The driver of the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro just capped off a historic night. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. posted a top-10 finish in the Coca-Cola 600 Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and made history for JTG Daugherty Racing.
The seventh-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 was the fourth consecutive top-10 finish of Stenhouse’s 2022 campaign. This streak is the longest of his Cup Series career, and it is also the first time that a JTG Daugherty Racing entry has posted four straight top-10 finishes.
Oh, what a night 🎶
AJ Allmendinger, who now runs full-time in the Xfinity Series for Kaulig Racing, was the last person to post multiple top-10 finishes in a row for JTG Daugherty Racing. He achieved this feat during the 2016 Cup Series season but only secured three before falling outside of the top 10.
Three of Allmendinger’s nine top-10s took place during the fall. He posted an eighth-place finish at Kansas Speedway on October 16 before finishing 10th overall at Talladega Superspeedway the following week. His third straight top-10 was a 10th-place finish at Martinsville Speedway on October 30, 2016.
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Stenhouse Ran Well Throughout the Grueling Race
GettyRicky Stenhouse Jr. was in the mix throughout the Coca-Cola 600.
The Coca-Cola 600 is the most difficult race on the Cup Series schedule given its length, the physical exertion required to succeed, and the constantly changing track conditions. The 2022 iteration was a fitting example as it was the longest Coca-Cola 600 in history at 413 laps and 619.5 miles.
Stenhouse performed consistently while making his 18th career start at the North Carolina track. He only started 29th out of the 37-car field, but he worked his way into the top 10 in the first 100 laps. He finished Stage 1 in the seventh position before moving up to fifth at the end of Stage 2.
Stenhouse missed out on stage points during Stage 3, but he moved back into contention for a top-10 finish at the start of overtime. He ran 10th overall when Chase Briscoe spun and brought out the caution, but the team only put on right-side tires during its pit stop and moved him up to fourth overall.
The No. 47 didn’t quite have the same pace as race-winner Denny Hamlin, runner-up Kyle Busch, or a few other drivers. Though he kept himself in the mix by avoiding incidents, including one that collected Joey Logano and Austin Dillon among others.
Stenhouse Remains in Need of a Win
The driver of the No. 47 capped off a historic night with another top-10 finish, and he added 40 points to his season total. However, he still needs to make some big moves in order to secure a spot in the playoffs.
The drivers have completed 14 of the 26 regular-season races, and 11 of them have reached Victory Lane. Stenhouse is not among this group. He is currently 24th in points with 267 overall, and he is behind multiple other winless drivers battling for a spot in the playoff field.
Stenhouse is essentially sitting in a must-win situation with 12 races remaining before the playoffs. He will have to capture the checkered flag and continue to stockpile points in the event that more than 16 drivers reach Victory Lane.
The next race on the Cup Series schedule is a question mark. The drivers will take on World Wide Technology Raceway for the first time in Cup Series history, and there will be many that make their first-ever laps at the 1.25-mile track outside of St. Louis.
Stenhouse actually made three Xfinity Series trips to WWTR during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He made his series debut at the track with a 30th-place finish before posting a top-10 the following year. Stenhouse rounded out his Xfinity Series starts at WWTR with a 23rd-place finish.
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Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Makes JTG Daugherty Racing History