Did NASCAR Make Right Call Following All-Star Fisticuffs?

What may have been a largely forgettable All-Star Race quickly became one for the ages afterward, as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. exacted revenge on Kyle Busch following the lap 2 incident that saw the No. 47 nose into the frontstretch wall. With a warning sounded to anyone in ear shot, Stenhouse Jr. AND Sr. both got in on the action, as Busch was being restrained.

The JTG Daugherty Racing driver was fined $75,000 while mechanic Clint Myrick was suspended eight weeks and engine tuner Keith Matthews four weeks.

Did NASCAR make the right call with its disciplinary actions in an exhibition points race at one of the oldest short tracks on the NASCAR calendar? Fittingly, two of the oldest at Frontstretch duke it out — civilly — in this week’s 2-Headed Monster.

Saving the Inmates at the Asylum From Themselves

While Joey Logano was leading wire to wire at the All-Star Race Saturday night, Stenhouse was stewing. Like a Marvel villain arc that originated in the not-fictional town of Olive Branch (oh the irony!), Miss., Stenhouse pined, plotted and laid in wait to exact revenge on his bitter rival Kyle Busch.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic … but a right hook to the head has Stenhouse coughing up $75,000, and his old man can’t watch him race or avoid a rough ass beatin’ from Richard Childress. Was it the right call for NASCAR to come down so hard on the No. 47 team?

I know everyone likes scrappin’ and fightin’ in the pits at a short track – but yes it needed to be done.

A number of factors here aren’t playing in Stenhouse’s favor. It wasn’t as if it was a verbal escalation that became shoving and someone threw a punch. He went on TV – and in the media center – and intimated what he was going to do almost two hours later. A man of his word, he followed through on it, as did his dad and a couple of mechanics on the team. While it did make every sports show and the national news on Monday and is being exploited as free publicity by NASCAR, they do have to address these things head-on (no pun intended).

First of all, there’s the NASCAR Cup Series pecking order. You can’t have this become a regular thing in the Craftsman Truck Series that has plenty of wrecking and hot tempers as it is. Nick Sanchez and Matt Crafton’s war of words and fists last year didn’t go over so well and was addressed by the sanctioning body in a swift manner. There was also some collateral damage in this most recent scrum, with…