Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fined $75K by NASCAR for All-Star brawl; 2 crew members suspended

NASCAR fined driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. $75,000 and suspended two of his crew members and his father on Wednesday after an altercation at the 40th All-Star Race.

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Stenhouse, 36, whose car was damaged when he was sent into the wall on the second lap by Kyle Busch at North Wilkesboro Speedway, confronted his fellow driver after the race and threw a punch to set off a melee, Fox Sports reported. Members of both racers’ teams clashed in the Cup Series garage at the North Carolina track.

Two crew members from the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing team -- team mechanic Clint Myrick and tuner Keith Matthews -- were suspended, according to CBS Sports.

Myrick was suspended for the next eight Cup Series races and Matthews was suspended for the next four Cup events, NASCAR.com reported. Myrick, who put his hands on Busch and a NASCAR security officials, will be off the track until the race at Pocono on July 14. Matthews, who also made contact with Busch, was suspended through the race at Iowa Speedway on June 16, according to the website.

Richard Stenhouse, the father of the driver, was indefinitely suspended for violations of the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct, Fox Sports reported. The elder Stenhouse also grabbed Busch during the fracas.

“I think it’s fair to say that when you have crew members and family members that put their hands on our drivers, we’re going to react,” NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said Wednesday morning on SiriusXM’s NASCAR Radio. “There’s not a lot of detail I’m going to get into due to the fact that these are appealable penalties, and I want to make sure that we’re fair to that process.

“With that being said, and we’ve been consistent about this, when crew members and family members get involved, we are going to react. That’s exactly what we did.”

NASCAR generally does not fine drivers for a scrap in the heat of the moment, but Stenhouse Jr. had more than 90 minutes to stew before confronting Busch, Fox Sports reported.

The disciplinary action is consistent with a $25,000 fine levied against NASCAR Truck series driver Matt Crafton last year after he punched Nick Sanchez in the garage, according to the sports outlet.

In an interview on X, formerly known as Twitter, Stenhouse Jr. said he was “a little confused” by the fine and its severity.

“(I) probably knew something was coming, I guess, but you know, maybe the severity of it, maybe a little confused at the whole situation,” he said. “But that’s part of it, that’s NASCAR’s rulebook, right?

“They can do what they please, and you know, we’re gonna race this weekend in Charlotte (at the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday) as if anything didn’t happen, and put our foot forward in regards to that.”

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