Ricky Stenhouse Jr. caught the eye of Denny Hamlin as a consequence of his many feuds throughout The Conflict, together with one with Hamlin’s fellow Toyota wheelman John Hunter Nemechek.
Whereas the mid-race live performance that includes Machine Gun Kelly was canceled as a result of improvised schedule, there was nonetheless a break of about 20 minutes. Not the standard course of in NASCAR however for The Conflict, it’s typical follow.
Followers watching on TV might need heard of this incident, however they didn’t see it. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. obtained out of his automotive and marched over to Nemechek. Then, he proceeded to take down the window web and stick his head within the automotive.
Evidently, Stenhouse Jr. wasn’t proud of how Nemechek had raced him on restarts, so he let him find out about it.
Through the newest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin touched on the subject, even explaining that he doesn’t know if drivers have been even supposed to go away their automobiles throughout the halftime break.
“Evidently Ricky obtained out of his automotive at halftime, and pulled the window web down on John Hunter, and it seemed like he shook the nostril of his helmet,” Hamlin acknowledged. “I used to be wanting, and his physique is type of blocking it a little bit bit, however you may see John Hunter’s helmet like shaking fairly large, and Ricky’s hand was positively in there.
“So it’s, I don’t know. I don’t suppose we have been purported to get out of our automobiles throughout halftime, however Ricky felt prefer it was time to do it.”
Alas, Nemechek wasn’t the one one to really feel Stenhouse’s rage, because the reigning Daytona 500 champion beefed with Michael McDowell on the monitor, as nicely. If you’re racing in these shut quarters, tempers are sure to flare, and no one knew that greater than Stenhouse on Saturday.
However, if nothing else it offered a glance into Stenhouse’s angle in 2024. Whereas he made the playoffs final season, he actually would’ve appreciated to make extra of an impression following the Daytona 500.
The gifted former Xfinity Collection champion isn’t going to let anybody stroll over him in 2024. He’s not anticipated to contend for wins every week, few drivers are, so every place will probably be essential for the veteran wheelman to complete sturdy week-in and week-out.
Time will inform how 2024 shakes out for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — however going back-to-back at Daytona wouldn’t be a foul place to begin for the wheelman. We’ll see if he can get the job finished in lower than two weeks.
