CONCORD, N.C. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fined $75,000 by NASCAR on Wednesday for fighting with Kyle Busch after the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Stenhouse’s father, who joined the fracas, was suspended indefinitely.

The $75,000 fine was the largest ever handed down by NASCAR for fighting.

Busch was not penalized for his action in the Sunday night race.

“When you have crew members and family members that put their hands on our athletes, our drivers, we’re going to react,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said Wednesday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR radio.

The two tangled on the first lap and then Busch seemed to deliberately wreck Stenhouse on the second lap. Stenhouse parked his damaged Chevrolet in Busch’s pit stall and aggressively climbed the spotter’s ladder and exchanged words with members of Busch’s crew.

Stenhouse then stormed to his hauler, leaving his car to be towed to the pits.

He also foreshadowed that he’d be back after the race to confront Busch. The two did exchange brief words before Stenhouse, wearing shorts and T-shirt, landed a right hook on Busch and a melee broke out involving members of both teams. Stenhouse’s father, who has no affiliation with the team, then went after Busch, throwing punches.

NASCAR on Wednesday also suspended Stenhouse mechanic Clint Myrick for eight races and engine tuner Keith Matthews for four races.

Stenhouse in the fight vowed to wreck Busch this Sunday during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“Bring it,” Busch replied. “I suck as bad as you,” implying that both drivers are not having great seasons.

Neither driver has won a race this season. Busch is 13th in points standings and Stenhouse, a one-car team, is 26th.

Busch’s car owner isn’t taking that threat from Stenhouse lightly, however. Richard Childress vowed to fight Stenhouse himself if he goes near Busch’s car at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest Cup Series race on the schedule, so there will be plenty of time for Busch and Stenhouse to meet up on the 1.5-mile track. NASCAR, no doubt, will be keeping an eye on the feuding drivers.

KYLE LARSON’S only complaint eight days into Indy 500 prep is the forecast for Sunday, which is calling for rain.

Larson is trying to become the fifth driver to run the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, and he doesn’t want weather spoiling it. He said if it’s going to rain on Sunday then he’s hoping for a complete washout and to return to run the race Monday.

“If it’s going to rain (in Indianapolis) Sunday, then I just want it to rain all day and the (Indy 500) to be on Monday,” Larson said. “I don’t even want to think about what could happen if we’re sitting in the rain Sunday.”

Larson grew a bit excited when he learned of NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick’s indecisiveness over how to handle the weather forecast. Hendrick isn’t sure he wants to pull Larson from Indy after so much work has gone into the effort.

That’s because his real job is in NASCAR and he’s not supposed to miss the race Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. So Larson grew a bit excited Wednesday when he learned of NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick’s indecisiveness a day earlier over how to handle the weather forecast.

“We’ve talked about it many times, and we know we need to be at Charlotte for the points,” Hendrick said Tuesday. “We’re just going to let it play out … we’ll make that decision Sunday.”

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