Breakthrough win at Talladega changes Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s long-term outlook

TALLADEGA, Ala. — There was every reason to believe that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would find some way to lose Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Despite the promise he carried into top-level NASCAR racing, Stenhouse had suffered through hard times. He won a pair of Xfinity Series championships in 2011 and 2012 and was labeled by many as the next big thing, but the only thing he won during the first 157 races of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career was the hand of a fellow driver, Danica Patrick.

Race No. 158 changed all that, and should change Stenhouse’s long-term future. He now resides in the community of Cup Series winners, a location that — as he discovered — can be remarkably difficult to enter.

Stenhouse was in position to win Sunday in the closing laps but faced considerable opposition — notably from one of the sport’s best wheelmen, Kyle Busch — in the dangerous Talladega draft. But Stenhouse showed the expertise and daring that had been expected of him when he signed on with Roush Fenway Racing, slipping to the inside around Busch with one lap to go.

Stenhouse won by .09 of a second, a relative runaway at a track noteworthy for closer finishes.

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At that point, another race began. Patrick had crashed out of the race 20 laps earlier in the day’s big crash, and she was watching the finish — while packing — in the couple’s motorhome near the garage area. She jumped in a golf cart, which raced to victory lane in time to greet Stenhouse upon his initial arrival in what previously had been uncharted territory for both.

The afternoon was a welcome revival for team owner Jack Roush, who hadn’t won a race in the Cup Series since Carl Edwards scored at Sonoma, Calif., in June 2014.

Mostly, though, Sunday was all about Stenhouse, who early in his career wrecked so many of Roush’s cars that the long-time team owner benched him. It’s likely that other top team owners would have parted ways with Stenhouse, but Roush recognized the general deficiencies in his operation and stayed with the Mississippi driver, who turns 30 in October.

“I’d never been in that position,” Stenhouse said of his spot in the lead draft in the closing two laps. “I didn’t know what I needed to do. I had pushed (Jimmie) Johnson on the restart before and was hoping he’d return the favor, and he did. It’s awesome to finally finish it off.”

Patrick, still looking for her first NASCAR win, said she had a feeling Stenhouse would be in position to win.

“I mean obviously he qualified on the pole, but at the beginning of the race when he was leading I was thinking he was either going to stay in the lead or something bad might happen, but I got the feeling that it was just one of those days when he was going to make it happen,” she said. “I can relate so well, and especially knowing how much success he has had before he came into the Cup Series — it’s that relief, like something you’ve been waiting for so long.

“I think we both felt it coming in the last month, at least. I’m just totally proud of him.”

Stenhouse joked that it was fun to “see Danica and Jack standing there waiting for me in victory lane — they’re the same height. It was super special. She’s been so supportive and knows how hard I’ve worked. To have her there was really awesome.”