NASCAR Insider Reveals Joey Logano’s Daytona Doom, Asserting Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s Potential

The Daytona 500 is one of the most prestigious races in motorsports history. In 2023, NASCAR fans witnessed the longest Daytona 500 in the race’s history. However, the driver that stole the spotlight at the coveted race in Florida was JTG Daugherty Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr who emerged as an unexpected winner in the crash-filled race.

Renowned journalists Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck recently dissected the 2023 NASCAR season on the latest episode of ‘The Teardown’. One of the many topics discussed in their conversation was the outcome of Daytona 500 which propelled Ricky Stenhouse Jr to the playoffs. They also discussed about the small help that allowed Stenhouse Jr to edge defending champion Joey Logano in the 65th edition of the race.

Joey Logano faced the bitter side of NASCAR at Daytona

2022 Cup Series champion Joey Logano and Stenhouse Jr engaged in a tussle for the lead on the 212th lap. In the same lap, Aric Almirola bumped Travis Pastrana’s Camry, which spun on Turn 2 and nudged the No.5 Camaro of Kyle Larson. Larson was sent into the outside wall due to the contact, and chaos ensued.

The wreck that unfolded didn’t just involve Larson, Almirola and Pastrana. Defending Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric, former champions Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and 2023 Cup Series champ Ryan Blaney were among the notable drivers that were engulfed by the conundrum. Looking at the circumstances, NASCAR decided to put out the caution flags immediately.

However, in a twist of fate, Stenhouse Jr’s #47 Camaro received a shove from JGR’s Christopher Bell which pushed him just ahead of Logano. The result? NASCAR announced Ricky Stenhouse Jr as the winner of the Daytona 500 giving Chevrolet their 25th win in the race’s history.

Reminiscing the chaotic race that underwent two overtime restarts, Bianchi explained, “Lots of crashes, I remember Kyle Busch leading on lap 200.”

“I remember as he made comments about that kind throughout the year like, ‘ I was leading on the last lap of the Daytona 500.’ I remember Joey Logano narrowly, by the skinniest of margins, finishing second. If that caution comes out half a second later, Joey Logano is probably celebrating in victory lane and not Ricky Stenhouse Jr.”

Logano was undoubtedly done bad by his misfortune there. Cursing his luck in a post-race interview, Logano had expressed his frustration as he said, “Second is the worst, man. You’re so close. Leading the white flag lap there, I was up front.”

As the conversation went on, Bianchi further claimed that as per him, Stenhouse Jr had received a new wave of confidence with the win. A major reason for that was also due to him reuniting with his Xfinity Series winning crew chief Mike Kelley. Kelly and Stenhouse Jr combined to win two titles in the second tier in 2011 and 2012.

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr celebrated with toilet paper in victory lane

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Stenhouse Jr clinched his third Cup Series career victory with the Daytona 500 dominance. But the celebration on this great occasion was slightly out of the box as toilet papers flew around the victory lane. Stenhouse’s No.47 car was sponsored by Cottonelle which gave the crew an idea to celebrate their victory by throwing bathroom tissues around.

Bianchi recollected the celebrations as he said, “I remember being in victory lane with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Just stacks of toilet paper were everywhere because that’s one of their sponsors and they were throwing them and so it kind of set the tone for what that #47 team of JTG Daugherty did throughout the year.”

However, as Bianchi believes, the win didn’t matter for Stenhouse as he would have made a strong case for the playoffs either way. Justifying his reasoning, Bianchi explained, “They obviously won Daytona and it put them in the playoffs. But their performance throughout the year was good enough to be playoff worthy. They would have been in the conversation and have a good chance to make the playoffs even without that victory. So it was kind of a precursor of things to come.”

Stenhouse ultimately failed to make it out of the first elimination round as his car caught fire in the final race of the Round of 16 in Bristol. The fire eliminated any possibilities of him making up for the lost chances through a late surge. 2024 could maybe imply some good things coming the way of the No.47 team.

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