Top Dog: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Well, that was wicked.
After a tough stretch to start the season, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. landed back in the top 10 last week at Iowa Speedway in fifth. To do it back-to-back required him to overcome a wild rotation of weather and the tightrope of wet-weather tires at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday (June 23).
Oh, and let’s not forget the weekly test of putting a complete race together too.
Fortunately, despite a cycle of weather that could have made one lose their sanity, Stenhouse was up for the task, finishing seventh for his second consecutive top 10.
Initially, that feat wasn’t on the horizon, as Stenhouse fell from 13th to 24th in what was setting up to be a rather calm and swift race.
Stenhouse caught a break in stage two by running long during a green flag pit stop cycle when a caution flew for Daniel Hemric on lap 142. The break allowed Stenhouse to pit and stabilize inside the top 20. However, the lobster of New Hampshire pinched back, as the No. 47 fell to 28th by the end of the stage.
The Olive Branch, Miss. native flirted with the top 20 in the final stage when an anticipated storm system finally touched down, bringing out the red flag. With periods of heavy rain, lightning and a severe thunderstorm warning in the area, all of the ingredients were coming together for an premature ending, and thus a 24th-place finish by Stenhouse.
However, in an unexpected move, NASCAR waited just over two hours and got the track dry enough to break out the wet-weather tires. That gave Stenhouse a chance to advance forward, but he remained stagnant in the short term.
On lap 265, it was Stenhouse’s race that looked like it might come to an end when Noah Gragson spun into Bubba Wallace, sparking a pileup in turns 1 and 2. Stenhouse slammed on the brakes and made slight contact with Austin Cindric but was able to keep the car clean.
Ultimately, the wreck set up a clinic for Stenhouse. His knack for aggression came in handy over the course of several restarts in the final 40 laps, allowing him to move forward and clinch a career-best finish at New Hampshire.
As mentioned last week, it is win or bust for the 36-year-old to return to the playoffs for a second consecutive season (which would be a first in his career), as he sits 25th in points. Still, he is starting off the summer on the right note, and consecutive top-10 results for the first time this season might just be what the doctor ordered.
How Does It Compare?
In several cases this season, the present run by the top dog has been right on par with the others. Yet in this case, Stenhouse nearly had the top 10 all to himself among the last five races in Loudon, N.H.
Stenhouse was the top performer between the underdogs in 2020 (14th) and 2021 (15th). Erik Jones nearly cracked the top 10 last year in 11th, while AJ Allmendinger led a quiet day in 2022 with a 16th-place run. The only run topping Stenhouse’s was Matt DiBenedetto‘s fifth-place performance in 2019.
Notable Underdog Runs
Since a sixth-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway in the spring, the wheels have been anything but smooth on John Hunter Nemechek‘s bus. Coming into New Hampshire, Nemechek had just two top 20s in the past 12 races, and his standings position doubled from 14th after Bristol to 28th after Iowa.
However, NASCAR’s persistence to wait out the rain played into Nemechek’s hands, as he landed an eighth-place finish. Much like Stenhouse, Nemechek’s race was on the wrong trajectory but at an even worse pace. At one point he sat in 32nd, two laps down, falling as far back as 35th during the event with no front grip helping his No. 42 Toyota.
Numerous cautions in the final stage worked to Nemechek’s favor, as he eventually returned to the lead lap after receiving the free pass with just over 60 laps to go. Between the chaos on restarts and the unknowns of the wet tires — and in spite of getting involved in the lap 265 crash — Nemechek survived to land his third top 10 of the year. With the finish, he matched his top 10 total from his lone full-time Cup season in 2020, and he has already eclipsed the combined top 10 total by his two predecessors in the No. 42.
Had the race been called, we would be talking about Todd Gilliland as the top dog. Gilliland also reaped the reward of staying out long during green flag pit stops in stage two, running as the leader when the caution flew.
Gilliland grabbed five stage points in sixth, and he padded his laps led total to 120, eclipsing the 119 circuits led by his Front Row Motorsports teammates, Michael McDowell. The strategy play never put Gilliland in a pickle as he ran inside the top five for several laps with the rain coming. When the red flag was displayed, the 23-year-old was scored in fourth.
Unlike Stenhouse and Nemechek, the race restart was not what Gilliland wanted to see. The No. 38 never had a sudden drop-off from his top five position, but it was marginal slides on each restart that shuffled him back to 12th by the end. Still, his streak of consecutive finishes of 17th or better remained intact, reaching seven in a row and eight of the last nine.
For the second time this season, Legacy Motor Club landed both of its cars inside the top 15, as Jones joined Nemechek in the front half of the field with a 13th-place finish. Jones was mired outside the top 20 for the first half of the race, falling a lap down by the midpoint of stage two. However, he received the free pass on lap 142, and had worked his way to 18th when the rain came.
After the race returned to green, Jones was also caught up in the melee on lap 265. Fortunately, he just went for a spin and was able to avoid major damage. That allowed him to take advantage of others’ mistakes and land his first top 15 since Martinsville Speedway in April.
In the midst of all the noise concerning his future, Harrison Burton pieced together one of his best performances of the season. Burton methodically worked his way forward from his 27th starting position to finish 14th, just two spots lower than where he would have finished had the race been called early. On an alternate strategy before the rain, Burton ran several laps inside the top 10 at a track where his father Jeff ruled for many years. It is the 23-year-old’s third top 15 of the season.
Carson Hocevar (17th) and Ty Dillon (20th), who was two laps down at one point, were also able to snag solid results at the end of the day. For Hocevar, he overcame a spin with 20 laps to go to earn his fourth consecutive finish of 17th or better.
The biggest heartbreak among the underdogs came from Justin Haley. When the race looked as if it would be called for weather, it would have given Haley and Rick Ware Racing a top five with the No. 51 sitting in fifth. When the checkered flag flew, Haley was scored in 29th.
How did it happen? Take a look at black and neon yellow car on the penultimate restart.
Sitting just outside the top five, Haley was clipped by McDowell’s spinning machine, damaging the splitter and severely impacting the performance of his car. Nevertheless, it was another strong run from a driver who quelled rumors about a Silly Season departure this week, and it should not dictate how well he performed on another non-superspeedway.
What They’re Saying
Stenhouse (seventh): “Our day was all over the place. We were really bad on dry tires and just struggled all day. And then when we went to the wet weather tires, we had really good runs. We struggled a little bit, but there at the end, we got our No. 47 Kroger/Kleenex 100 Years Chevy really good. We were able to battle back from 25th and drive up into the top 10. We made the most out of it, which was really cool. Two top 10s, back-to-back, and hopefully we can do the same thing at Nashville (Superspeedway).”
Haley (29th):
Small Team Scheme of the Week
Care for some pickles with your lobstah?
Okay, I’ll stop with the pickle references, but Gilliland sported one of the more unique sponsors this season. With Grillo’s Pickles aboard, Gilliland had nothing to be sour about in his green No. 38, and had he come away with a top five finish, it would have been a big dill (OK, I promise I’m done).
About the author
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a contributor, furthering a love for racing that traces back to his earliest memories. Glover inherited his passion for racing from his grandfather, who used to help former NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in his Richmond, Va. garage. A 2023 graduate from the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is the author of "The Underdog House," contributes to commentary pieces, and does occasional at-track reporting. Additionally, Glover enjoys working in ministry, coaching basketball, playing sports, and karting.
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