speaking to The Athletic recently, the JTG Daugherty driver revealed that there are a lot of questions he wants to ask the sanctioning body.
NASCAR issues penalties from the Ricky Stenhouse Jr./Kyle Busch fight:
— Stenhouse Jr. $75k fine
— Stenhouse Sr. suspended indefinitely
— JTG mechanic Clint Myrick suspended eight races
— JTG tuner Keith Matthews suspended four races
— No penalties for Kyle Busch— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) May 22, 2024
“I still haven’t gotten to really make my point yet to NASCAR. I did on the phone; we talked back and forth for three or four days. But I still haven’t sat down with them. And I’ve got a lot of questions. I figured there would be some kind of (penalty), right? Suspensions, fines, whatever. Obviously, I didn’t think it was going to be that high,” he said.
Despite what transpired, Stenhouse Jr. was a happy man last Sunday as he finished P5 in the Cup Series race at the Iowa Speedway.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. defied the odds at Iowa
The JTG Daugherty Racing driver started the race P35 and was even caught up in a bit of a problem on pit road. However, it was an incredible drive to come from a starting position so far behind and end up finishing in the top five. After the race, Stenhouse was one of the happiest men on track.
He mentioned that they were good on the restarts and that his car was able to rotate well and pass several competitors with relative ease. More importantly, it was the strategy combined with the overall drivability of the car that helped him propel to the front.
“So, man, it was a cool night in front of a packed house,” he told Motorsport.
