Another day, another wreck in NASCAR, but instead of trusting his first instinct, the driver had to contain his anger due to the pressure of rules. This time, it was at the NASCAR Craftsman Trucks race in Darlington, where a wreck happened on the third lap.

Two-time Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes’ car came into contact with Tyler Ankrum, which bent his fender and caused his tires to get slashed. This led to a hard hit into the Turn 1 barrier. A disappointed Rhodes gave his take on the incident, stated the possibility of a $75,000 fine stopping him from confronting the No 18.

“All these guys try to take your position away from you. If you’re on the outside, a lot of them just unwind the wheel and try to take the spot. I’m not saying he [Tyler Ankrum] did that, but it seemed like it,” said Rhodes in an interview after the race. “Just sucks because it ruined our race. I’d love to go get myself a penalty right now, but I heard it’s about $75,000, so we won’t be doing that.”

Rhodes was referring to the infamous brawl between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch that took place in May 2024. The $75,000 fine was the highest ever that NASCAR charged for the drivers fighting. Busch wasn’t charged, but Stenhouse and his father both were penalized.

Meanwhile, Ankrum did not have a great race himself. He finished 24th in the standings and even took responsibility for the incident that happened with Rhodes.

“I was surprised to be told that he cut a left front because I didn’t even feel him touch me, or I didn’t feel me getting to him, and I just tried staying off of him as much as I could, ” said Ankrum. “That was on me, I apologize, I’ll text Ben and apologize cause me and him have raced really, really well together the past couple of years, and that’s just not how we race.”

Despite his anger, Rhodes seemed to understand this could be a genuine mistake as he agreed Ankrum was not someone he had any problems with during a race for positioning.

This incident comes just days after the Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez altercation after the Las Vegas race. That led to a lot of debate around fines in NASCAR, with drivers like Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also sharing his thoughts.

Rhodes’ comments seem to prove Stenhouse Jr.’s insights to be true, as he recently credited NASCAR for its fine implementation rules on altercations.

NASCAR is strict about the fighting policy

NASCAR’S Managing Director, Brad Moran, recently shared his thoughts on fighting in the sport. While he agreed with drivers being allowed to express their raw emotions, Moran stated the rules were in place to protect drivers.

“If they have a confrontation, that’s one thing, but we do got to watch if it gets into a true fight on pit road, I mean, we’ve got concrete all around, some of the drivers are quite different in sizes,” explained Moran in an interview on Sirius XM Radio.

Stenhouse Jr. believes safety was not really a concern and the rules are strict because of how NASCAR wants to be known as a sport.

Brawls and fights have been a common occurrence in the sport since its inception. Although not at the level of the NHL, NASCAR has seen some famous fights. However, with how strict the policies have become around altercations, it is tough to imagine drivers directly taking things into their own hands in the coming years.