JTG Daugherty owner Gordon Smith confirms team won’t appeal NASCAR fine for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Ahead of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, JTG Daugherty has decided not to appeal Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s fines. This seems like a moment where the NASCAR team and driver just want to move on from it and focus on racing.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fined $75,000 for fighting Kyle Busch after the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. The fine is the largest handed out for a postrace altercation.

JTG team owner Gordon Smith confirmed to Lee Spencer that they would not appeal. Stenhouse Jr. had commented just yesterday about the discussions around the appeal and whether or not they would pursue one.

It seems that they have come up with their decision.

Just talked to @JTGRacing team owner Gordon Smith. He confirmed that the team has notified #NASCAR and will not be appealing the fine from @NWBSpeedway Smith feels it's best "to put the situation behind us and move on." @StenhouseJr

— Lee Spencer (@CandiceSpencer) May 26, 2024

JTG Daugherty Racing is not going to appeal this and I think that’s fine. We have seen the appeals panel, which is an independent panel not affiliated with NASCAR, make changes to punishments before.

However, it is a somewhat lengthy process, at least it can be. $75,000 is a lot of money, but for this team and for Ricky Stenhouse Jr., it’s not worth distracting from the product on the track.

After all, this 47 team needs to get it going. They have not been keeping pace with their performance from a year ago. Last week with Kyle Busch at North Wilkesboro was a spilling over of emotions from both sides. Neither team is executing at the level they strive for.

While it was entertaining and fun for fans and others, that fine isn’t fun. Fans, drivers, and people in the NASCAR industry were all uncertain about the size of the fine. Daniel Suárez was perplexed by it. So was Chase Elliott, who didn’t know about it until he got to the track this week.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is going to pay up

The good news is that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. doesn’t have to worry bout this anymore. When drivers have a bad week they usually like to move on quickly. If there was an appeal this process would have lasted at least another week or so.

Then they may have wasted time just to have the penalty upheld anyway. There is more good news, the Coca-Cola 600 is kind of Stenhouse’s thing. He has five top-10 finishes in the last seven races. He was P7 in each of the last two years. It’s time for him to bounce back.

Stenhouse only has one top-10 and one top-5 on the season. He was P6 at Atlanta and P4 at Talladega. Both are drafting tracks, which Stenhouse excels at. However, there have been four finishes this season of P31 or worse for the JTG driver.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has a great opportunity in front of him. Show Kyle Busch that you can take care of him off track and on the track. Get a strong finish and beat the 8 car. Then see if he talks about how much you suck.