Kyle Busch didn’t offer much on Saturday after the Xfinity Series race about the past week following his altercation with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. but remained resolute over how he viewed what happened on the track on the second lap of the All-Star Race.
“I gave extra room and when I was dragging the fence, he smashed my door,” Busch said.
Busch was taken three-wide in Turn 1 with Denny Hamlin by Stenhouse and it narrows up in a hurry on exit. As a result, Busch got into the wall and felt that Stenhouse placed him in a bad predicament. He ran into the back of Stenhouse on entry into Turn 3 and sent him hard into the wall.
Stenhouse told reporters after being released from the infield care center to ‘watch after the race’ to see what he would do about it. He was waiting at the Richard Childress Racing haulers for Busch after the race, where they began a conversation about it, resulting in Stenhouse throwing a punch and setting off a fracas.
NASCAR fined Stenhouse a record $75,000 and suspended two of his crew members for their roles in the fight. Rick Stenhouse (Sr.) was indefinitely suspended for laying hands on Busch as well. Stenhouse has yet to make a decision about appealing the penalty.
Busch isn’t sure if he could have done anything differently in hindsight.
“Maybe, but I walked into the situation,” Busch said. “It was calm to start and it escalated from there.”
Did the JTG Daugherty crew members step over the line in his opinion?
“NASCAR makes the penalties so …,” Busch said with a shrug.
Busch also doesn’t think the severity of the fine will change his decisions to fight should he ever feel compelled in the future.
“No,” he said. “I think when you feel wronged. You do what you have to do.”
What if Stenhouse tries to wreck Busch in the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, something he threatened to do in real-time, but has since walked back?
“I don’t think he will,” Busch said.
In fact, he called team owner Richard Childress to tell him that too after the venerable team owner told media over the past week that he was willing to fight Stenhouse himself.
“That’s Richard,” Busch said. “It’s fine. He’s given us his support and I appreciate that.”
Ultimately, Busch, whom is mired in a bit of a slump is ready to move forward and wants to get past even racing outside of the top-15 most weeks.
“I don’t need a fight with Ricky Stenhouse Jr,” Busch said. “I need a fight with the top 3 guys so I can start winning some races.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.