Ricky Stenhouse Jr

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Feb. 20, 2023 8:21 a.m.. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the Daytona 500 in double overtime and under caution Sunday night in the longest running of ...

It will be renovated into a short track after the race — a project that will prevent the track from hosting any racing in 2024. Johnson has returned from two years of racing in the IndyCar Series as part owner of Legacy Motor Club and he plans to enter a handful of races. The Cup Series races at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, next Sunday in the final race of the track's current configuration. They left me a note in the car that said they believe in me and to go get the job done,” Stenhouse said. He was collected in one of the crashes in overtime and finished 31st. [Kyle Busch](https://apnews.com/article/sports-kyle-busch-daytona-beach-500-d8e730811777ae9aaec7854b3d02391f) dropped to 0 for 18 in the Daytona 500 but contended for his new Richard Childress Racing team. [Travis Pastrana finished 11th](https://apnews.com/article/sports-automobile-racing-travis-pastrana-daytona-beach-500-9ec7959ecfae686f7cedfc6c29fe7e9c) in his Daytona 500 debut, and Kevin Harvick was 12th in his final Daytona 500. It marked the first time the pole sitter has finished in the top five since Bill Elliott in 2001. "He’s one of my best friends, so I was like yelling into my helmet when I helped push him to the lead there. The team believes in the driver. This was the site of my last win back in 2017. Stenhouse’s win for JTG Daugherty Racing was the third of his career.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had himself a dinner of champions after his Daytona 500 win, pulling up to Waffle House a la Trevor Lawrence.

It seems Stenhouse is simply standing on the shoulders of Lawrence, another athlete who shone under the bright lights in Florida. Stenhouse's trek to the famed restaurant didn't exactly come out of left field. And he made sure to pay homage to another Florida star in the process.

The small, family-run JTG Daugherty Racing team had only one Cup win, back in 2014, before hitting it big at Daytona on Sunday.

But he just wants to win races](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nascar/bubba-wallace-cant-escape-the-spotlight-wants-to-win-races) [ NASCAR Cup Series](/stories/nascar/four-drivers-who-wrecked-look-at-wild-daytona-500-finish-in-very-different-ways) an unlikely winner in unpredictable and historic Daytona 500](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nascar/ricky-stenhouse-jr-an-unlikely-winner-in-unpredictable-historic-daytona-500) [Five drivers most likely to win first Cup Series title in 2023](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nascar/five-drivers-most-likely-to-win-first-cup-series-title-in-2023) [Austin Hill takes Xfinity opener in climatic finish during final-lap crash](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nascar/austin-hill-takes-xfinity-opener-in-climatic-finish) [Ty Gibbs confident in translating Xfinity title into rookie Cup success](https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nascar/ty-gibbs-confident-in-translating-xfinity-championship-into-cup-success-as-rookie) [Can Kyle Busch break RCR's title drought? He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Geschickter hopes to get to those calls as soon as he can. The company heard from several brands last night that are interested in the program based on the win. They've been a small team for a long time, they've understood that, and they get the most out of it." They brought on former [NBA](https://www.foxsports.com/nba) star Brad Daugherty, who wore No. The guy that can wire [things] can put a windshield in." But the Daytona-winning car stays in Daytona as part of track tours. 43 during his playing career as a tribute to Richard Petty, as an investor when they moved to the [NASCAR Cup Series](https://www.foxsports.com/nascar/cup-series) in 2009. As a small team, the road crew had been scheduled to work in the shop Monday afternoon. They had won just one Cup race, in 2014 at Watkins Glen, during all that time.

For a team like JTG Daugherty Racing, making the playoffs is a success. And Ricky Stenhouse Jr. delivered on his signature style of track.

And because their only viable way of doing so is via a win, it makes sense to place a driver in their car who excels on superspeedways given they have five chances during the regular season to realistically earn a win (two races at both Daytona and Atlanta, and another at Talladega). The introduction of the Next Gen car last year was with the idea that small teams would have a better chance to compete as each car is constructed using the same pieces and parts from a third-party supplier. We have a state-of-the-art facility; we have CNC shops; we have Hawkeye machines; we have the parts and pieces.” “But it’s a battle and it’s a fight, and it’s hard. This is an era of NASCAR where the Cup schedule is much more balanced, no longer dominated by a particular type of track. “He just has a sense of knowing how to get to the front in these races.” JTG has plenty of advantages, despite a meager workforce that is well behind the hundreds of employees on the payroll at the likes of Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing or Team Penske. “One hundred percent, I would agree with you that they haven’t fulfilled the potential, by no means of any one person or any one thing,” said Mike Kelley, Stenhouse’s crew chief. He was narrowly ahead of second-place Joey Logano on the final lap when the caution came out due to a multi-car crash behind them. “Ricky has a mindset of knowing when to press, when to attack,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. He is one of NASCAR’s elite talents on drafting tracks, where his ability to understand the nuances of running in a large pack with horsepower-restricted engines makes him a perennial contender. “I was up at 3:30 tossing around just thinking through the day, and when Tad woke up, I’m making coffee, and he said, ‘We’re going to win today,’” Jodi Geschickter said.

How Mike Kelley went from Pinellas Park racer in the 1990s to a Daytona 500-winning crew chief.

By Friday, the Camaro wasn’t as fast as Stenhouse’s car that won the pole in 2020, and it probably wasn’t as strong as the one that led 16 laps at “The Great American Race” last year. Kelley said his team left the track that night “with our tails between our legs” and worked at the hotel until 12:30 a.m. Six hours later, they were back at it in the hotel lobby. He had worked with Stenhouse for a dozen years at various levels and never stopped believing in his driver’s abilities. The chance to be the chief atop Stenhouse’s box again was enough to convince Kelley to commit fully to a grinding job as the leader of a team that competes in the longest season in U.S. By 2014, Kelley had climbed to become Stenhouse’s Cup crew chief.

Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. partied at a Waffle House, a la Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence, with the race trophy Sunday night.

After [partying for hours with his team in victory lane](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2023/02/20/ricky-stenhouse-jr-jtg-daughtery-racing-daytona-500-perfect-ending/11306989002/) at Daytona International Speedway, Stenhouse took the trophy to the popular restaurant chain. The Waffle House employees greeted him with applause. Earl Trophy — given annually to the winner of NASCAR's most famous race — with both hands. ](https://www.instagram.com/p/Co46pBVsOja/)showed Stenhouse proudly sauntering into the diner gripping his very own replica of the Harley J. [ Madyson Joye Stenhouse](https://www.instagram.com/madysonjoye/), who documented the event on her Instagram stories. [Wins 2023 Daytona 500 to snap long winless drought](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2023/02/19/ricky-stenhouse-jr-wins-2023-daytona-500-overtime/11300709002/)