Stenhouse striving to turn JTG Daugherty into giant-killers

Fourteen years into his career, JTG Daugherty driver Ricky Stenhouse is one of the last men standing in a single car NASCAR Cup Series team. Despite the highs and lows that have punctuated his career, he has no designs on going anywhere soon.

“Well, it’s kind of odd,” Stenhouse remarked when asked for his take on his current place in the sport. “I feel really good about where our race team is, even though we don’t have a ton to show for it, you know? We were battling for the win at Daytona and we get in a wreck. We were running good at Atlanta and had a shot to win and then had bad luck. And then Vegas and Phoenix were not great races for us, but I felt like we executed really well as a race team, which is a good thing. And we qualified well at these races, which we struggled with last year.

“So then we go to Bristol, my favorite racetrack, and I felt like we had a top five to top 10 car, for sure. We got ran into and had some damage. It wasn’t really anything in our control and that was a bummer. We went to the road course at COTA and it felt like we were really good. I made a mistake, got loose and cut the track and had a penalty there. So I feel like we’ve we’ve been okay, we just don’t have a lot to show for it. However, all in all, I’m happy with where our team is and I feel like we’re working good together.”

Seven races into the 2024 Cup season, Stenhouse has raced to one top 10 finish (Atlanta). Outside of that, he has struggled to an average season finish of 25.1 and admits that the results can be hard to take.

“Sometimes it’s a bummer,” said Stenhouse. “You know, you’re looking around and you don’t have answers. Now I feel like we’ve got answers and solid answers and I feel confident we know what we’re lacking and where we need to be better. I think that’s better than struggling and scratching your head and not really having any answers. I feel good about it.”