The Little Team That Could: Ricky Stenhouse fourth for Hyak in Kyle Busch tribute car
There's 28 of our employees that were probably really pumped up about this Stenhouse said following the impressive showing at Nashville
The Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Denny Hamlin Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe were battling for a race win but another car was coming on strong in the closing laps.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. pitted for four fresh tires and restarted 13th for the four lap dash to the checkered.
Stenhouse quickly climbed to sixth but was stuck behind the side by side battle of Shane van Gisbergen and Chase Elliott. He finally got clear of both cars on the last lap when they made a mistake but it was too late to catch up with the leading three.
He still wound up fourth his best finish since finishing second in the season-opening Daytona 500. This also was Stenhouse's best finish at a non-drafting track since a runner-up at Dover more than four years ago.
For the underdogs and a salute to KB
It was a bit of a surprise to see the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet that close to the front in a non-superspeedway race, but that paint scheme has been a very familiar sight out front in past Nashville races.
In a deliberate nod to the late NASCAR legend, Stenhouse's NOS Energy car sported a paint scheme very similar to ones Kyle Busch had run in a number of his past NASCAR O'Reilly victories. For a moment it was Rowdy’s NOS-powered No. 18 slicing through the pack at the end of the race.
But the finish is also big for Hyak, one of the few single-car teams racing full-time at the Cup level still. They don’t have a lot of employees or resources, but they were the top Chevrolet team Sunday night. In doing so, they beat multi-car bowtie teams Hendrick, Spire, Trackhouse, RCR and Kaulig.“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,” Stenhouse said after the race. “It was cool to get this Kyle Busch NOS Energy Drive Chevrolet tribute car up there in the top five. You don't want to come up in here with that scheme and run foul.
We started the day a little not where we wanted to be but we fought back, got some stage points, found ourselves in the top 15. “It was fun to be on offense and to be the top finishing Chevrolet. Good momentum for our team from last week to this week at a track we struggled a little bit ... "We've got 28 of our employees that were probably really pumped up about this win, and it's good to continue this momentum that we got."
