Denny Hamlin reacts to NASCAR fining Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for Kyle Busch fight: 'They have to do something different'

It’s been six days since NASCAR levied a $75,000 fine against Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for throwing a punch at Kyle Busch following the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.

A record fine issued to a driver for fighting, yes, though NASCAR hasn’t exactly buried the incident from the public eye. The video of Stenhouse connecting with his right hand on Busch has been spread around its social media accounts and was discussed on national sports talk shows last week.

Several drivers, including Denny Hamlin, reacted to the fine this past weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Hamlin said that while NASCAR may quietly root for some things, “they have to do something different” publicly, as shown by the hefty fine for Stenhouse.

“There’s certainly been things that they quietly like to root for, but publicly, they have to do something different because they don’t want it to get out of hand,” Hamlin said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “With that dollar fine, you are going to have people think, ‘I don’t want that [fine]’ so you might not get what you probably are hoping for.’

“It might hurt a little bit in that instance. I think they’re OK with general altercations, but I think typically just the amount of time that elapsed from the [on-track] incident to when it happened.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. admits confusion over NASCAR fine, penalties following Kyle Busch fight

As for Stenhouse, he admitted he’s “a little confused” by the fine amount. JTG Daugherty Racing remains undecided on if they’ll appeal the penalties from the fight.

“Yeah, I mean I think for the most part the whole industry and the fanbase has kind of weighed in on the side that I feel like I fall on. Luckily for us we’re not having to say a whole lot,” Stenhouse said. “We talk as a race team at the shop and things like that how we feel about the situation and it’s cool to see Dale Jr., Chase Elliott, most of, I’d say 90% of the Cup field kind of think the same way and seems to be about 95% of our fanbase think the same way.

“So, that’s nice to have all them in our corner. I don’t know if that helps or not it’s still 75 grand that I have to pay. But it does make you feel good at least most the people in the industry are feeling the same way.”