By RaceScene Publisher on Sunday, 19 February 2023
Category: The Checkered Flag

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. snaps winless streak in Daytona 500

It was poised to be one of the quicker Daytona 500s in recent memory, but instead turned into the longest. A series of late wrecks including one on the final lap (completing a dubious weekend sweep of all three NASCAR national series races at Daytona ending with a last-lap crash) along with a late Chevrolet rally propelled Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to his first Cup Series win in over five years.

Daniel Suárez‘s spin through the grass with three laps remaining set up overtime and broke up what would have been a battle between RFK Racing and Richard Childress Racing for the win. RCR, a Chevrolet outfit, held the early advantage as overtime began before Duel #1 winner Joey Logano, with a push from Stenhouse, moved ahead until a thirteen-car crash resulted in another restart. Stenhouse and Logano duelled over the next lap and a half before another multi-car pile-up occurred behind them, sparking a caution.

Upon review (for the second straight night), Stenhouse was found to be ahead of Logano for the lead when the yellow flag came out, declaring him the winner. It is his third career win, all of which have come on superspeedways, with the last being 2,060 days ago on 1 July 2017 at the second Daytona race. His JTG Daugherty Racing team also enjoyed their second win and first since A.J. Allmendinger at Watkins Glen in 2014.

Stenhouse had to rebound from a late speeding penalty, and received help from his fellow Chevrolet drivers William Byron and RCR’s Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon; Busch had been the leader prior to overtime. The quartet got by RFK’s Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher before Stenhouse squared off with Logano.

“Once we sped on pit road, kind of thought our race was over, but felt like the good Lord was watching out for us. I was serving the penalty, and then all of a sudden, had a big wreck right there kind of where we were running, getting in turn one,” said Stenhouse. “That gave us a second chance. Tuesday’s meeting was not going to be very good because we preached all off-season about not beating ourselves, and there I went speeding on pit road, really wasn’t trying to get everything out of it, but got a little too much.

“I felt like once the caution came out, I really had to kind of put my elbows up and get back to the front to give us another shot to win so I at least could tell my guys that we had a shot to win.”

Logano settled for second while Christopher Bell was third.

“Second is the worst, man. You’re so close,” commented Logano. “Leading the white flag lap there, I was up front. Kyle gave me a good push and you’re watching in the mirror and you’re three wide across there. I felt like the three-wide was going to hurt the lane, looked like Kyle was getting pushed ahead, and then Ricky started getting pushed ahead. I knew if I went to the bottom, my car didn’t handle good enough. I already got pushed off the bottom once and I thought, ‘If I go down there, I’m probably going to get wrecked,’ and I don’t know if I can get down there in time to throw the block and so I didn’t want to wreck my car either.

“Then you don’t expect them to wreck either. You think you’re racing to the checkered flag and you put yourself in the best position to try to win at the start-finish line, and caution came out, you wish you could race to the end. Obviously you can’t when they wreck that much.”

Bell, on the other hand, was more than pleased with his result and remarked, “If you would have told me pre-race that I was going to run third, I would have jumped up and down and been smiling ear-to-ear. I’m very happy. I’m very, very thankful that I could get this Rheem and DeWalt Toyota Camry a good solid finish, but just so close to a crown jewel. I feel like if it would have stayed green, I would have been on offense, but who knows.”

The late crashes resulted in the race running 212 laps total, a stark contrast to the first half when it ran completely green for 118 laps save for the scheduled Stage #1 break. Most incidents during this stretch were relatively minor, ranging from Conor Daly falling off the pace from the start due to his rear-view mirror being broken to Bubba Wallace being clipped by Martin Truex Jr. while racing for the lead. Daly recovered to finish twenty-ninth, while Wallace clawed his way back into the top ten before being collected in the final wreck.

As expected out of Daytona, team and manufacturer strategy played a key role throughout the day including the aforementioned overtime scrambles. This resulted in Fords occupying the top five at the end of the first stage led by Keselowski, while Chevrolets returned the favour in Stage #2 with Ross Chastain leading pole winner Alex Bowman and Stenhouse.

