Richard Petty Confesses 8-Word Inability to Condemn Busch and Stenhouse Jr’s All-Star Violence

The 2024 NASCAR All-Star ended with a striking resemblance to boxing. What should’ve ended with Joey Logano‘s victory coverage concluded with news of a fistfight between Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Kyle Busch. An on-track nudge from Busch’s #8 Chevy sent Stenhouse Jr.’s car crashing into the wall. Visibly unhappy about the ordeal, the #47 Chevrolet driver threw a right hook at Kyle Busch post-race. However, the misconduct didn’t sink in well with NASCAR legend Richard Petty.

Getting together with his three-decade-long crew chief and cousin Dale Inman on the Petty Family Racing YouTube channel, The King opened up about his views on the event. On being enquired if he had ever thrown a punch at the track, he said in a disappointed tone, “Not like what they did the other night, okay, NO.” 

He is known to be a gentleman, so this was an expected answer. However, the sentence afterward to come out of his mouth was more of a confession. Giving his reasoning for avoiding fights, he added, “I just went up to them and said, Okay guys, this ain’t gonna happen again, but as far as fisticuffs, I wasn’t a good enough fighter to fight, so I never started a fight.”

However, Dale Inman had insights of his own to add. Remembering their third partner-in-crime and cousin, Maurice Petty, Inman said, “We didn’t have to worry much about it. Maurice took care of a lot of that.“ Proving his point further, he narrated a story of something that happened way back.

“There is a pretty big scuffle one night in Islip, New York, and I said here, I am from Level Cross, North Carolina, and gonna be locked up in New York City. It kindly went away, but I ain’t gonna say who we was with, but uh, Maurice was the, um, we didn’t have to talk much, he took care of it,“ he added. Nevertheless, one instance almost pushed Richard Petty to the verge of a physical fight.

What and who once made Richard Petty lose his cool?

Back in the day, the seven-time Cup Series winner Richard Petty was a fiery person. In a way, it helped him push his way to success in the NASCAR world. Staying true to this image of himself, he once got into a heated argument with Doug Patterson. Richard’s former PA, Martha Bonkemeyer, revealed the ordeal in a Petty Enterprises Reunion Dinner episode. She recalled, “I’m going to hit the hell out of you, Doug, if you don’t get out of my way.”

It was a thing of the past, though. The world of NASCAR has seen enough action in the last few years to compensate for the past decades. However, this Memorial Day Weekend is all set to see some amusing things to boil up. The center of attraction would be Kyle Larson’s Double Duty attempt if he could make it to Coca-Cola 600. All in all, this weekend is going to be a set of ‘Memorial Days.’