Ricky Stenhouse Jr. caught the attention of Denny Hamlin due to his many feuds during The Clash, including one with Hamlin’s fellow Toyota wheelman John Hunter Nemechek.
While the mid-race concert featuring Machine Gun Kelly was canceled due to the improvised schedule, there was still a break of about 20 minutes. Not the usual process in NASCAR but for The Clash, it’s usual practice.
Fans watching on TV might have heard of this incident, but they didn’t see it. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got out of his car and marched over to Nemechek. Then, he proceeded to take down the window net and stick his head in the car.
Evidently, Stenhouse Jr. wasn’t happy with how Nemechek had raced him on restarts, so he let him know about it.
During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin touched on the topic, even explaining that he doesn’t know if drivers were even supposed to leave their cars during the halftime break.
“Evidently Ricky got out of his car at halftime, and pulled the window net down on John Hunter, and it looked like he shook the nose of his helmet,” Hamlin stated. “I was looking, and his body is kind of blocking it a little bit, but you can see John Hunter’s helmet like shaking pretty big, and Ricky’s hand was definitely in there.
“So it’s, I don’t know. I don’t think we were supposed to get out of our cars during halftime, but Ricky felt like it was time to do it.”
Alas, Nemechek wasn’t the only one to feel Stenhouse’s rage, as the reigning Daytona 500 champion beefed with Michael McDowell on the track, as well. When you’re racing in those close quarters, tempers are bound to flare, and nobody knew that more than Stenhouse on Saturday.
Nevertheless, if nothing else it provided a look into Stenhouse’s attitude in 2024. While he made the playoffs last season, he certainly would’ve liked to make more of an impact following the Daytona 500.
The talented former Xfinity Series champion isn’t going to let anyone walk over him in 2024. He’s not expected to contend for wins each week, few drivers are, so each position will be important for the veteran wheelman to finish strong week-in and week-out.
Time will tell how 2024 shakes out for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — but going back-to-back at Daytona wouldn’t be a bad place to start for the wheelman. We’ll see if he can get the job done in less than two weeks.
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