Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes issue with NASCAR over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fine, lack of Kyle Busch punishment
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a big problem with how NASCAR handled the punishment for the Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch fight. The NASCAR legend released a bonus episode of Dale Jr. Download on Wednesday and said he didn’t like Stenhouse being fined $75,000 and Busch not being punished at all.
“I think [$25,000] would have been a good penalty for Stenhouse,” Earnhardt said. “On the other side, you got Kyle Busch that we know he wrecked him on purpose and he gets nothing. I’m fine with him getting nothing if Ricky’s side was a little more reasonable. For Ricky’s side to be this big mountain of a penalty and Kyle’s to be nothing was a little surprising.
“We’ve seen other guys intentionally wreck and be in trouble. There’s different reasons and variables. Kyle’s intentional wreck was a corner or two later under green flag conditions. He didn’t go wipe him out under caution. But we have seen some people sit out races for right-hooking people at Charlotte with Chase Elliott and so forth. …I was just a little surprised, I didn’t think Kyle should be suspended. I didn’t think anything about what Kyle did until you see the big fine that Ricky gets and you’re like, ‘Oh wow, that much for Ricky and nothing for Kyle.’ Just a little surprising.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares thoughts on wreck between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch
Along with being surprised about Stenhouse’s large fine from NASCAR, Earnhardt also understands why Stenhouse was aggressive at the start of the All-Star Race which led to the fight. During the second lap of the race, Stenhouse tried to pass Busch by going in between him another another car, Busch didn’t appreciate it and hit Stenhouse which led to him getting into the wall and wrecking his car.
“I think that there’s an arrow issue where – and we’ve seen it and the guys talk about it … where when somebody gets on your left side, it makes you tight,” Earnhardt said on Dirty Air. “And now, I think that Denny’s correct in that Stenhouse didn’t touch him, but Stenhouse gave Kyle a choice: lift or hit the wall. Kyle hits the wall and says, ‘Well, it wouldn’t happen if he wouldn’t have run three wide. Why are we going three wide on the second lap of the race?’ Stenhouse says it’s an All-Star Race. Every restart, gotta take advantage of it. He’s right.”