Should Ricky Stenhouse Jr. face punishment if he retaliates against Carson Hocevar?
There’s a lot of talk and very little action that often occurs in the modern version of NASCAR.
Reasons for the lack of backing up words with action may vary, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that the retaliators are more likely to face consequences of their own. We went from a world of “boys, have at it,” to punishing guys who take matters in their own hands after they were wronged.
After a short-tempered Kyle Busch put Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the wall in the opening laps of the 2024 All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Stenhouse felt the need to stand up for himself and send the message that he wouldn’t put up with getting wrecked.
Blame it on short-track tempers — or being locked into the infield for the entire race — but Stenhouse waited on Busch and the two tumbled in an infield altercation.
Now, I’m not condoning violence, but who am I to condemn a driver for sticking up for himself in however he feels it is necessary? Plus, melees like that tend to go viral and become marketing fuel for future races.
Still, Stenhouse was the one that received the bigger punishment, even though he was the one who was wronged.
Once again, Stenhouse feels he owes one to another driver after Nashville Superspeedway, this time it’s Carson Hocevar.
Watching the replay a few times, I actually see the contact as more as a racing move. Sure, Hocevar out braked Stenhouse going into the corner, but it wasn’t a last-second divebomb move. He actually pulled out of line two thirds of the way down the back stretch to signal his intentions.
Stenhouse came down anyways and Hocevar hit him right in the corner where the back bumper meets the quarter panel, resulting in a spinning No. 47.
If it was any other driver, Stenhouse might also see it as a racing incident. Hocevar, however, has a lengthy track record of not cutting breaks and causing issues with other drivers. Stenhouse voiced his frustration after the race and in interviews since, and other drivers believe he will have his revenge at some point.
After the run-in, you have to think NASCAR will closely monitor any time the No. 47 gets near to the No. 77. In the past, other drivers have been penalized for admitting retaliation. If and when the two come together, will NASCAR penalize Stenhouse?
It sort of depends on how the next clash happens, but NASCAR should do its best to stay out of the way. Unfortunately, it will likely come down to a judgement call.
If the retaliation happens in a way deemed dangerous by the sanctioning body, Stenhouse could face repercussions. However, these drivers should be able to self-police to a certain extent.
It’s a very narrow path to walk. Again, I don’t condone intentionally crashing competitors. But a second penalty would almost seem like double punishment.
Then again, if you believe Hocevar’s comments that he had a productive conversation with Stenhouse, maybe the point will never even come up.
Is RFK Racing in danger of missing playoffs?
It’s been a rocky start to the year for RFK Racing. Brad Keselowski is buried in the standings and he just barely made the cut to be one of the 32 teams involved in the first in-season tournament.
Meanwhile, Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher have had their own ups and downs, with some higher highs. Preece has earned five top-10 finishes this season, and Buescher has six. Both, though, had their own issues with post-race penalties.
All of this leaves Buscher eight points ahead of the cut for the Playoffs, while Preece sits two points out. Meanwhile, Keselowski is certainly in a must-win situation.
The good news for the two RFK Racing drivers around the cut is that the season has mostly been dominated by the big teams. The bad news is that there are plenty of opportunities for chaos to happen this summer.
Between Buescher and Preece, the driver of the No. 17 has the best shot to improve his points position and build a gap in case of new winners – if Buescher doesn’t find victory lane first. Buescher has the ninth-best average finish at 15.9, while Preece is 20th at 19.6.
Both drivers have improved their speed as the season has continued, but Buescher has more experience in these RFK cars. He’s a sneaky good road racer and he has the ability to reel off some summer wins as well.
As much opportunity as there is for things to go right, so much could also go wrong. Road courses also provide opportunities for guys like Shane van Gisbergen, Michael McDowell, and AJ Allmendinger to lock up a spot with a win of their own. Of course, anything can happen at Daytona International Speedway as well.
More than halfway through the regular season, it’s not time to panic just yet. But for Preece and Buscher, there is no time to relax unless they find the all-important victory.
Is consistency undervalued?
Speaking of points racing versus finding victory lane, one driver that is once again on a winless drought is Chase Elliott. The No. 9 team has just one win in the past two-and-a-half seasons now, coming at Texas in 2024.
Fans of NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver are growing increasingly impatient with the crew – especially the crew chief – of the No. 9, while others who perhaps dislike Elliott are suggesting it’s a driver problem.
I think the discontentment with the performance of the driver and team actually stems from the lack of value placed on consistency in the modern era of NASCAR racing.
It seems like fans would rather see their driver have multiple race wins mixed in with a number of poor races instead of watching a season of consistently performing near the front but not at the top.
Part of that is because the playoff system rewards winning so much. If a driver perfectly times their wins, they could wind up with a deep run at the championship.
The other part of it is simpler. Winning in the NASCAR Cup Series, racing against 35 of the best drivers, is very difficult. Climbing that mountain of achievement once or twice in a season is far more exhilarating than a string of top 10 finishes with no wins.
With all of the discourse about Elliott not contending for victories like some of his teammates, the No. 9 has the third-best average finish in the Cup Series. That is a strong stat, pointing to a great team and a great driver.
That being said, Elliott does need to find victory lane soon. Not because he’s on the hot seat or anything, but because NASCAR is better when its most popular drivers are competing for wins and championships.
Did TRICON Garage miss out on a potential driver?
For the last few years, TRICON Garage has been at the top of the Truck Series field week after week, dominating with Corey Heim and having a few of their other trucks in contention.
While Heim has dominated to start the season, there’s been a bigger gap between the No. 11 truck and his teammates.
Meanwhile, one driver who has made some starts in TRICON equipment is Brendan “Butterbean” Queen, a driver who has been dominant in his own right in the ARCA Series.
There are always risks with trying to move drivers up too fast and skipping certain levels. However, Queen was fantastic in the CARS Tour, a series which some may view as on-par with ARCA.
Queen took his third ARCA win of the season at Michigan International Speedway on Friday (June 6), retaking the points lead and he held off Heim to do so.
While Heim did look faster at the end of the race, Queen had enough to end up in victory lane, and it makes you wonder what sort of a competitor he might be in Truck equipment.
The CARS Tour to NASCAR pipeline is relatively recent to this point, but Xfinity Series driver Carson Kvapil has already shown that drivers from the CARS Tour can put their skills to use in a big way against NASCAR competition. Moving from strictly short tracks to a much wider scale of racing isn’t for the faint of heart, but Queen has shown the ability to stay on the loud pedal at the larger downforce tracks.
Queen has a championship to race for in ARCA, but TRICON should seriously consider getting him into some more Truck races as the season goes on.
Caleb began sports writing in 2023 with The Liberty Champion, where he officially covered his first NASCAR race at Richmond in the spring. While there, Caleb met some of the guys from Frontstretch, and he joined the video editing team after graduating from Liberty University with degrees in Strategic Communications and Sports Journalism. Caleb currently work full-time as a Multi-Media Journalist with LEX 18 News in Lexington, Kentucky and contributes to Frontstretch with writing and video editing. He's also behind-the-scenes or on camera for the Happy Hour Podcast, live every Tuesday night at 7:30!