With the 450-lap race scheduled this year at North Wilkesboro, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. isn’t sure how drivers will react. That is, if they get wrecked early and have to sit and stew in the infield like he did at the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race.

If a driver has to leave the Cup Series race early due to a wreck with another driver, there is no escaping the infield. Not until the race is over, that is. So, if you thought almost 200 laps of waiting infuriated Ricky Stenhouse Jr. two years ago, imagine 400+ laps.

Every Cup Series team is at North Wilkesboro for a test day. There are a lot of different things being tested from aero changes under the cars to the increased horsepower, and maybe even some tire stuff. Stenhouse is representing Hyak Motorsports.

While speaking to the media, the test is also open to the public, Stenhouse was asked about a scenario similar to his in 2024. He isn’t sure how the longer wait time will affect drivers’ moods, but he did joke that a pedestrian bridge needs to be installed.

“I do know that if you get crashed out early, you’re going to be pretty pissed for that much longer, especially if it was on purpose,” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said, via PRN. “I guess you could have more fireworks then. That’s my only thought. Because if I had to sit here any longer than just the All-Star Race, I don’t know, maybe I would have got over it? Probably not. That’s all I got. I mean, I think we should put a pedestrian bridge in at some point. That would help, but no, that’s all I got.”

Of course, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was involved in an early race incident with Kyle Busch in 2024. He then waited for almost 200 laps until the race was over and confronted Busch at his hauler. It ended up being a massive story that season and resulted in a bit of a brawl that involved crew members and even Stenhouse’s dad, Ricky Sr.

Clearly, time has passed since that fight. Still, it is worth thinking about. The Chase format is coming back. Regular-season points are going to matter a lot, and DNFs are likely going to be more detrimental to drivers than they were in the past 10 years or so.

If you get doored and put into the wall on Lap 5 at North Wilkesboro and have to sit in the infield for three more hours, that’s going to piss a lot of drivers off. Depending on who it is and the circumstances, maybe this new format cleans up racing, but maybe it puts a little bit of venom in the drivers, too.

Do you think Ryan Blaney is going to be happy to have seven or eight DNFs this season? With win-and-in, those bad days didn’t feel as bad. Now, there are no playoff points to collect. There are no win-and-advance or elimination rounds. Yes, there is still a points reset with 10 races to go, but consistency is going to matter like it hasn’t mattered in years.

So, I don’t think drivers like Blaney or Chase Elliott or Joey Logano or Tyler Reddick are going to be as easy-going in these incidents as they may have been in the past. Then again, if every point matters more and winning pays out even more points than before, doesn’t that incentivize aggressive racing?

This is what makes The Chase format exciting. We will have to see how it actually works in the real world. However, hypothetically, there are many reasons why the racing on the track and driver beefs off the track may be turned up in the 2026 season.