NASCAR Insider Reveals Stunning Details About Tony Stewart Punching Kurt Busch During Infamous Fight

For a long stretch of NASCAR history, wrecks and fistfights were part of the sport’s fabric, treated almost as occupational hazards rather than offenses. In that era, physical confrontations surfaced often enough to feel routine, a far cry from today’s penalty-heavy topography. One of the most infamous flashpoints happened quietly at the dawn of the 2008 season, when it was widely rumored that Tony Stewart struck Kurt Busch during a closed-door meeting.

The after-effects left both drivers on six-race probation, beginning with the Daytona 500. Recently, the incident again made headlines when Robin Pemberton, who served as NASCAR’s vice president of competition at the time, shared some inside information about it.

The spark was lit during practice for the Bud Shootout, when Stewart and Busch tangled and shredded Busch’s No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. Stewart tried a move to the inside on the backstretch, but Busch threw a hard block. Stewart then shifted to the high side, only for Busch to shut that door as well. With nowhere left to lift, Stewart clipped Busch’s right-rear quarterpanel, sending him hard into the wall.

Busch fired back, using his damaged car as a battering ram. He leaned on Stewart’s car down pit road, hit him again at pit entry, and looked ready to strike once more before Martin Truex Jr. and several others rolled past on their way to the garage. Stewart then blocked the garage entrance, forcing Busch to line up behind him.

Once both cars were parked, NASCAR called the drivers to the trailer to sort out the mess. Instead, things only escalated. Speaking on The Dale Earnhardt Jr. Download, Robin Pemberton later recalled how the meeting quickly spiraled out of control.

“So we’re in. Mike says, ‘Okay, you guard Tony, and I’ll take Kurt.’ Yeah. And I said, ‘Okay.’”

The discussion went nowhere, tensions rose, and both drivers stood. Pemberton positioned himself between Stewart and Busch, with another official holding Busch back. Then, without warning, Stewart swung. “And Tony comes across with the left hand and just drills him.”

The detail that stunned Pemberton most surfaced afterward. The then-JGR driver, it turned out, was left-handed. After the two drivers were separated and stopped from escalating the physical fight further, Pemberton quipped to his colleague that he had blocked Stewart as if he were right-handed, only to learn too late which side carried the danger.

At the time, neither driver publicly confirmed that a blow had been thrown during the meeting. Pemberton’s account filled in the blanks years later, clarifying why both drivers received identical probation. Busch’s punishment stemmed from his retaliation on track and pit road, while Stewart’s discipline addressed what happened behind closed doors.