Action off the track got just as heated as it had been on it at the NASCAR All-Star race, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr throwing a punch at Kyle Busch in the pits.

Payback was a dish served cold for Stenhouse though, who waited 198 laps after being forced into the wall on the second lap of the race to confront Busch on Sunday, local time.

Stenhouse had bumped Busch on the first lap, with Busch retaliating a corner later, spinning Stenhouse around and knocking him out of the race.

"To be honest with you … he didn't run him high," the Fox Sport commentator Clint Bowyer said.

"Stenhouse went for a hole right there, and he didn't do anything wrong right there," added Kevin Harvick. 

"They had contact up off the corner but he was well past him on the middle lane."

Stenhouse limped back into the pits — and parked in Busch's pit box as a show of defiance — before walking up to Busch's crew chief, Randall Burnett, to have a word.

Burnett simply shrugged, but that was never going to be enough for Stenhouse, who was forced to wait in the infield until the race concluded due to the North Wilkesboro track not having a way for people to get out while the race is going on.

The pair had an animated conversation when they did meet, which led to 36-year-old Stenhouse throwing a punch that sparked a between their crew members.

Stenhouse told AP afterwards that he was tired of Busch "running his mouth talking about me" after he had wrecked him at Daytona in the past.

"I know he is frustrated because he doesn't run as well as he used to," Stenhouse said.

The race, an exhibition worth $1 million to the victor, was won by Joey Logano, his second All-Star title following his success in 2016.

The action had been delayed for 16 minutes by host broadcaster Fox to allow three-time winner Kyle Larson time to travel to the track after qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day.

Larson stunned the American motor racing world by qualifying fifth for the historic Indianapolis 500 in an open-wheeler McLaren, averaging 374.729 kilometres per hour for his four-lap stint in the top-six shootout for the race next weekend.