Despite First Blood, Stenhouse Jr.’s Worst Fear in Kyle Busch Brawl Turned True

​​In NASCAR the action doesn’t always remain on track and often spills over later in the form of raw and emotional confrontations. We saw exactly that play out in action in North Wilkesboro when Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. clashed. After the race, we saw tempers flare up, fists flying, and even the involvement of family members in the brawl.

And it seems both the drivers in question, Kyle Busch and Stenhouse Jr., have unresolved matters. While the overall race was a snooze fest with Logano lapping ahead of everyone and leading the race 199 times out of 200, things for sure did get fiery in North Wilkesboro with this after-show brawl.

The fight that stole the limelight from Logano at the NASCAR All-Star race

Joey Logano secured a dominant win, leading 199 of the 200 lap—this was supposed to be the headline. But an on-track altercation between Busch and Stenhouse Jr. followed by the post-race drama, was what took the spotlight. But what exactly happened? It all started when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. squeezed between Hamlin and Busch on lap 1. This led to Busch brushing the wall a little and losing positions.

While we now know that it was Busch who brushed himself against the wall, at that time Busch didn’t. So with the rage and by living up to his name, ‘rowdy’, he retaliated almost instantly and bumped Stenhouse Jr.’s rear bumper. This led to Stenhouse Jr. right out of the race at lap 2!

But this is just the beginning, as what happened after rocked everyone. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. parked his car in Busch’s pit stall and even exchanged some heated words with his crew. Then, Ricky Stenhouse confronted Busch in the pits and threw a punch which sadly didn’t land, and then we saw the crew get involved. But then he is seen shouting “Dad, Dad, Dad!” because Stenhouse Sr. himself got into a brawl with Busch, and in this fight, punches landed from both sides!

Jeff Gluck in Dirty Mo Podcast mentioned how it must have been mortifying for Jr. to see his dad fight for him with Busch. He said, “Oh, not the dads. You don’t want your dad fighting for you kind of thing. So I’m sure Ricky was like mortified being like dad, dad, and then thinking, but his dad’s probably going to get his ass kicked too.” It seemed like his worst fears had come true! Significantly, the fight took the limelight in this race, and Stenhouse Jr. even hinted that Busch might still be holding over a grudge from 2016!

Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. share their side of the story with the media

After the whole fight ordeal, both Busch and Stenhouse Jr. car-talked to the media. Stenhouse Jr. revealed that Busch has been bad-mouthing him ever since Daytona 2016! He said, “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. 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.”

Then Ricky Stenhouse Jr. talked about his confusion as to what got Busch so mad on track. He said that both of them got along pretty well outside the race track, and even talked for quite a bit. He further added, “When I was talking to him he kept saying that I wrecked him so yeah, definitely built-up frustration with how he runs his mouth all the time about myself. I know he’s frustrated because he doesn’t run near as good as he used to and I understand that.”

Meanwhile, Busch truly believed that he was hit by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. during the first lap of the race. He said, “We don’t even have water temp in the car yet and were wrecking each other off of [Lap 2].” Moreover, he went ahead to say how tired he was of being run over by everybody. His words painted a picture of his frustration maybe built up from long as he said, “But that’s what everybody does. Everybody runs over everybody to pass everybody.”

What did you guys think about the fight between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch? Have you any picked sides? Let us know in the comments.