Top Dog: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Progress. Progress is the forward movement to a destination.
For NASCAR Cup Series teams, that destination may include diverse paths, different targets and varying timelines. However, they all have the same goal: win.
Every season, there is at least one team that has taken that next step. Last season, it was Trackhouse Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
This season, a couple are already standing out, and one has undoubtedly been JTG Daugherty Racing with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. behind the wheel.
Three races after earning his first career road course top 10, the reigning Daytona 500 champion earned an eight-place finish in the NOCO 400 at Martinsville Speedway (April 16), a career best at the track.
Martinsville has never been Stenhouse’s bread-and-butter, with two consecutive 10th-place runs in 2017 and 2018 serving as his only prior top 10s. But this is 2023, and Stenhouse and JTG Daugherty have grown.
Stenhouse started 16th but faded to 23rd by the end of stage one as dirty air hampered progress for many drivers. However, some adjustments in the second stage allowed him to drive up to 14th with 220 laps remaining.
The No. 47 hovered around 15th for most of the final stage before Stenhouse pitted under green with just over 100 laps to go.
That would backfire.
A caution on lap 301 trapped the 35-year-old a lap down. Fortunately, he was able to take the wave around and get back on the lead lap. On the downside, he had to start near the rear of the field, which caused him to slip back to 24th.
On lap 342, the caution waved for the final time, nudging several teams to pit. Crew chief Mike Kelley made the call to keep Stenhouse on track, catapulting him to fourth.
The call worked out masterfully, as Stenhouse held strong inside the top 10 to score the eighth-place result.
JTG Daugherty has made all sorts of progress this season, first kicking it off with the Daytona triumph; but they haven’t stopped there. Stenhouse already has four top 10s in 2023, just one shy of the most he’s recorded in a season with JTG Daugherty (five).
It is the first time the Olive Branch, Miss., native has earned four top 10s in the first nine races since 2017, a season where he was with RFK Racing and won twice.
For JTG Daugherty, it is the first time one of its drivers has ever recorded four top 10s in that same span to start a season.
So, that begs the…
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