NASCAR gave Ricky Stenhouse Jr. a security escort after the Daytona race Saturday night
By Nick Tylwalk
NASCAR was so concerned that other drivers were going to try to fight Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Saturday night that it took no chances.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing team had to know that the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona was their best chance of making the playoffs. That’s how they did it last season, winning at Talladega in the spring and Daytona in the summer to ensure there was no doubt about it.
But hinging your success on the fickle nature of restrictor plate racing is perhaps the trickiest possible way to do things in NASCAR, as there are so many factors out of your control. Stenhouse and his team experienced that the hard way on Saturday night, winning the first two stages but watching Erik Jones get the victory while the 17 came come 17th.
Even worse, Stenhouse was right at the center of the night’s two biggest wrecks, including one early on that involved a number of top cars. Those are the kinds of things that get other drivers heated, potentially even to the point where they want to start throwing punches.
Apparently, NASCAR was worried about exactly that, as NASCAR.com reported that it arranged for a security escort for Stenhouse to make it back through the garage unscathed.
Considering one of the drivers with a grievance against Stenhouse was Kyle Busch, that kind of measure might have been warranted. Rowdy has been on good behavior all season, undoubtedly helped by the fact that his mood has been buoyed by all the races he’s been winning. Yet his temper does get the best of him when he feels he’s been wronged on the track, as evidenced by the wild scuffle that ensued last year at Las Vegas when Busch went after Joey Logano and his team — with no backup.
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Kurt Busch, no shrinking violet himself, was also miffed at Stenhouse, so maybe we could have had a WWE-style handicap match between Ricky and the Busch Brothers. NASCAR and other officials made sure that didn’t happen, and while that isn’t as much fun, it’s probably for the best.