Gonna have your cake and eat it too, eh?
In case you somehow missed it, the biggest moment of the NASCAR All-Star Race last weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway came not on the track but in the garage after the race when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. delivered a right hook to Kyle Busch’s jaw.
Stenhouse was upset after Busch wrecked him on lap 2 of the race, with Busch apparently thinking Stenhouse had ran him into the wall the lap before but video showing that the two cars never touched until Busch dumped Stenhouse.
Caution on Lap 2. 👀 pic.twitter.com/6hix2jAvcj
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 20, 2024
And Stenhouse was waiting by Busch’s hauler after the race. And after a heated conversation, Stenhouse decided that the time for talking was over and took a swing at Busch, landing a right hook on his jaw as Busch’s pit crew jumped in to try to protect their driver.
Fight! pic.twitter.com/2ZQhL4VcSy
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 20, 2024
Stenhouse’s father then got in on the action, landing a punch on Busch who then took some swings at the elder Stenhouse, before pit crews were able to separate the two.
Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fight after the All-Star Race. pic.twitter.com/IJMttBw90W
— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) May 20, 2024
Well today NASCAR issued their penalties for the post-race scuffle, including a $75,000 fine for Ricky Stenhouse Jr., an indefinite suspension for his father, and suspensions for two more of Stenhouse’s crew that was involved in the fight.
But fans, and even some drivers, are calling out NASCAR for penalizing Stenhouse while at the same time using video of the fight all over social media to promote the sport.
On their official Twitter account, NASCAR has posted photos or videos of the fight no less than five times since it all went down. And people were quick to jump on the sport for their hypocrisy after issuing the fines:
🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻 How many clips did you post of the incident? How many times will it be shown on TV this weekend?
— Scott C. Ford Jr (@ScottCFordJr1) May 22, 2024
Y’all promoted the hell out of the fight from this account, got tons of press and then fine them.
— The System (@tealtalk) May 22, 2024
But then y’all gonna use the video all over social media to promote NASCAR & encourage more confrontations like that?! That’s ridiculous.
— The Morning 5 (@TheMorningFive) May 22, 2024
Better not post one more piece of footage from that fight then 😬 https://t.co/WxJ6sijQMg
— Chase Holden 🏁 (@GarageGuyChase) May 22, 2024
Don’t promote the fight if you’re just going to fine the drivers. NASCAR has the most viewers it’s had in years now—please don’t ruin it. https://t.co/p7CIqFf8N7
— Trevor Cash (@cash_trevor) May 22, 2024
NASCAR Cup Series driver Daniel Suarez even called out NASCAR:
If it’s so wrong then why is it all over NASCAR social channels? We should be allowed to show our emotions, I don’t get it… https://t.co/LKr8t4h27h
— Daniel Suárez (@Daniel_SuarezG) May 22, 2024
And Dale Earnhardt Jr. stopped short of criticizing the penalties, but admitted that he was surprised at how hard NASCAR came down on Stenhouse and his crew:
Wow, I’m surprised by the severity of all these penalties. https://t.co/lMEM3VNlfq
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) May 22, 2024
Of course it was the most (only?) entertaining part of the whole race, so it makes sense that NASCAR would want to promote it. And I’m sure the fact that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. waited around for the entire race to confront Kyle had a lot to do with the penalty and the severity.
But you’ve gotta admit, NASCAR is loving the attention that it’s bringing to the sport. So it’s a little weird that they would then turn around and penalize the driver for it.
