The fact that NASCAR is making a comeback to Bowman Gray Stadium at this precise moment is kind of ironic.
Cup Series drivers who become extremely irate with one another over anything that occurs during The Busch Clash in February will have no choice but to yell at each other and leave, earning them the nickname “The Madhouse” for all of its theatricality.
Yes, NASCAR has made it very clear in both words and deeds that “boys have at it” and that anything that resembles the Daytona 500 fight in 1979, which initially made the sport a popular pastime, will not be allowed to continue.
When Taylor Gray was roughed up at Martinsville last month, just one lap away from his first Truck Series victory—one that would have also sent him to the championship race—he felt compelled to say something to Christian Eckes.
Gray’s only option was to simply threaten things that would never happen. Why?
Gray remarked, “What do you mean, what happens next week, because if I do anything, I’m going to get fined or penalized.” That’s how NASCAR operates. I have to race him clean because they can ruin you all day long, but if you try to get them back, you get punished.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is all too familiar with the ridiculousness of the contemporary NASCAR.
Early on in the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, Kyle Busch made it very evident that he intended to hurt Stenhouse by crashing him. After the race, Stenhouse waited for Busch for two hours. He was a man of his word, according to what he told the media when he was released from infield care. Stenhouse punched Busch in the temple after failing to get the response he was looking for. Rick Stenhouse, Sr. confused things. Everyone was thrown off the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 hauler by a heavy-duty crew member.
Before launching everyone off the symbolic top rope like it was the WWE Royal Rumble, he yelled, “Get off this truck.”
The decision-makers in Daytona Beach and Downtown Charlotte finally couldn’t handle it, even though the theater was great and the highlights were featured on SportsCenter and morning newscasts across the nation.
For simply choosing to punch Busch instead of later using his car as a weapon, they responded by fining Stenhouse $75,000, which is not too dissimilar from fines imposed for illegally altering specifications of the current Cup Series car.
Last year, those in charge made the decision that a crucial aspect of NASCAR’s identity should be punished with the same severity as unlawfully altering a race car’s specifications.
