Stenhouse earns breakthough win
TALLADEGA, Ala. — It’s been a long journey for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to make his way to victory lane.
When he finally got there, in his 158th career NASCAR Cup Series start, his team owner and famous girlfriend were waiting.
His father? Well, he was a little late to the party.
A last-lap pass of Kyle Busch in overtime got Stenhouse the win Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, which was the first victory for resurgent Roush Fenway Racing since 2014. Danica Patrick, who had wrecked out of the race, was in street clothes and able to lean into the car to give her boyfriend a congratulatory kiss.
“Pulling into victory lane and seeing Jack and Danica standing there together … it was super special,” Stenhouse said. “She’s been so supportive and knows how hard that I’ve worked, and to have her there was really awesome.”
Ricky Stenhouse Sr. needed a police escort to make it there. He tried to climb a fence along the backstretch and cross the track to find his way to the celebration. When that didn’t work, he began running along a perimeter road. Security picked him up, placed him in a car and questioned him. Finally vetted, he was driven to victory lane to meet his son.
“My dad has done so much for me in my career,” Stenhouse said. “Everything that I’ve learned is from him, and you know, making sure that you have the right people around you is one of the things that he’s all about, making sure that you have people that respect you, that will do anything for you, and man, he sacrificed a lot for me and my career.
“Everything that I know about racing I learned from him, and I’m glad that he was able to be here in victory lane.
It shouldn’t have gone any other way for Stenhouse, a winner at nearly every level who has struggled mightily in Cup competition because of Roush Fenway’s rebuilding phase. A two-time champion in the Xfinity Series, Stenhouse has not transferred that success to NASCAR’s highest level, where he had just seven top-five finishes and had led just 44 career laps before this year.
Now he’s in the All-Star event later this month and has earned a spot in the playoffs.
“We’ve been terrible for a long time, but we’ve been getting better and better every race,” said Stenhouse, who took time to note he “parked it” in victory lane for his late friend, Bryan Clauson.
“I think you go through that so long that you almost lose a little — all your confidence. There’s still things to clean up, and there’s still things to get a lot better at, but man, it feels awesome to have everybody at Roush Fenway stand behind us.”
Patrick had been packing in the couples’ motorhome and watching the race on television. She soon found herself sitting on the floor, cheering wildly over the final laps.
“While I never want to crash out of a race ever, at least I was there for the moment when he pulled in, and that’s the bright side. And I got to watch him win,” she said. “I’m just so, so proud of him. He works his butt off. He works harder than any driver I know. He works tirelessly.”
Stenhouse started from the pole and praised the power from his Doug Yates-built Ford engine for the speed. Then he used it to snatch the race away with a lastlap pass of Busch.
The first two stages of the race were calm, and it was the final stretch to the checkered flag that became heated. The race was stopped for nearly 27 minutes because of an accident in which AJ Allmendinger’s car flipped on its roof with 19 laps remaining.
When the red flag was lifted, the race restarted with 15 laps remaining and Busch as the leader. Then a caution with 10 laps remaining set up another restart.
No one had enough to catch Busch as the field was setting itself up for a frantic dash to the finish. Then Ryan Newman spun with three laps remaining to send the race into overtime.
Busch was listed as the leader, followed by Stenhouse, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Jamie McMurray. Stenhouse got a push alongside Busch and made the pass stick for the win.
“I don’t know what his help was or anything like that, but he actually ran into the back of me, and then you’d think that that momentum would propel me forward some, and he just turned left and he went right by me,” Busch said. “That was pretty impressive, I guess, or I was just that slow and in his way.”
McMurray finished second in a Chevrolet and was followed by Busch in a Toyota, then Aric Almirola, another Ford driver and the winner of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Talladega.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. started second at the track where he’s a sixtime winner, but he was forced to pit with 14 laps remaining because of a loose wheel and finished 22nd.