CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has cooled off and no longer plans to wreck Kyle Busch at the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
But that doesn’t mean he and Busch are back on speaking terms.
Stenhouse said he spoke to Busch’s team owner Richard Childress — who had threatened to go after Stenhouse himself if he retaliated against his driver in NASCAR’s longest race of the season — and said they are fine.
Stenhouse threw a punch at Busch that started a melee following Sunday night’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway after he felt Busch wrecked him on purpose on the second lap of the $1 million exhibition race.
“It was the heat of moment,” Stenhouse said Saturday about punching Busch, which resulted in a record $75,000 fine from NASCAR. “You never want to wreck anybody on purpose, especially somewhere like Charlotte.”
Several drivers have said the fine was excessive, including Chase Elliott.
Stenhouse said he had a “ton of respect” for what Busch has accomplished during his career, but added he's now lost some of it "for wrecking us on purpose, especially in that moment. (But) I’m not going to waste my time trying to get him back.”
Busch said the two drivers haven't spoken since the fight, and his focus is on winning.
“I don’t need to a fight with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., I need a fight with the top three guys so I can start winning some races," said Busch, who has yet to win a Cup points race.
Busch defended his actions on the track, saying he did nothing wrong.
Asked if he thinks Stenhouse will wreck him, Busch replied, "I don't think he will.”
Kyle Larson will be attempting to complete the Indianapolis 500-Coca-Cola 600 double.
The potential for rain in Indianapolis on Sunday could throw a damper in his efforts to get back to Charlotte Motor Speedway if that race gets delayed.
Larson is trying to become the fifth to race in both the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
He qualified fifth for the 500, which starts at around 12:45 p.m. Eastern. The plan is to complete the showcase in Arrow McLaren’s No. 17 car and then be flown to Charlotte, North Carolina for his more familiar No. 5 Chevrolet for NASCAR’s longest race set to start at 6 p.m.
Larson qualified 10th for the Coca-Cola 600.
Last week NASCAR made accommodations for Larson by moving the start of the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway back 16 minutes to ensue he would get to the track.
Ty Gibbs is getting this qualifying thing down.
Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 Toyota, won his first career Cup Series pole on Saturday, one day after winning the pole for the Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“It was an easy clean lap and my car was handling really well,” said the 21-year-old Gibbs, who grew up about 15 miles from Charlotte Motor Speedway. “But the biggest thing for me is winning the race.”
Chris Buescher has endured a tough run of bad luck in recent weeks, losing two close Cup points races.
The bad breaks continued on Saturday for the driver of the No. 17 Ford, who wrecked in practice after a tire went down, causing him to move to a backup car and start at the rear of the field for the 400-lap race.
“This is going to make for a really long night for our group and be a really big challenge,” Buescher said of his crew. “But I know they will be able get a really fast racecar put together and on the track. But it's quite a shame to have that kind of speed. ... Maybe we got things out of the way today so that we can have a smooth day tomorrow.”
Buescher will be joined at the back of the field by Tyler Reddick.
Reddick's team was found to have made an unapproved adjustment on the underwing of the No. 45 Toyota after going through tech, resulting in car chief Michael Hobson being ejected from the race.
JJ Yeley's No. 44 car failed pre-race tech three times and was not allowed to post a qualifying lap.
Charlotte Motor Speedway paid homage to racing legend Richard Petty and his family by unveiling a six-foot, 1,000-pound, fiberglass and concrete hat honoring seven-time Cup Series champion and his family’s 75th year in the sport The ’King’s Hat’s replicates Petty’s Charlie 1 Horse cowboy hat and features classic moments from the Petty family’s storied history at America’s Home for Racing.
“It is a big deal for us because four generations have won a race at this track,” Petty said. “We are thankful for Charlotte Motor Speedway because it is close, and the fans represent the Petty family. When I look at the pictures of my dad when he was a young man and me as a young man, it reminds us that we have been so fortunate to keep the Petty family together and involved in racing.”
Petty made his CMS debut in the track’s inaugural race in 1960 and went on to win the race in 1975 and 1977.
Former President Donald Trump will be attending the Coca-Cola 600, race officials confirmed. It will mark the first time that a president or former president has attended a race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
The car of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is towed away from the pit of Kyle Busch during the NASCAR All-Star auto race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, N.C., Sunday, May 19, 2024. Stenhouse crashed after contact with Busch and stopped his damaged car at Busch's team's pit. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Ricky Stenhouse Jr vows not to retaliate, wreck Kyle Busch at Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte
Ricky Stenhouse Jr vows not to retaliate, wreck Kyle Busch at Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte
FILE - Driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. looks on prior to a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Darlington Raceway, Sunday, May 12, 2024, in Darlington, S.C. Stenhouse Jr. was fined $75,000 by NASCAR on Wednesday, May 22, for fighting with Kyle Busch after the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley, File)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The world's nine nuclear-armed states continue to modernize their nuclear weapons as the countries deepened their reliance on such deterrence in 2023, a Swedish think tank said Monday.
