What kicked off with a little nudge from Ricky Stenhouse Jr on lap 1 escalated to a full-blown fistfight by the time the race wrapped up. While it initially seemed like Ricky Stenhouse Jr, who dropped out early in the second lap, and Kyle Busch, who finished 10th, were just gearing up for a heated chat, things quickly spiraled. Ricky threw a punch at Kyle Busch out of the blue. And while Kyle tried to return the favor, he couldn’t quite catch Ricky, so his punches ended up landing on Stenhouse Sr instead.

The crew managed to break it up in under a minute, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr wasn’t ready to drop it. He spilled the beans to James Small in the post-scuffle debrief, sharing his side of why things got physical.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr explained why he threw a punch at Kyle Busch

With the post-race fireworks blazing in the background and the verbal spat escalating into a full-on brawl between the drivers and their crews in the NASCAR Cup Series garage, the nasty clash brought back memories of North Wilkesboro’s rough days. “I mean, it’s the first lap of the race. We don’t even have water temp in the car yet, and we’re wrecking off of (Turn) 2. … I’m tired of getting run over — by everybody. But that’s what everybody does. Everybody runs over everybody to pass everybody,” Busch explained as he recounted their tangle on his way to the showdown.

The argument was brief, heating up over who bumped who and how much space there actually was. “I don’t believe you,” Busch snapped, to which Stenhouse retorted, “Go back and watch it,” before landing a solid right hook. It looked like Stenhouse was braced for everything to unfold this way. When James Small asked him post-fight if this anger was just from today or if it had been building up, #47 mentioned:”

“Kyle and I’ve always raced each other really hard. […] I wrecked him one time at Daytona and he’s got a bad mouth for me ever since then. […] outside the racetrack, I talked to him quite a bit. I’m not sure why it was so mad that you know, shoved it three wide, but… I mean he hit the fence and kind of came off the wall and ran into me and I don’t know when I was talking to him and kept saying that I wrecked him, so… Um Yeah, just definitely built-up frustration with how he runs his mouth all the time you about myself.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr couldn’t resist throwing a jab, saying, “I know he’s frustrated because he doesn’t run near as good as he used to and… I understand that. [But] We’re a single car team over here. We’re working really hard. you know, go out and get better each and every weekend and you know, we had a really good game plan coming in. Our car was really strong, yesterday in Pratt or Friday in practice. I was looking forward to running run into the front.” 

Coming from a driver who hasn’t been lighting up the leaderboard but is calling out how Busch has been performing lately, it really stirred up the crowd. That’s why, among the fans, they are clearly backing Rowdy, throwing shade at the JTG Daugherty Racing driver.

NASCAR fans were quick to criticize #47 for throwing punches despite being the one to stir up trouble first

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When fans caught wind of Stenhouse admitting he went three-wide right off the bat, they were baffled, saying, “So he admits to squeezing it 3 wide and nudging Kyle into the wall? Then gets mad when Kyle returns the favor 🤨🤔.“ 

Another fan was none too pleased about Ricky’s dad getting involved, commenting, “Sooo ‘yeah I charged him…but then he’s mean and hurt my feelings.‘ And what’s up with Sr? Not his first rodeo stirring trouble, right? Shouldn’t someone yank his pass? Who does he think he is? Maybe they should repaint the 47, slap ‘GoDaddy‘ on it while he’s driving.”

Another chimed in about Stenhouse’s claim of having a strong start, pointing out, “‘I was looking forward to running to the front’—even if he stayed in the whole race, there’s no way he was finishing in the top 15 💀.“ 

Someone else highlighted the aggression Kyle Busch is known for, noting, “What a bum. @StenhouseJr has wrecked just about everyone on the track, probably twice over. If he got what he really deserved, he’d be rolling around in a wheelchair. 😂.”

While everyone would’ve loved to hear more of Kyle Busch’s take on the fracas, FOX Sports reported that Busch passed on a post-fight interview.