[media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”232″]
[/media-credit]Don’t give up, don’t ever give up. The famous line from Jimmy Valvano in 1993 during his ESPY speech has remained an inspiration around the sports world.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and his Roush Fenway Racing team have made their 2012 season all about never giving up. From their first win of the season in Las Vegas to the most recent Saturday night in Atlanta, the No. 6 Cargill team is one that just doesn’t quit.
Stenhouse did what was thought to be the impossible on Saturday, he passed Kevin Harvick for the win in the NRA American Warrior 300. On the last lap no less, after Harvick had spanked the field – leading 157 of 195 laps – and leading by almost 15 seconds during one portion of the race, with only eight cars on the lead lap. But it was Stenhouse, who led just 16 laps, who got a great restart and sailed to Victory Lane.
“We were a little off there to run with the 33 [Harvick] and Mike [Kelley, crew chief] kept tightening it up and tightening it up and ended up getting to where we were closer to the 33,” Stenhouse said of the win. “We still probably weren’t exactly where we needed to be, but we were close enough to get him on that restart.
“Just a great effort by the Cargill Beef team. They worked really hard all weekend and prepared really hard for this race in the shop. The body guys and everybody has done a great job with it and it was a great team effort tonight.”
As Harvick dominated Stenhouse preserved his Ford. Admitting to the team that he wasn’t even trying to run down the No. 33, instead choosing to try and save his tires. A wise decision that paid off later, Stenhouse and company continued to make adjustments to get them in the ballpark with Harvick and then took advantage on a restart with four laps to go.
“I don’t think you can save anything to surprise him, they were fast,” said Stenhouse of Harvick. “But I knew if I got a good restart I could hang on his outside and slow him up enough to give ourselves a shot at it. It was probably our best restart all-night and just nailed it. Was able to hang on the outside of him and slowed him down he gave us the top, he wanted the bottom.
“And then the 22 [Brad Keselowski] gave us a good push down the front straightaway and Kevin gave us the top again and didn’t slow our momentum up. Definitely paid off for us but I really felt like we were going to run that restart and I was going to try to get to second and hang on. But when we got the good restart I went for it.”
Never giving up. Stenhouse showed the same strength at March in Las Vegas. That day it was veteran Mark Martin with the upper hand as Stenhouse repeatedly told his team he wasn’t comfortable with the car. They worked and worked on it, then Stenhouse, again on a restart, pulled away from Martin and led the final laps.
After the checkered flag the team told him that’s why you never give up and on Saturday at Atlanta they were screaming it over the radio. That’s why you never give up, they said, it’s never over until it’s over.
“It was just really nice to be able to rely on your driver,” said Kelley. “We didn’t have the best car. I’m not gonna sit up here and tell you we did. I think we made gains on our car during the night, but when it came down to the end that was Ricky Stenhouse willing himself to a win and he carried our team to Victory Lane tonight.”
The win, sixth of his career and first at Atlanta, was the fourth of the season for Stenhouse, tying with Elliott Sadler for the most on the season. Joey Logano, a full-time Cup Series driver, is ineligible for points but has won six races this year. Stenhouse admits that he may have stolen Saturday’s race, but says he doesn’t feel all that bad because plenty have been stolen from him.
He gladly takes the bonus points toward the championship. Another place Stenhouse and his team aren’t giving up. After three straight races in May where they finished outside the top 25 they fell from the point lead. He’s now back up to second after earning nine top nine finishes in the last 11 races, with his worst finish being 12th. It brings him back to within 12 points of Sadler heading into Richmond.
Stenhouse is looking to become just the sixth driver in NNS history to win back-to-back championships. He moves to the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2013 for Roush but right now, with nine NNS races left, feels he has the momentum for a great fight to the finish.
“I think all of the race tracks that we have left are ones that we run really strong on, but the problem is the 2 [Sadler] runs really strong on them as well, so I don’t think either one of us really has an advantage as far as the race tracks go,” said Stenhouse. “They’ve got great equipment. We’ve got great equipment and it’s just gonna be who doesn’t make as many mistakes.
“We’ve got to make sure we do our job on pit road. I’ve got to do my job on the track and we just have to keep everything together and double check everything that we do because it’s gonna be a tough battle.”
