Getty Ricky Stenhouse Jr. makes a pit stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
A change is taking place on pit road. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.‘s pit crew is going back to RFK Racing for the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series season after a strong start.
JTG Daugherty Racing leases its pit crew from RFK Racing, so the two-car team has the ability to swap crew members at any given time. RFK took this opportunity ahead of the trip to Talladega Superspeedway and brought the No. 47 crew — minus the fueler — to the No. 17 team. JTG Daugherty Racing will now get Chris Buescher’s crew for the rest of the season.
🗣️ “We were basically told we had our pit crew […] for the year. Then our guys performed the best on pit road this past week, (@RFKracing) called and said ‘hey we’re taking them.'”
@StenhouseJr shared his disappointment in losing his No. 47 pit crew to the No. 17 team. #NASCAR
“When you are a team that is a customer of somebody else’s, I guess things like that happen,” Stenhouse told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on April 20. “For us, we were basically told we had our pit crew, the pit crew was ours, and we would have them for the year.
“Then our guys performed the best on pit road this past week, and they called and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to change them. We’re taking them.’ So, the 17 team is taking our crew, which is a bummer because those guys took us to a win, and they’ve been working hard.”
The No. 47 Team Secured New Pit Crew Members Ahead of the Daytona 500
GettyRicky Stenhouse Jr. & his team celebrate a Daytona 500 win.
This crew swap marks the second time since the end of the 2022 season that the No. 47 team has had to adapt to a new lineup. The first took place before the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
According to Asphalt Analytics, the No. 47 team retained three crew members after the season finale at Phoenix Raceway in November 2022. Jackman Nicholas Patterson, tire carrier Zach Yager, and rear changer Dalton Leonard all remained.
One new addition, front changer Ben Weber, moved to JTG Daugherty Racing after working for Front Row Motorsports and the No. 34 team. The other new addition, gasman Arinze Obi, joined the No. 47 team after working on the No. 17 crew at RFK Racing.
This crew is the one that kicked off the season by winning the Daytona 500 and punching a ticket to the playoffs. It remained intact through Martinsville Speedway when Jakob Prall replaced Weber as the front changer.
Stenhouse Has Faith in His Crew Chief’s Ability To Lead
The new crew will still feature Obi as the gasman. The new jackman will be Matt Wilps while the new tire career will be Justin Edgell. Chris Shuman and Greg Donlin will round out the lineup as the rear and front changers, respectively.
Working with a new team is never easy for drivers. Though there will be one benefit in that this crew already has chemistry due to working together on the No. 17 team.
Stenhouse also noted that he has considerable faith in crew chief Mike Kelley and his leadership ability. He said that he feels like the veteran gets “a little more out of them” than maybe other people do.
The first true test for this crew will be at Talladega Superspeedway. They will have to deliver perfect pit stops in order to keep Stenhouse on the same schedule as the other Chevrolet teams. If there is any mistake that leads to a slower stop, he will likely lose the draft and end up at the rear of the field battling to stay on the lead lap.