Stenhouse “shocked” waiting for Keselowski block that never came

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is a very capable superspeedway racer. His first-ever Cup win came at a drafting track, along with his second, and his third, and now his fourth. Two Cup wins at Talladega and two at Daytona since moving to the series full-time over a decade ago, including a dramatic victory in the 2023 Daytona 500.

But Talladega almost ended very differently for Stenhouse, who crossed the finish line with an obvious hole in the door after getting clobbered by the spinning Austin Cindric in a massive 20+ car crash before the final restart. He kept it straight as the field piled up in his rearview mirror. He went on to win the race over Brad Keselowski to his inside and William Byron to his outside, and the margin of the victory was only 0.006s.

“When the 24 [Byron] jumped out to the outside, it was like a parachute hit my car,” explained Stenhouse. “I was just hoping that we would get to the start-finish line before them. It was a drag race at that point. When I got to the back stretch, they were pretty confident that we had won, and a big sigh of relief for sure.”

Another factor that played a role in his victory was the fact that it was three Chevrolets versus one Ford (Keselowski). Despite that, Kyle Larson still gave Keselowski enough of a shove that he got clear of Stenhouse exiting Turn 4. To the surprise of many including the race winner, Keselowski chose not to block Stenhouse and Byron as the outside line surged forward in the final seconds of the race. 

To block or not to block

“I was really shocked,” said Stenhouse. “I was waiting for the block, and I was going to decide whether I was clear enough to get to his inside and get in front of the 5 [Larson] or hang a right and take our momentum with the 24 [Byron]. Yeah, I was super shocked that he didn’t make that right-hand.”

Earlier this year, Michael McDowell tried to block from the lead at Talladega, which ended with him losing the race and crashing into the wall. Keselowski, a veteran superspeedway racer with more wins at Talladega than any other active driver, later explained that he knew the Chevrolets would stick together and he didn’t want to get split coming to the line. 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr, JTG Daugherty Racing, Kroger Health/Palmolive Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport…