Ricky Stenhouse Jr. feels like he won in the court of public opinion but he has yet to decide if he and the JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 team are going to challenge NASCAR in a literal court of appeals.
The sanctioning body delivered the largest fine for fighting in the history of the sport, $75,000 and two crew member suspensions but Stenhouse is adamant that his personal actions towards Kyle Busch did not warrant that degree of severity.
“For the most part, the whole industry and fanbase has kind of weighed in and landed on the side that I fall on,” Stenhouse said during a media scrum on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Luckily for us, I’m not having to say a whole lot. We talk as a race team at the shop about how we feel about the situation.
“It’s cool to see Dale (Earnhardt) Jr., Chase Elliott, about 90 percent of the Cup field feel the same way and 95 percent of the fanbase too. I don’t know that it helps or not. That’s still 75 grand that I have to pay but it does make you feel good that most of the people in the industry feel the same way.”
In addition to the fine, Ricky Stenhouse Sr. was indefinitely suspended for getting physical with Busch after his son threw the first punch. Additionally, team mechanic Clint Myrick was suspended for the next eight races for placing hands on both Busch and a NASCAR official. Team tuner Keith Matthews was suspended for the next four races for placing his hands on Busch.
Busch nor anyone on the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 team were penalized.
Stenhouse has not gotten explanation from NASCAR over why his penalty warranted a record fine. The second highest fine for fighting went to Tony Stewart in 2004 at $50,000.
“They told us they were not going to be able to answer questions about it until its paid or the appeal happens or whatever happens …they act like it didn’t happen,” Stenhouse said.
JTG Daugherty Racing has until Tuesday at 5 p.m. to file for an appeal.
An appeal would then take the matter before the three-member National Motorsports Appeals Panel, which would hear the argument and then issue a ruling. It has the authority to uphold the previous penalty, modify it or overturn it.
“We’re still undecided,” Stenhouse said. “We spent all week focused on the race at Charlotte and what we need to run well here. We got until next week to figure that out. Our main focus is getting back on track and having a strong run on Sunday.”
Would Stenhouse change any of last Sunday night if he could?
“Hmm, yeah, there’s a couple of thing,” he said.
Ultimately, Stenhouse is just very surprised at the $75,000 number.
“It’s a lot,” he said. “It’s the most they have ever fined anyone but I guess we won something. It’s the highest fine. It’s high for sure.”
Stenhouse is looking forward to Sunday night as he has posted top-10s here two years in a row.
“For us, that’s why we put everything else on the backburner this week,” Stenhouse said. “We’re focused on this weekend because I feel like we can have a top-5 car if all the cards fall our way and then we can focus on what we’re going to do after this weekend.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.