Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Wins Wild Daytona 500 in Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

The Daytona 500 crowned a new champion after a wild race that ended in double overtime. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and his Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 edged out Joey Logano and his Ford Mustang when the caution came out on the final lap. NASCAR rules freeze the cars in their positions when the caution comes out and Stenhouse was leading when it counted. I don’t think he had led any other laps in the race.

Stenhouse’s Cinderella Finish

When The Great American race finally finished after 530 laps, Stenhouse told his crew he couldn’t do any burnouts on the track to celebrate because he was out of fuel. Instead, Stenhouse climbed the fence to wave to the sold out crowd. This is Stenhouse’s third career win, he won in the spring of 2017 at Talladega and in the summer of 2017 at Daytona. This is his first win at the Daytona 500, a huge victory for the driver and his team. Stenhouse’s win looked unlikely but two major crashes took out many of the leaders during the final laps. He and last year’s champ, Joey Logano, battled until the very end.

Stenhouse told Fox’s Jamie Little that his crew left him a note in his car, before the race.
"They left me a note on the car that said they believe in me and to go get the job done tonight. I made a few mistakes, we were able to battle back. This Kroger Cottonelle team worked really, really hard."

JTG Daugherty Racing

Stenhouse is the only driver for the JTG Racing Team. It only has one car in the field. This win is really a Cinderella story for the team as well. According to Wikipedia, “The team is owned by former advertising executive Tad Geschickter and his wife Jodi, along with former NBA All-Star center Brad Daugherty. The team currently has a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports.”

Daugherty tweeted after the race. “WELL DONE @StenhouseJr @JTGRacing. So proud of this entire team! #DAYTONA500.

No matter what happens in the future, Stenhouse and JTG Daugherty Racing will always be known as the winners of the 65th Daytona 500, a huge milestone for any driver and team.

Screenshot of Daytona 500

Mary Conway is a professional automotive journalist and has decades of experience specializing in automotive news analysis. She covered the Detroit Three for more than twenty years for the ABC affiliate, in Detroit. Her affection for the Motor City comes naturally. Her father ran a gas station while Mary was growing up, in Wisconsin.

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