It took video review, and a push from a fellow dirt racer, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. brought his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet to victory lane on Sunday at the Daytona 500.
Coming around for the white flag, Stenhouse Jr. held the lead and then surrendered it through the front stretch. Christopher Bell had ended up lining up behind him and delivering a last-second push that gave Stenhouse Jr. his first victory in the Great American Race.
“When the 8 went to the bottom there, I was able to push the 22 and the 5,” Stenhouse Jr. said on FOX. “I was hoping to go to the white there… a fellow dirt racer with Bell gave me a push there. We were out of gas.”
Stenhouse Jr. is back with his old crew chief this season in Mike Kelley who played a big part in earning the victory.
Kelley told Stenhouse Jr. over the radio to look at the note his crew left inside the car.
“I think this whole offseason, Mike just preached how much we all believed in each other,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “They left me a note on my car that said that.”
The win is the No. 47 driver’s third career victory on superspeedway tracks and the team becomes the first single-car team to win the Daytona 500 since Wood Brothers Racing did so in 2011 with Trevor Bayne.
“This is unbelievable,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “This is the sight of my last win back in 2017. We had a couple shots to get a win last season but fell short.”
The series returns to the track in a week, for a race at California’s Auto Club Speedway set to begin at 2:30 p.m. on FOX.
NASCAR Cup Series results (unnofficial)
65th running of the Daytona 500
Daytona International Speedway
Sunday, February 19, 2023
1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2. Joey Logano
3. Christopher Bell
4. Chris Buescher
5. Alex Bowman
6. A.J. Allmendinger
7. Daniel Suarez
8. Ryan Blaney
9. Ross Chastain
10. Riley Herbst
11. Travis Pastrana
12. Kevin Harvick
13. Zane Smith
14. Cody Ware
15. Corey LaJoie
16. Martin Truex Jr.
17. Denny Hamlin
18. Kyle Larson
19. Kyle Busch
20. Bubba Wallace
21. Aric Almirola
22. Brad Keselowski
23. Austin Cindric
24. Noah Gragson
25. Ty Gibbs
26. Harrison Burton
27. Todd Gilliland
28. Michael McDowell
29. Conor Daly
30. BJ McLeod
31. Jimmie Johnson
32. Justin Haley
33. Austin Dillon
34. William Byron
35. Chase Briscoe
36. Ryan Preece
37. Erik Jones
38. Chase Elliott
39. Tyler Reddick
40. Ty Dillon
