Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins Daytona 500 pole
DAYTONA – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has something to prove entering the 2020 season.
He didn’t waste any time, capturing the pole Sunday for next week’s 62nd annual Daytona 500 to make a statement for himself and his new race team.
Driving his first season with JTG Daugherty Racing, Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 47 Chevrolet earned the top spot in the 40-driver field with a lap of 46.253 seconds at 194.582 mph on Sunday at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.
Alex Bowman will start alongside
Stenhouse Jr. on the front row next Sunday after turning a lap of 46.305 seconds. It will be the third 500 start on the front row for Bowman,, the 2018 polesitter.
Stenhouse is in new territory – a surprising turn of events given the turmoil he experienced last fall.
The 32-year-old from Memphis, Tenn., was unceremoniously dropped by Roush Racing in September, fewer than two months after Stenhouse had signed a contract extension through 2021. Rousch replaced Stenhouse with Chris Buescher, exercising an option in their contract with Buescher and leaving Stenhouse without a team.
Roush president Steve Newmark, said his relationship with Stenhouse had “run its course” after 10 years together.
After winning the pole, the third in his career, Stenhouse said, “I feel like I can still get the job done behind the wheel and win races.”
He added, “I think this is just signs of things to come, of our speed that we’re going to have with our 47 team.”
Stenhouse’s two wins in the Cup Series both came in 2017 on superspeedways, during the Talladega 500 and Coke Zero Sugar 400 that July at Daytona. He finished 13th in the 2019 Daytona 500, his highest finish he came in seventh in 2014. Stenhouse hopes the speed his car displayed Sunday is a harbinger, similar to his breakthrough win at Talladega. Nine pole-sitter have gone on to win the Daytona 500, most
of any starting position.
“I noticed we qualified on the pole at Talladega. The car was really fast,” Stenhouse recalled. “I felt like it was easier for me to make moves knowing that I felt like I had enough speed to pull out of line and get the job done. That to me is all that really matters is I know what our car is capable of speed-wise, and that helps me make moves.”
Stenhouse’s performance during qualifying Sunday ended a streak of five straight poles for drivers with Hendrick Motorsports, but still continued the dominance to Chevrolets and Hendrick engines.
“It’s something that you don’t really think about when Mr. Hendrick shows up in Victory Lane knowing that we’re running his engine package,” Stenhouse said.
Dating to 2013, when Danica Patrick became the first woman to win the Daytona 500 pole, Chevys have earn the top spot for the Great American Race.
“It’s cool to keep the
streak,” Stenhouse said.
While Hendrick Motorsports did not earn the pole, one of the sport’s top teams did not take a backseat to the rest of the field.
Chase Elliott, the polesitter in 2016 and 2017, and Jimmie Johnson, a twotime winner of the sport’s premier event, had the third and fourth best times, respectively. Defending champion Denny Hamlin was fifth and reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Busch sixth – each driving Toyotas.
“We brought four really good race cars, obviously Hendrick engines and the 47, as well,” Bowman said. “Proud of all those guys. I think we’re going to have a great race car in the race.”
Meanwhile, two guaranteed positions in the field were up for grabs among the seven cars without a charter. Veteran Brendan Gaughan, racing in his final Daytona 500, earned a spot along with reigning Coke Zero Sugar 400 winner Justin Haley.