“We have not seen nuclear weapons playing such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War,” said Wilfred Wan, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's weapons of mass destruction program.
Earlier this month, Russia and its ally Belarus launched a second stage of drills intended to train their troops in tactical nuclear weapons, part of the Kremlin’s efforts to discourage the West from ramping up support for Ukraine.
In a separate report, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN, said the nine nuclear-armed states spent a combined total of $91.4 billion on their arsenals in 2023 – equivalent to $2,898 per second. The Geneva-based coalition of disarmament activists won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.
The group said that figures show a $10.7 billion increase in global spending on nuclear weapons in 2023 compared to 2022, with the United States accounting for 80% of that increase. The U.S. share of total spending, $51.5 billion, is more than all the other nuclear-armed countries put together.
“There has been a notable upward trend in the amount of money devoted to developing these most inhumane and destructive of weapons over the past five years,” said Alicia Sanders-Zakre, Policy and Research Coordinator with ICAN.
The next biggest spender was China at $11.8 billion, she said, with Russia spending the third largest amount at $8.3 billion.
“All this money is not improving global security, in fact it’s threatening people wherever they live,” Sanders-Zakre said.
SIPRI estimated that some 2,100 of the deployed warheads were kept in a state of high operational alert on ballistic missiles, and nearly all belong to Russia or the USA. However, it said that China is also believed to have some warheads on high operational alert for the first time.
“Regrettably we continue to see year-on-year increases in the number of operational nuclear warheads,” said Dan Smith, SIPRI's director. He added that the trend will likely accelerate in the coming years “and is extremely concerning.”
Russia and the United States have together almost 90% of all nuclear weapons, SIPRI said. The sizes of their military stockpiles seem to have remained relatively stable in 2023, although Russia is estimated to have deployed around 36 more warheads with operational forces than in January 2023, the watchdog added.
In its SIPRI Yearbook 2024, the institute said that transparency regarding nuclear forces has declined in both countries in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and debates around nuclear-sharing arrangements have increased in importance.
Washington suspended its bilateral strategic stability dialogue with Russia, and last year Moscow announced that it was suspending its participation in t he New START nuclear treaty.
Of the total global inventory of an estimated 12,121 warheads in January, about 9,585 were in military stockpiles for potential use. An estimated 3,904 of those warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft — which is 60 more than in January 2023 — and the rest were in central storage.
In Asia, India, Pakistan and North Korea are all pursuing the capability to deploy multiple warheads on ballistic missiles, the institute said. The United States, Russia, France, UK and China already have that capacity, enabling a rapid potential increase in deployed warheads, as well as the possibility for nuclear-armed countries to threaten the destruction of significantly more targets.
SIPRI stressed that all estimates were approximate, and the institute revises its world nuclear forces data each year based on new information and updates to earlier assessments.
FILE - In this image released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, a Russian Iskander missile is seen during drills to train the military for using tactical nuclear weapons at an undisclosed location in Russia. The world's nine nuclear-armed states continue to modernize their nuclear weapons as the countries continue to deepen their reliance on such deterrence in 2023, a Swedish think tank said Monday, June 17, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
FILE - This image taken from video broadcasted by North Korea's KRT shows what it says is a ballistic missile being launched from an undisclosed location in North Korea, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. The world's nine nuclear-armed states continue to modernize their nuclear weapons as the countries continue to deepen their reliance on such deterrence in 2023, a Swedish think tank, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Monday, June 17, 2024. In Asia, India, Pakistan and North Korea are all pursuing the capability to deploy multiple warheads on ballistic missiles, the institute said. (KRT via AP, File)
FILE - A Pakistani-made Shaheen-III missile, that is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, are displayed during a military parade to mark Pakistan National Day, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 23, 2022. The world's nine nuclear-armed states continue to modernize their nuclear weapons as the countries continue to deepen their reliance on such deterrence in 2023, a Swedish think tank, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Monday, June 17, 2024. In Asia, India, Pakistan and North Korea are all pursuing the capability to deploy multiple warheads on ballistic missiles, the institute said. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)
FILE - This image taken with a slow shutter speed on Oct. 2, 2019, and provided by the U.S. Air Force shows an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile test launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The world's nine nuclear-armed states continue to modernize their nuclear weapons as the countries continue to deepen their reliance on such deterrence in 2023, a Swedish think tank said Monday, June 17, 2024. (Staff Sgt. J.T. Armstrong/U.S. Air Force via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, Russian troops load an Iskander missile onto a mobile launcher during drills at an undisclosed location in Russia. The world's nine nuclear-armed states continue to modernize their nuclear weapons as the countries deepened their reliance on such deterrence in 2023, a Swedish think tank said Monday June 17, 2024. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
