Drivers react to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s $75K fight fine: 'That seems wild to me'

CONCORD, N.C. — Chase Elliott had heard earlier in the week that NASCAR had fined Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for punching Kyle Busch.

Elliott didn't pay much attention to it; he figured the fine was minimal for the fight that broke out last Sunday following the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Upon hearing on Friday it was $75,000, he seemed quite surprised.

"That's a lot of money," he said. "That seems wild to me."

NASCAR wouldn't comment on the severity of the fine — the biggest in NASCAR history to a driver for punching another driver — because Stenhouse has until late afternoon Tuesday to file an appeal. 

NASCAR typically doesn't fine drivers for a punch thrown on pit road following a race in the heat of the moment after they get out of their cars. But Stenhouse had been knocked out of the race following contact with Busch on the second lap of the 200-lap race and confronted him at his hauler.

"When you wait 198 laps, and you make those decisions that were made, we're going to react to that there," NASCAR Senior Vice President Elton Sawyer said on the NASCAR channel on SiriusXM. "There could have been different decisions made once we start getting to the point where it gets physical.

"We want the two drivers to be able to have their time to do express their differences. But once it escalates to where there's been a physical altercation — better decisions could have been made throughout that period of time between the incident that happened on the racetrack and the incident that happened in the garage postrace."

The biggest argument potentially for a Stenhouse appeal was laid out by Elliott.

"You're going to fine him, but you're going to promote with it?" Elliott said. "Like what are we doing? That's a