The All-Star Race on Sunday proved to be a heated affair as Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr entered into a physical altercation after the race. While Stenhouse Jr threw a punch at Rowdy, NASCAR came out with the punishments following the incident. Unfortunately, it seems to be full of controversies.

Stenhouse Jr suffered a fine of $75,000 along with suspensions for two of his crew members. Not only that, JTG-Daughtery Racing crew members Keith Matthews and Clint Myrick were suspended for four and eight races respectively. While Busch escaped any punishment, NASCAR’s ruling for Stenhouse Jr came under scrutiny for a different reason.

NASCAR’s severe punishment for Ricky Stenhouse Jr and his team leaves the community fuming

It all started when Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr tussled just after the green flag on Sunday. Having said that, it was Busch who bumped the #47 driver. Unfortunately for Stenhouse Jr, this saw him crash out of the race just two laps into it. Understandably, he had the right to be furious with Busch.

While he parked and left his wrecked car in the #8 team’s pit stall, the scenario got tremendously heated after the race. Stenhouse Jr confronted Busch at the hauler after the event and eventually threw a quick right hand. While the scuffle only got ugly with both team members involved, NASCAR needed to make a strong statement.

Eventually, the sanctioning body came out with a severe punishment for Stenhouse Jr and his team. Surprisingly, Kyle Busch and his team didn’t face any punishment. While that was a shocker in itself, the NASCAR community couldn’t fathom the ruling body’s double standards with the punishments.

Post the incident, NASCAR has used the event as a promotion tactic almost on every social media platform. Not only that, Stenhouse Jr was invited as a guest on Corey LaJoie’s podcast following the scuffle. It is important to note that LaJoie’s podcast is a NASCAR production.

Naturally, the racing community was quick to spot the hypocrisy from NASCAR. One of the first ones was Daniel Suarez. In his words, “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…”

Well-known journalist Austin Konenski also vented out his frustration. He said, “NASCAR fined Ricky Stenhouse Jr. a whopping $75,000 for fighting Kyle Busch. However, NASCAR will then promote the fight on social media all week, giving them content, views, money, etc. An incredibly broken system.”

On the other hand, while Dale Earnhardt Jr condemned the severity of the penalties, his sister Kelley Earnhardt criticized NASCAR as well. She added on to Daniel Suarez’s criticism by saying, “I just said the same thing to a friend Daniel! Nascar has exploited the hell out of it and then this???”

Even ESPN senior writer Ryan McGee joined the criticism wagon as he questioned the double standards. He said, “This isn’t wrong. Do you fine a guy for the video you’re 100% going to use to promote next year’s All-Star Race?”

While criticism came in plenty and justice was demanded, NASCAR came forward with its own justification for the punishment.

NASCAR defends its decision to fine Ricky Stenhouse Jr following the altercation at the All-Star Race

Without a doubt, NASCAR’s call to punish Ricky Stenhouse Jr created a lot of rucks in the racing community. What’s worse was that his father Richard Stenhouse was indefinitely suspended. In this case, Ricky’s father was guilty of violating the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct (Sections 4.4.D in the NASCAR Rule Book).

While NASCAR’s double standards have come into question, Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer explained the ruling body’s stance. He said, “I think it’s fair to say that when you have crew members and family members that put their hands on our drivers, we’re going to react.”

Sawyer added, “There’s not a lot of detail I’m going to get into due to the fact that these are appealable penalties, and I want to make sure that we’re fair to that process. With that being said, and we’ve been consistent about this, when crew members and family members get involved, we are going to react. That’s exactly what we did.”

Most certainly, there’s a lot to make out of this, especially with only Ricky Stenhouse Jr getting the stick. While NASCAR made the best out of the incident with its promotions, it indeed feels the #47 driver was unfairly treated in this case.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.