Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell were teammates on a kickball field on Thursday. By Sunday, they were trading contact at Charlotte Motor Speedway. And when Stenhouse explained what had happened after the Bank of America 400, it became clear that the argument was about more than one bad move.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“He sort of at least apologized some for that,” Stenhouse said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
It was hardly a ringing endorsement of McDowell’s attempt to make peace. Stenhouse said the two had disagreed throughout the race, but his frustration peaked when he tried to pass McDowell late in the afternoon. He believed McDowell kept blocking his way, then forced him into the grass when he finally got a run down the frontstretch.
“I just felt like he was blocking me every single lane that I went,” Stenhouse said. “He was waiting for me to make a move, and then eventually I got a run and he put me in the grass down the front stretch.”
Stenhouse did not hide how angry he was. The two made contact on the cool-down lap, and McDowell spun Stenhouse. Neither had much to show for the afternoon since McDowell finished 19th, Stenhouse 23rd.
But the finish was only part of the reason Stenhouse wanted a word with him. Stenhouse said he had been on the wrong end of incidents with McDowell before. His example was NASCAR’s Michigan, where he was running well earlier this season before being crashed out on the front straightaway. He believed that wreck could have been avoided. So when he felt McDowell had blocked him and sent him into the grass at Charlotte, it was not easy for him to shrug it off as a racing disagreement.
“I’ve been on the short end of his stick a couple times,” Stenhouse said.
That is Stenhouse’s view of the pattern. It does not establish that McDowell deliberately caused either incident, and the two clearly disagreed about what happened at Charlotte. But the Michigan wreck explains why Sunday’s move hit a nerve. Stenhouse was carrying frustration into the conversation, rather than reacting only to the last few laps.
He said the right side of his No. 47 Chevrolet was already scuffed, so he was not worried about adding more damage when he confronted McDowell. After the race, McDowell told him he had been trying to let him go around the outside.
“He was somewhat apologetic for it,” Stenhouse said. “… We still disagreed on that.”
The apology did not settle who was right. McDowell said he was trying to give Stenhouse room; Stenhouse believed he had been blocked and forced off line. They left the conversation with their disagreement intact.
The contact also drew NASCAR’s attention. Officials reviewed the incident but did not penalize either driver. On October 13, NASCAR vice president of racing communications Mike Forde said on Hauler Talk that officials had discussed it at length. He described it as one of the closest cases to a penalty without ultimately issuing one.
Forde said the decision might have been different if either car had hit the wall or damaged another vehicle. The drivers were due to meet with officials at Phoenix Raceway to discuss the incident.
So there was no penalty, and Stenhouse said there was no need to turn the disagreement into a feud. He even made a point of mentioning that he and McDowell had been on the same kickball team just days earlier, without any issues. That contrast is what you need to look into. They could get along away from the track, but Stenhouse still believed he had been put in a bad position by McDowell, and the memory of Michigan made it harder to let go. But he’s trying.
“We’ll move on, no problem,” Stenhouse said.
Whether they actually do may depend on their next close battle. The apology has been made, NASCAR has held off on penalties, and both drivers have had their say. But Stenhouse has now made his frustration public, including the fact that this was not the first time he felt McDowell had cost him. The next time they meet on track, neither will have to guess where the other stands.