The father of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been reinstated by NASCAR following his suspension in the aftermath of a fight with Kyle Busch and the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 team following the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro in May.
The fight stemmed from an on-track incident early in the race when Busch appeared to crash Stenhouse in retaliation for an incident the lap before. Stenhouse, who told media ‘watch after the race’ when asked how he would respond, waited until after the race, exchanged words and then threw a punch at the two-time Cup Series champion.
Rick Stenhouse jumped into the fray and needed to be pulled away from Busch. Busch landed a punch on the elder Stenhouse. His son was shouting ‘someone get my dad.’
NASCAR fined Ricky Stenhouse Jr. $75,000 for a premeditated punch and indefinitely suspended his father, meaning that he was barred from the infield until his punishment came to a close, which was a Tuesday penalty report.
The younger Stenhouse told Corey Lajoie on the Stacking Pennies podcast shortly after that incident that his dad just likes to fight.
“Dirt racer from back home,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “I saw him and I was just making sure everybody wasn’t going to [pummel him] or each other. And it looked like all the crew guys were grabbing each other, him included. Just grabbing each other.”
With the end of the suspension, Stenhouse Sr.’s hard card has been reinstated and he is free to return to the garage area starting this weekend at Kansas Speedway.
