NASCAR: Five dark horse drivers who could win at Bristol
By Asher Fair
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Roush Fenway Racing, No. 17 Ford
As mentioned in the previous slide about Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is one of only two active drivers whose Bristol track finishing averages are better than Earnhardt Jr.’s, so look for him to be a contender who not many people expect to see rise to the top of the leaderboard.
While he has won two races so far this season, Stenhouse Jr. is definitely a dark horse driver as opposed to a perennial favorite. Despite having won two races so far this season, he still sits in just 18th place in the championship standings, which is higher than just two drivers who have won one race in 2017.
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Both of Stenhouse Jr.’s career victories (both this season) came at restrictor plate tracks, and therefore many people have written off Stenhouse Jr. as a driver who can’t contend, for lack of a better term, on a “real” race track. Keep in mind, Kyle Busch made his “real” race track comment after Stenhouse Jr.’s maiden Cup Series victory at Talladega, so it all checks out.
What not many people know is that Stenhouse Jr. has had a very successful history at Bristol. His track finishing average trails only Chase Elliott’s among active drivers, and Stenhouse Jr. has driven three times as many Bristol races as Elliott, giving him a much larger sample size to look at.
Stenhouse Jr. finished in 9th place at Bristol earlier this season , and also has finishes of 2nd, 2nd, 4th and 6th place at the track in his nine races there. He could, without a doubt, surprise some people this weekend.