Do you remember Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch going at each other after this year’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway? This was when the two had contact in the first lap, and then the #8 seemed like he deliberately wrecked Jr. in the next lap. Stenhouse Jr. did not take this kindly.

Displaying his frustration, he parked his damaged car in Busch’s pit stall before heated words were exchanged with the #8 crew. And Stenhouse Jr. was in no mood to cool off, as we know what happened next. Do you know that the iconic fistfight that broke out on the track is the backstory for another iconic NASCAR moment? As it was recently revealed by Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass.

How did Bob Pockrass become a meme?

Bob Pockrass is one of the most well-known voices when it comes to NASCAR. Of course, he’s well known for being an industry insider, but that’s not it. More than his interviews, Pockrass is known for his funny photo, which became perhaps the most viral NASCAR meme. It’s the same one you’d find Bob championing on all his social media profile photos. Pockrass was recently on Kevin Harvick’s “Happy Hour” podcast, where he shared the story behind it.

Dwelling on the incident, he said, “Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) gets out of the care center. We are like, What are you gonna do about it? He’s like, Come over after the race and watch. So it was like an invitation. So of course we go to Kyle at his car cause we don’t know where Ricky is gonna be and we asked Kyle a few questions as he’s walking back to the hauler, and then we see Ricky standing there in those incredible shorts.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had just worn what he could get his hands on as he waited for Busch to arrive. And all he could find was gym shorts. While both were having a heated exchange of words post-race out of nowhere, Jr. threw a jab at Busch. Here, take a look:

Pockrass was standing just beside Busch, recording, and the veteran driver was thrown at him after the punch. “Funny thing is Fox got me this little camera and it’s on a swivel because like you can hit a button so it comes to selfie mode and Kyle Busch gets thrown back into me and it spins and catches my face. I guess at the perfect moment,” Pockrass added.

According to Pokrass, he was immediately asked to send the fight footage to Fox Studios as, naturally, it was the biggest story of the hour. And he sent it hurriedly without cross-checking the footage, making a meme out of himself. Further in the conversation, he said, “And the thing is, the producers at Fox are like, send us whatever video you have. We are in North Wilkesboro; it ain’t the fastest internet speed. I didn’t have time to even look at it. So I just sent them what I had. So I had no clue what was on there until my face was screenshotted and a meme had been made.” This led to the iconic meme face!

Fans were not going to let a moment like this pass. Pockrass face was all over the internet being used in all kinds of memes. It is still being used. And it has become like a logo for the Bob Pockrass brand. And it’s all thanks to the unexpected Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse fight. Like Pockrass wasn’t expecting to become a viral meme, even Busch did not anticipate Stenhouse Jr.’s reaction.

Kyle Busch did not expect to get punched

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It wasn’t a points race, yet Stenhouse Jr. wanted a good finish. While Stenhouse Jr. finished 20th, Kyle Busch had a 10th-place finish. NASCAR fined Stenhouse Jr. a $75,000 fine for initiating the brawl. Kyle Busch later explained what unfolded on the track. In an episode of the Kenny Wallace show, he said, “You know to me, it’s just Lap 1. The water is not even hot. The tires aren’t even hot. You’re kind of slipping a little bit, but yeah, I ran wide into Turn 1. Gave an opening to the middle. He took it. I gave room on the exit to make sure we didn’t touch, so I touched the fence a little bit. I was touching the fence, and he still ran into me and brushed off on my left front corner.”

This led to Busch’s retaliation and his wrecking of Stenhouse Jr. However, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion had no idea it would invite such a reaction. “And then afterwards obviously, trying to have some casual words. I had no idea his comments of holding my watch or, you know, hey, if you want to see something afterwards, hang out until afterwards. Nobody told me. So, I felt like I went into an ambush blind with him and his team, having an idea that they were all kind of set up in different areas,” Busch added.

Busch faced no penalties in this incident. Neither on track nor off the track. What was your reaction to this incident? Did you make the same face as Bob Pockrass? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.