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Bubba Wallace's spotter Freddie Kraft stood by NASCAR using the fight between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch last Sunday for promotion. Kraft declared his support for the motorsports body promoting the cut-throat nature of the sport through brawls such as the one at North Wilkesboro Speedway by taking to social media.
NASCAR fined Ricky Stenhouse Jr. $75000, besides suspending his father and two of his crew members, while Kyle Busch received no penalty. However, the fight did go viral in and beyond the community. The following clip of the fight on NASCAR's official X page has garnered 3.3 million views.
Trending
Addressing this, Freddie Kraft posted,
"At one point I might have been on the 'you better not use it as promotional material' bandwagon. But these days, please use anything and everything you can to get people to come to the track, or tune in on television."
A fan replied, mirroring the thoughts of part of the community,
"How do you say on one hand, this behavior is so egregious that we are giving you a massive fine for the awful thing you did and then on the other side say, but we’re also going to showcase what you did quite prominently as a highlight of our sport?"
However, Kraft saw nothing wrong in promoting the thrill of the sport by showcasing such fights. Pointing out the frequent instances of squabbles in other forms of competitive sports such as the NFL, he in turn replied to the fan,
"How many times have you seen replays of a bench clearing brawl, or an egregious late hit in football that resulted in fines or suspensions? Promote the passion. Promote the intensity. Promote the chaos. Do whatever it takes to put a**es in the seats."
Two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. also chimed in in the comment section, seconding Kraft's views. He said that he had expected the fine to be not more than $25,000.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. partially supports NASCAR's "overreacted" response to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s antics
In a recent episode of the podcast Dale Junior Download, the former racer and analyst shared how necessary he feels the penalty on Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is. He stood by NASCAR's decision, but felt that their reaction shows they might have blown the incident a little out of proportion.
"I get kind of where they come from," said Junior. "The attention that that's getting. We're not gonna say it out in the public. But it's good. Right? But we do need to make sure we send a message that this cannot be the norm." (7:45)
"And I agree with that. I don't think we need fighting every week and drivers just going nuts on each other over nothing. So yeah, I think he should have been penalized. I just thought it was a little overreacted and a little overblown because of how sensationalized it had gotten," he added.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. himself is a bit confused about the decision. In a virtual interview with NASCAR on FOX, he said,
"Maybe the severity of it... maybe a little confused at the whole situation but that's NASCAR's rulebook right? They can do what they please."
Today, Stenhouse Jr. stands 26th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 200 points to his name. He now eyes the upcoming crown jewel Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on 27 May.
