The exclusion of Charlotte Roval from the 2024 schedule has not gone down well with the fans. Looking at Sunday’s Cup Series playoff race, their disappointment is understandable. The amalgamation of a road course and an oval track witnessed an action-packed and electric evening, ending with road course specialist A. J. Allmendinger getting an unexpected victory. Despite the drivers in contention for the ‘final 8’ taking center stage for most of the evening, unqualified drivers like Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr let their presence known, albeit for the wrong reasons.

In one of the many incidents that took place this past Sunday, Ricky Stenhouse Jr spun Jimmie Johnson‘s driver Erik Jones in the third stage, subsequently forcing him into another wreck with the #34 of McDowell. McDowell’s crew chief, Travis Peterson, was infuriated by the events and used the team radio to vent his frustration on what ensued.

Crew chief bursts out on the radio as Michael McDowell crashes with Erik Jones

Throughout the race, contacts, crashes, and cautions kept taking the spotlight. However, in the third stage, there were multiple incidents across the track. In the 80th lap, as Kyle Busch and Allmendinger battled for the lead in the front row, the #43 and #34 came in contact.

It was Jones who was trying to escape traffic when Stenhouse bumped his rear to eventually send him into a spin. A spinning Jones car then collected the #34 as well.

This agitated Michael McDowell and crew chief Peterson as they were caught in the crossfire. Peterson was not expecting Jones to tag McDowell, who could have been safe had he been a millisecond faster. The wreck left both cars needing immediate repair as extensive damage was seen on the car’s doors.

The first words that came out Peterson’s mouth on seeing Ricky spin Jones were, “He f**king got killed in that?”

However, more expletives followed as their car joined the fray of unfortunate wrecks that evening. Furious at the crash forcing the caution flag, he shouted, “Son of a b***h”. Erik Jones, on the other hand, was left with no option but to park his car and relayed his helplessness on the radio, saying, “We got f**king destroyed. Sorry.”

For Jones, this wasn’t the first crash of the day. The 27-year-old had a rough outing at the Roval as he stepped out of the race earlier than he would have wanted.

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr was caught up in a blazing fire

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After initiating the caution in the 80th lap and forcing Michael McDowell and Erik Jones to bump each other, Ricky went about his way, trying to move up. He has had a rough few months encasing his elimination from the first round of playoffs similar to McDowell. Despite that, he would have hoped for a solid outing at Charlotte to boost his confidence and prepare for the upcoming season.

However, his story with caution flags continued. With 13 laps to go till the end of the 109-lap race, the #47 Chevrolet Camaro was blazing with dark smoke and fire shooting out from underneath the vehicle. Things got serious quickly as the fire grew in size, forcing the JTG Daugherty driver to stop the car. While the commentators and audience were filled with shock and terror over his safety, the 36-year-old looked calm and collected as he unbuckled his harnesses and straps to get out of the car.

Stenhouse even shared a joke about the incident on his Twitter handle. Getting sarcastic over the accident, he wrote, “Left our Pizza Rolls in the oven a bit too long this weekend #StenhouseJr #ROVAL”. 

The reason for the #47 bursting into flames is yet to be known, and NASCAR is evaluating the incident thoroughly. With that being said, Stenhouse getting out of his car unharmed is one positive.

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