Also on par for superspeedway racing, many of those with success would eventually find themselves knocked out. This was especially the case for Stewart-Haas Racing, who had all four drivers be involved in crashes with three—Chase Briscoe, Kevin Harvick, and Ryan Preece—among the victims of a seven-car accident on lap 183.

23XI Racing, typically a force on superspeedways, was also not safe. Besides the aforementioned roller coaster that Wallace underwent, Tyler Reddick‘s stint with the team began on a sour note when he was caught up in the first wreck of the day on lap 119. Travis Pastrana, a fan favourite making his Cup début, had an especially tumultuous 500 as he led two laps during the green-flag pit cycle before suffering a speeding penalty, forcing him to slowly climb back through the order via attrition until the last-lap crash. Unlike his peers, Pastrana was able to bring the car home just shy of the top ten in eleventh.

Riley Herbst, who like Pastrana came from an off-road background, finished ahead of him by one spot for Rick Ware Racing‘s seventh top ten in his maiden Cup start. Fellow Ford driver Ryan Blaney had a severely wounded Mustang following the lap 118 crash but escaped with an eighth-place run.

“It was long and a lot of riding, not really racing,” Herbst remarked. “I was kind of biding my time and trying to get experience. To finish top ten was really cool. I am thankful for the opportunity to be here in the Cup Series and really happy with the finish in our first 500.”

Race results

FinishStartNumberDriverTeamManufacturerLapsStatus
13147Ricky Stenhouse Jr.JTG Daugherty RacingChevrolet212Running
2322Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord212Running
3520Christopher BellJoe Gibbs RacingToyota212Running
4917Chris BuescherRFK RacingFord212Running
5148Alex BowmanHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet212Running
62916A.J. AllmendingerKaulig RacingChevrolet212Running
72499Daniel SuárezTrackhouse Racing TeamChevrolet212Running
8712Ryan BlaneyTeam PenskeFord212Running
9231Ross ChastainTrackhouse Racing TeamChevrolet212Running
103815Riley Herbst*Rick Ware RacingFord212Running
114067Travis Pastrana23XI RacingToyota212Running
12134Kevin HarvickStewart-Haas RacingFord212Running
131736Zane Smith*Front Row MotorsportsFord212Running
143551Cody WareRick Ware RacingFord212Running
151619Martin Truex Jr.Joe Gibbs RacingToyota212Running
16127Corey LaJoieSpire MotorsportsChevrolet212Running
171811Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota212Running
1825Kyle LarsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet211Accident
19368Kyle BuschRichard Childress RacingChevrolet211Accident
201523Bubba Wallace23XI RacingToyota211Accident
21410Aric AlmirolaStewart-Haas RacingFord211Accident
22106Brad KeselowskiRFK RacingFord211Accident
2362Austin CindricTeam PenskeFord210Accident
242242Noah GragsonLegacy Motor ClubChevrolet210Running
253354Ty GibbsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota210Running
261921Harrison BurtonWood Brothers RacingFord210Running
271438Todd GillilandFront Row MotorsportsFord208Accident
281134Michael McDowellFront Row MotorsportsFord208Running
293450Conor Daly*The Money Team RacingChevrolet206Running
303278B.J. McLeodLive Fast MotorsportsChevrolet204Running
313984Jimmie JohnsonLegacy Motor ClubChevrolet203Accident
322831Justin HaleyKaulig RacingChevrolet203Accident
33273Austin DillonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet202Accident
342124William ByronHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet202Accident
353014Chase BriscoeStewart-Haas RacingFord182Accident
362041Ryan PreeceStewart-Haas RacingFord181Accident
372543Erik JonesLegacy Motor ClubChevrolet118Accident
3889Chase ElliottHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet118Accident
392645Tyler Reddick23XI RacingToyota117Accident
403777Ty DillonSpire MotorsportsChevrolet26Engine
DNQ13Chandler SmithKaulig RacingChevrolet
DNQ62Austin HillBeard MotorsportsChevrolet
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points
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