Has Ricky Stenhouse (at age 35) gained a step?

It's something to look at as the season wears on if that shot of winning the 500 gives them a boost. I think they finished around 26th or so last year. They should be able to buy some big Hendrick power and keep their car up.
 
Blaze said:
Yeah haha, should definitely be easy to tell that I’m 100% serious.
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In my defense, it's really hard to tell when you're just intentionally being a drama queen ;)

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Yeah he stepped fully into that group of people that still haven't won anything besides at super speedways

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In doing so, he kept Logano a hair away from being a 2x Daytona 500 champion.
 
Nope. He's always been good at restrictor plate tracks. He was in the right place at the right time. He will go back to mediocrity and probably finish outside the top 16 but will make the playoffs based on this win
 
Yeah I believe it is both. The good ones know pretty quick who has the strongest cars, who is good at the plates and they "attempt" to run with those guys. That's part of the skill factor. The luck is being able to survive the 500 laps and be there at the end.
 
aunty dive said:
LOL

Double shot ... marginalize Stenhouse’s success by confirming your own bias. Outstanding.
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It's the truth he's a better than average plate racer, you can't deny that Roush had something figured out that year. It's not any different than when Aric won Talladega. SHR had something figured out, he just had to not screw it up.

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Blaze said:
I say it’s a bit of both tbh. You got to have skill for that type of racing to be there at the end, but you also have to have luck to be there at the end.
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There’s an element of luck involved because people are morons and bump draft and block like they’re playing a video game.

Plate racing is the only form of racing where an untalented driver can screw over the field with one small move.

It’s also the only form of racing where fans regularly question the talent of people who are good at it. It’s like it’s a mortal sin to admit that there’s talent involved in plate racing.
 
wi_racefan said:
It's the truth he's a better than average plate racer, you can't deny that Roush had something figured out that year. It's not any different than when Aric won Talladega. SHR had something figured out, he just had to not screw it up.

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If “having something figured out” was a precursor to winning a plate race then Steve Park might have won one or two when DEI was dominant. Instead he was rarely a factor. Park was a good driver but plate racing was never his thing.

You can give a driver a good car but you still need talent at that discipline to bring it home.
 
The Nature Boy said:
If “having something figured out” was a precursor to winning a plate race then Steve Park might have won one or two when DEI was dominant. Instead he was rarely a factor. Park was a good driver but plate racing was never his thing.

You can give a driver a good car but you still need talent at that discipline to bring it home.
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I've seen that a lot. Qualify in the top 5 and nowhere to be found at the end.
 
wi_racefan said:
... you can't deny that Roush had something figured out that year.
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Yes, I can ... I just did. Bayne was 10th, 37th, 10th and 3rd at the plate tracks in 2017. Stenhouse had 2 wins, a 31st and a 26th.

HMS cars won 3 straight at Talladega in 2006 / 2007 ... Johnson won both races at Daytona in 2013. Did they “have something figured out” or did preparation, pit strategy / execution, patience and racing luck determine those outcomes?

It’s easy to slough off a good result by attaching an asterisk or a label. Correction ... it’s lazy, not easy.
 
aunty dive said:
Yes, I can ... I just did. Bayne was 10th, 37th, 10th and 3rd at the plate tracks in 2017. Stenhouse had 2 wins, a 31st and a 26th.

HMS cars won 3 straight at Talladega in 2006 / 2007 ... Johnson won both races at Daytona in 2013. Did they “have something figured out” or did preparation, pit strategy / execution, patience and racing luck determine those outcomes?

It’s easy to slough off a good result by attaching an asterisk or a label. Correction ... it’s lazy, not easy.
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Having something figured out still requires you not to screw it up.

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I think Stenhouse will get a little more bounce in his step. Michael McDowell's on-track performance seemed to increase after winning the Daytona 500 a cowple of years ago. I doubt Stenhouse will be a top ten racer in NASCAR but I do think he will improve over past performances.
Something about winning, especially the biggest race of the year, tends to give drivers and teams greater confidence. For how long is the question.
 
Whizzer said:
I think Stenhouse will get a little more bounce in his step. Michael McDowell's on-track performance seemed to increase after winning the Daytona 500 a cowple of years ago. I doubt Stenhouse will be a top ten racer in NASCAR but I do think he will improve over past performances.
Something about winning, especially the biggest race of the year, tends to give drivers and teams greater confidence. For how long is the question.
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With the cars being more equal, it'll probably help his results. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get like 10 top 10's. He's capable.
 
The Nature Boy said:
I wouldn’t be surprised if Stenhouse dials it up this year. The guy won Nationwide races when the races were filled with Cup guys. If JTG Daugherty give him equipment, he can at least get to the round of 12.
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Completely agree. I think at Roush in Cup he was trying to overdrive bad equipment a lot of the time, which led to the mistakes we'd see. With a better ride under him, the guy can wheel. There's clearly talent there, on pavement and on dirt.
 
cheesepuffs said:
Completely agree. I think at Roush in Cup he was trying to overdrive bad equipment a lot of the time, which led to the mistakes we'd see. With a better ride under him, the guy can wheel. There's clearly talent there, on pavement and on dirt.
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Reminds me a lot of what Larson did at Ganassi. The cars were mediocre outside of 2017 so he overdrove them. Ricky has never had a ride even as good as the 42 car was. I wonder what he could do in a Hendrick or Penske car.
 
Efisher131 said:
Reminds me a lot of what Larson did at Ganassi. The cars were mediocre outside of 2017 so he overdrove them. Ricky has never had a ride even as good as the 42 car was. I wonder what he could do in a Hendrick or Penske car.
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I have always thought that Ricky was around the same talent level as Truex. If you put him in a good car, he could be a multi race per year winner.

Ricky’s biggest issue is that he doesn’t know the limits of his car. If you gave him a car with virtually no limits, I guarantee he would surprise you.
 
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