Top Dog: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
What is one factor that plays into fans’ passion for sports?
Upsets.
College football featured plenty of them on Oct. 5, with five of the top 11 ranked teams falling victim to upsets.
Among them was the most colossal one of 2024, with the 2-2 Vanderbilt Commodores shocking the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, a school that had beaten Vanderbilt in 23 consecutive matchups.
So what better way for the NASCAR Cup Series to follow up college football than by having another upset in Alabama? That’s exactly what transpired, compliments of Olive Branch, Miss. native Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Not only did Stenhouse survive the Big One, he survived the “Biggest One” to claim bragging rights in the YellaWood 500 (Oct. 6).
Following the final round of green flag pit stops of the race, Stenhouse engaged in an intense battle of tug of war with playoff contender Austin Cindric. With Chase Elliott pushing Stenhouse and Brad Keselowski shoving Cindric, the two swapped the lead time after time for about 10 laps.
A routine but unnerving maneuver by the field to lap Todd Gilliland flipped the race upside down in a flash. The train of Fords on the low line bounced off one another, ending with Cindric getting turned in front of the field. While Stenhouse’s car received slight damage to the left side, he drove away with absolute destruction in his rearview mirror.
What Stenhouse evaded turned out to be a 28-car crash, the largest crash in modern NASCAR history. That gave him an opportunity to write a page of history of his own.
On the final restart, Stenhouse went toe-to-toe with the six-time Talladega champion Keselowski, a true battle of superspeedway aces. As the drivers exited turn 4, William Byron gave Stenhouse a shot while Keselowski chose not to block. Exiting the tri-oval, Keselowski received a push from Kyle Larson and Byron swooped high to Stenhouse’s outside, but neither one had enough time.
Stenhouse was deemed victorious by a mere .006 seconds, half of the margin he lost by to Ryan Blaney four years ago at the same track.
Just four days after his 37th birthday, Stenhouse claimed his first win since the 2023 Daytona 500. And while he has four career wins to his name, all four have come on superspeedways, placing him among good company in superspeedway history.
It was stressed on NBC Sports’ broadcast all weekend that while Talladega may appear like a place of…
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