Ricky Stenhouse’s Daytona 500 win ignited an idling profession and rekindled a long-standing partnership, however the stunning victory additionally spotlighted a continued seismic shift within the sport.
When the No. 47 Chevrolet crossed the end line Sunday night, Stenhouse ended a five-year winless stretch and delivered a workforce co-owned by a Black man and a girl its first victory throughout NASCAR’s premier occasion.
The 35-year-old Mississippian was in a position to see the importance by the deluge of confetti, celebrations and private accolades.
“We’ve got a lot of diversity on our race team, throughout the garage, and it’s cool to have two on our race team and put them in victory lane here at the Daytona 500,” Stenhouse mentioned. “It’s super special, and NASCAR is leading the way in a big way. It’s cool to play a small part of getting them to victory lane.”
Stenhouse picked up his third Cup Series win and first because the 2017 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The victory was his first with JTG Daugherty Racing, owned by former NBA participant Brad Daugherty together with Tad Geschickter and Jodi Geschickter.
The single-car workforce, the primary to win the Daytona 500 since Wood Brothers Racing with Trevor Bayne in 2011, caught with Stenhouse throughout some fallow intervals on the observe.
“We didn’t give up on Ricky because personally I feel like he’s got the spirit of a winner and I like what he represents as a person,” Jodi Geschickter mentioned. “I see flashes of brilliance in what he does. I felt like he might do it.
“I felt like he could get the job done, and I never questioned that.”
Yet nobody believed in Stenhouse’s capability like veteran crew chief Mike Kelley.
Kelley resumed the position with Stenhouse through the offseason. The two males pushed to rediscover their magic shared throughout back-to-back Xfinity Series titles in 2011-12 for Jack Roush Racing and keep away from a repeat of their one Cup Series pairing — a 2014 season with one top-five end in 36 races that included a seventh-place on the Daytona 500.
“We just weren’t as good as we needed to be, and I wasn’t ready,” Kelley mentioned.
But when he awakened Sunday, the 51-year-old had a sense and his driver have been in for an enormous day.
As an indication of help for Stenhouse, Kelley scribbled an easy message on duct tape and hooked up it to the automobile’s roll bar about his driver’s head.
“‘We believe,’” Kelley recalled. “That’s been our motto the whole offseason — that we believe.”
Sunday started with little indication both man would issue within the race’s consequence.
Kelley, who hails from St. Petersburg, was in his first race as crew chief since Stenhouse had been in NASCAR’s wilderness, recording two prime 5s in 72 Cup races the previous two seasons.
The No. 47 automobile received the 2020 Daytona 500 pole and displayed velocity once more in 2021. This time, Stenhouse certified thirty fifth within the 40-car discipline.
Stenhouse was fast to notice when he certified twenty fourth in 2022 he was a full second off the pole however simply .75 for Sunday’s race. He then led 16 laps and was within the combine till a crash on Lap 194.
“I said, we have a car capable of doing that,” Stenhouse mentioned.
Kelley and Co. made changes to dealing with whereas selecting up some velocity. Stenhouse observed the distinction throughout Friday’s drafting observe.
“I felt super confident in the car,” he mentioned.
Kelley agreed.
“We covered it up and we didn’t practice Saturday,” he mentioned.
Stenhouse was prepared to indicate the No. 47′s enhancements when the chance appeared late within the race.
The profitable transfer occurred earlier than a wreck through the preliminary extra time when he handed eventual runner-up Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford Mustang on the backstretch earlier than Austin Dillon misplaced management of his automobile to trigger a large wreck.
The multi-car pile-up led to the primary of three cautions through the double-overtime occasion that required a file 212 laps and 530 miles to resolve. Stenhouse, Logano and third-place finisher Christopher Bell have been within the clear when a crash triggered by Kyle Larson elicited one other yellow flag.
“I was worried when we took that last restart,” Kelley mentioned. “But I believed in Ricky’s abilities.”
Stenhouse’s .128 margin of victory was the third-narrowest prior to now 10 Daytona 500s. For a second, many believed Logano was the winner.
“At first I wasn’t positive that we had won, and I wasn’t going to celebrate until I heard it in my ear,” Kelley mentioned. “And you then simply don’t imagine it. You’re like, ‘Man, this is killing me.’
“This is a dream come true.”
Kelley has served myriad roles throughout his NASCAR profession. He was automobile chief for Michael Waltrip throughout his 2001 win when Dale Earnhardt Sr. died throughout a tragic Turn 4 crash. Kelley served in the identical position throughout Kurt Busch’s 2004 championship season.
Plenty of arduous occasions balanced out the success. Kelley shared some with Stenhouse as the 2 males shaped a deep connection.
Kelley recalled the 2 males practically wrestling after a disagreement at Bristol. There have been lighter occasions, too. When all of the rooms have been taken in a home in Michigan rented for the race crew, Kelley and Stenhouse bunked collectively.
“We literally joke about it all the time; that’s the only man I had to share a bed with is Ricky Stenhouse Jr.,” Kelly mentioned. “So maybe that’s part of it.”
Stenhouse and Kelley’s bond has been additional strengthened by the equally distinctive JTG Daugherty Racing possession group.
The Geschickters have stayed the course with a workforce shaped in 1995. Some robust occasions examined them, together with the pandemic that strained their sponsorship with Cottonelle throughout a scarcity.
“They’re like: ‘We can’t make enough toilet paper to put on the shelves, much less do promotions,’ ” Tad Geschickter recalled. “There was a lot of back and forth and people wanting to change contracts, and it was a tough two years. When it gets lean like that after 28, 29 years of doing it, you start wondering: ‘Are we going to be able to turn on the lights in a year?’”
Daugherty was a 7-foot All-ACC middle at North Carolina and NBA All-Star who grew up a NASCAR fan. In 2008, he joined JTK Racing.
But the 57-year-old needed to depart the observe Sunday due to irritation attributable to latest eye surgical procedure.
Jodi Geschickter mentioned he didn’t miss Stenhouse’s win or the possibility to chide fellow North Carolina Tar Heel Michael Jordan, now co-owner of 23XI workforce with NASCAR star Denny Hamlin.
“I talked to him for a few minutes and he said that he and Michael Jordan are already talking trash,” Jodi mentioned.
After the longest day in Daytona 500 historical past, Stenhouse recalled the type phrases of Kelley through the offseason. The present of help finally carried the 2 males to victory lane collectively.
“It was, ‘Hey, I know you can still get this done,’” Stenhouse recalled. “‘We’ve simply acquired to provide the proper alternatives. We know if we offer you vehicles able to operating up entrance, you are able to do that.’
“We’ve proven that.”
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Edgar Thompson at [email protected] or comply with him on Twitter at @osgators.
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com