While the Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe battled it out for a race win, another car was charging fast in the closing laps.
After pitting for four fresh-tires, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. restarted 13th for the four-lap dash to the checkered flag.
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Stenhouse quickly made his way up to sixth, but ended up boxed in behind the side-by-side battle of Shane van Gisbergen and Chase Elliott. Only after a last-lap slip-up from them did he finally manage to clear both cars, and at that point, he was out of time to chase down the leading trio.
Even still, he crossed the line in fourth for his best finish since placing second in the season-opening Daytona 500. For Stenhouse, this was also his best finish at a non-drafting track since placing second at Dover over four years ago.
One for the underdogs and honoring KB
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet; Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet; Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
While it was a surprise to see the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet that close to the front in a non-superspeedway race, that paint scheme was a very familiar presence at the front of past Nashville races.
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In a deliberate tribute to the fallen NASCAR legend, Stenhouse’s NOS Energy car ran a paint scheme very similar to the one Kyle Busch used in several of his NASCAR O’Reilly wins in the past. For a moment, it looked like Rowdy’s NOS-powered No. 18 ripping through the pack at the end of the race.
But this finish is also huge for Hyak, one of the few single-car teams still competing full-time at the Cup level. They don’t have many employees or resources, and yet, they were the top Chevrolet team on Sunday night. They beat out multi-car bowtie teams Hendrick, Spire, Trackhouse, RCR, and Kaulig in doing so.
“Mike Kelly (crew chief) and our guys in the war room made a great call to be on offense there with our four fresh Goodyears,” said Stenhouse after the race. “It was really cool to get this Kyle Busch NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet tribute car in the top five. You don’t want to come here with that scheme and run bad.
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“Started the day off a little not where we wanted to be, fought back, got some stage points, found ourselves in the top 15. It was fun to be on offense and be in the top-finishing Chevrolet. Really good momentum for our team from last week to this week at a track where we struggled a little bit … There’s 28 of our employees that were probably really pumped up about this win, and it’s good to continue this momentum that we got.”
The top five finish moved Stenhouse up three positions in the points, making him this week’s biggest mover in the championship standings.
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