AVONDALE, Ariz. — Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. emerged from the NASCAR Cup Series hauler Saturday morning after an at-track consultation with officials, saying that built-up frustrations had fueled their dispute, but that they were ready to move past their differences.
The two Cup Series veterans shared a moderated meeting with competition directors Saturday at Phoenix Raceway, six days after their on-track get-together and post-race bumping session in last weekend’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The pair will be back at it Sunday in the Freeway Insurance 500 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the 1-mile track.
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“It went fine. I mean, Ricky and I talked after the race, and obviously we disagreed on the track, but afterwards, we figured it out,” McDowell told NASCAR.com. “So nothing’s building between Ricky and I. And then, as far as NASCAR, they just don’t want us running into each other under caution and spinning each other out. So obviously, they weren’t happy about it happening under caution there. So yeah, but back to normal today.”
Their late-race disagreement over running room in last Sunday’s Bank of America 400 at Charlotte escalated into a post-race bumping duel during the cool-down lap, with Stenhouse’s No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet ramming McDowell’s Spire Motorsports No. 71 Chevy on the backstretch. McDowell reacted to those side-door impacts by bumping back, first in the rear bumper and then in the left-rear fender, sending Stenhouse spinning.
While McDowell sat in his car on pit road, the two had a pointed but largely civil post-race conversation that started with Stenhouse asking: “Why do you race like that all the time?” In a Wednesday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Stenhouse indicated a willingness to move on from the altercation — a sentiment he reiterated after meeting with officials.
“It’s fine. I mean, I think I got aggressive with him after the race. He did the same, and we talked it out,” Stenhouse told NASCAR.com. “I thought it was fine and settled, and then (NASCAR officials) asked me to come in there last night. Yeah, it’s all good.”
Both drivers noted how enduring race-long frustration at Charlotte (McDowell finished 19th, Stenhouse 23rd) had raised the temperature on their tensions. Some of those actions were self-ignited, but other factors were not of their own doing.
“It was a couple things. Ricky and I were pitted together on pit road, and we kept getting boxed in,” McDowell said. “He was boxed in. I was boxed in, so we ended up losing a lot of track position together, and as we came back through the field, we were stuck around each other a lot, and I made a bad block on him, and he got frustrated, and rightfully so, and it just kind of slowly escalated. So it really wasn’t anything that big of a deal, but it was just 400 miles of agitation for both of us.”
Said Stenhouse: “They obviously kept getting boxed in on pit road – not his fault or mine. I think that built some frustration, and then towards the end, man, I tried to pass him for like 15 laps, I felt like. I felt like he just – and I told him after the race – I felt like he was just looking in his mirror the whole time and blocked me into the dirt down the frontstretch, and finally ended up just killing my tires trying to pass them, and I felt like it was uncalled for 18th or whatever we were racing for. He had a little different opinion, but when I talked to him, he apologized afterwards. So yeah, it’s fine now.”
Competition officials issued no penalties after the incident, but noted that strong consideration was given to handing out sanctions after a lengthy discussion. Other post-race skirmishes with cars have resulted in punishment – most notably Bubba Wallace’s $50,000 fine for nudging Alex Bowman after the checkered flag at the 2024 Chicago Street Race, but the nature of the impacts and whether drivers had window nets down (both were up for McDowell and Stenhouse) factored into those decisions.
“I went back and watched Bubba’s, and their seat belts are undone, window nets are down. I don’t know, maybe that was a big difference,” Stenhouse said. “I mean, if I don’t spin out, I don’t think anybody says anything about it, because there’s races that we all run into each other afterwards. So I think the spinout was probably the biggest thing that people saw, you know. But yeah, from my end, I was just pretty frustrated. You know, he wrecked me at Michigan, and then felt like it was a little aggressive blocking for not a win or a top five or a top 10. But again, we talked it out pretty much on pit road. I think everybody saw that. I left, and he left, and that was it.”
McDowell left the hauler meeting with a clear impression of just how close penalties were.
“They definitely told us that,” McDowell said. “Yeah, they thought about fining us and penalizing us, and they look at the circumstances all sort of uniquely, and I think we were right on the line. So I’m thankful, obviously, and yeah, we just move forward.”