Ricky Stenhouse Jr. turned his season around when he clinched the win at Talladega. The JTG Daugherty Racing driver took the lead of the YellaWood 500 after the Big One with just 5 laps to go, and it was a close battle between him and Brad Keselowski, who was initially blamed for the wreck. However, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. managed to win the race, but it couldn’t be done without the help of some allies.

With Stenhouse Jr., William Byron, and Kyle Larson all in Chevrolet cars, Brad Keselowski must have felt lonely to be the only Ford in the top 4. After the final restart, the drivers drove 2 wide, and it ended up becoming a pushing race. William Byron, who was directly behind Stenhouse Jr., pushed the No. 47 Chevy to the win, while Kyle Larson was instructed by his crew chief not to give Keselowski the same advantage. This soon became a huge deciding factor for the race as Chevrolet drivers showed their alliance and drove Stenhouse Jr. to victory. It was obvious that the No. 47 driver acknowledged the push he got from the HMS drivers, and he came to talk about it in his latest interview.

Chevrolet’s role in making Ricky Stenhouse Jr. win the 2024 YellaWood 500

Manufacturer alliances have been discussed in NASCAR ever since the phrase “Win on Sunday and sell on Monday” started to pick up. It was obvious that for manufacturers, it was all about selling their cars and winning races in NASCAR helped them do so. So when it came down to 3 Chevys going up against 1 Ford, it was easy to see who’d have the advantage. Stenhouse Jr. felt the alliance from Chevy drivers before the big one too when Chase Elliott pushed him into the front of the grid.

When the big one started piling up cars, Stenhouse Jr. was lucky to avoid the mess with his position, and that helped him eventually win the race. Kevin Harvick invited Ricky Stenhouse Jr to his podcast, where they spoke about the photo finish and how the alliance helped him win his first race of the season. On Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, the host spoke about the Big One and asked Stenhouse Jr. about how it impacted his race.

Harvick spoke of how Stenhouse Jr. avoided the wreck and kept control of the race and asked, “I think when you look at that wreck, how close was the car to kind of being out of control? Because it ripped a hole in the door that was almost to the metal in certain spots. So how close was that for you?” Explaining how he was affected by the wreck, Stenhouse Jr. stated, “I just got smoked in the door. It happened so fast. Luckily, it hit me dead center in the car, and I felt like it just moved my car up a lane a little bit.”

Luckily, the impact was not enough to take Ricky Stenhouse Jr. out of the race, but there were damages. The JTG Daugherty Racing driver explained how Chase Elliott came to the rescue, saying, “It [the impact] bent the door bars; I mean, it hit a ton. So, at that time, I was bummed because I felt like if we were racing it out—and I talked to Chase afterward—he was able to get me to the start/finish line, kind of in front of the 2 for 95% of the laps that we were battling there.” 

Stenhouse Jr. mentioned how he analyzed the race from behind the steering wheel and concluded that there would be no third lane, which made him feel quite safe about his place on the track. That’s when the wreck happened, and after one green-white-checkered flag, the race was on again. It was after the wreck that Hendrick Motorsports drivers stepped up in fulfilling their allegiance, as the No. 47 driver explained, “We had enough fuel and all that, and I had all my Chevy teammates behind me, so I felt comfortable about that.”

Giving a breakdown of what transpired on the track after the wreck, Stenhouse revealed, “When I got off Turn 4 and Byron was pushing me, the 6 got clear, and I thought he would pull up in front of me. Luckily, he didn’t, so I was able to side-draft him there. And, you know, Byron pushed me to the line.” In the end, it was an easier race for Stenhouse Jr. compared to what Keselowski had.

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After the final race restart, it was 3 Chevys in the top 4 with Keselowski’s Ford. That’s when drivers started pushing each other, trying to make space on the track. It started off as an assist for the driver ahead, but a front-row spin-out would have been appreciated by Kyle Larson and William Byron. Larson, who was on the tail of Keselowski, was pushing the No. 6 car trying to find a place for himself to overtake.

The HMS Star soon got a radio message from his crew chief, who gave him orders to go easy on the gas and to make sure Keselowski did not benefit from the push. On the other hand, William Byron did not stop pushing the No. 47, which is what caused the photo finish victory for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Many fans started to debate the manufacturer’s influence on the race online. However, according to NASCAR’s rules, Stenhouse Jr.’s win was by the books.

The JTG Daugherty Racing driver won his first race of the season after a difficult year filled with finishes in the 20s and 30s. This was the much-needed redemption that put the Memphis native back on the map, as it marked his first race win since his victory at the Daytona 500 back in 2023. Looking at how the race went down, do you think that Keselowski was done wrong by Chevrolet? Share your thoughts on the manufacturer influencing races in the comments below.