NASCAR Senior VP talks penalties for Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. following post-race fight

The fight between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch was all anyone could talk about after the All-Star Race in North Wilkesboro, and John Probst — NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Racing Development — had some interesting comments on whether each wheelman would be punished.

Speaking with NASCAR reporter Alex Weaver, Probst elaborated on whether we could see some penalties come to light for the No. 47 and the No. 8 teams moving forward, after their viral fight in North Wilkesboro.

“Nothing to announce right now,” Probst stated, speaking on possible repercussions for Stenhouse Jr. and Busch. “I would say that we’ve already started looking at the tape. We’ll take a deep dive into that Tuesday, and certainly there will be some announcements, I would anticipate. There’s a lot of folks involved there, that we don’t like seeing.”

Alas, it all stemmed from Stenhouse Jr. being put into the wall by Busch on Lap 2 of the 200 lap race. With $1,000,000 on the line, both drivers were on edge and looking for every edge they could gain early in the race, and the money could’ve gone a long way from Stenhouse Jr.’s single-car team.

Many agreed that on the ensuing replay, it looked like Stenhouse didn’t really do anything wrong to Busch. He ran up the middle and Busch got into the wall. So, the No. 47 wheelman was certainly stewing over the situation.

“I’m not sure why he was so mad,” Stenhouse Jr. told FOX, following the altercation. “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. 

“You know, we had a really good game plan coming in. Our car was really strong. Friday in practice I was looking forward to running to the front. I think we’d pass a couple of cars there. I was excited for the rest of the night and he ruined it. Being stuck in here definitely doesn’t help the frustration, if there was a tunnel I’d have probably been at home watching the end of that. So, here we are.”

Evidently, Busch’s frustrations were a long time coming, “I’m tired of being run over by everybody,” Busch told FOX. “But that’s what everybody does. Everybody runs over everybody to pass everybody.”

Whether the punishment fit the crime, or lack thereof for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. from Kyle Busch, will be debated. Still, NASCAR might look to come down hard on the drivers, for muddying up their All-Star Race on Sunday evening.

On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.