Editor‘s Note: Today‘s JTG Daugherty Racing preview continues NASCAR.com‘s countdown of team previews for the 2023 Cup Series season, ranked in reverse order of best finish in last year‘s owner standings.
JTG DAUGHERTY RACING
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Engine: Hendrick Motorsports
Driver-crew chief pairings: Ricky Stenhouse-Mike Kelley (No. 47)
RELATED: Mike Kelley named crew chief of N0. 47 for 2023
Team outlook: This will be the third year that JTG Daugherty will field just one car in the NASCAR Cup Series, again to be driven by veteran Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who appears to really have found a home with the organization, even if it isn‘t that successful overall. Without a second car to trade data with or an affiliation with a NASCAR Xfinity Series team, there‘s little the team can do to improve its lot in 2023. Stenhouse will have a new crew chief in veteran Mike Kelley, and they are not strangers to each other. They paired together for consecutive Xfinity Series championships in 2011 and 2012, and again in 2014 when Stenhouse recorded one top-five finish and five top 10s that season in the Cup Series with Kelley atop the pit box.
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 CHEVROLET
Experience: 11th full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series.
2022 stats: 26th in final standings (second worst season finish in his Cup career); 0 wins, 1 top five, 5 top 10s
2023 championship odds (BetMGM): 350-1
Outlook: Once again, the odds are long for Stenhouse to make the playoffs, let alone to win the championship. The only year he made the playoffs in his Cup career was 2017, when he finished 13th; also the same year that Stenhouse recorded both of his two career Cup wins. Since then, the Mississippi native has finished 18th (2018), 23rd (2019), 24th (2020), 22nd (2021) and 26th (2022).
Stenhouse has shown he has the ability to come up with the occasional big finish — like 2nd at Dover Motor Speedway last season, 2nd on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2021 and also runner-up at Talladega Superspeedway in spring 2020 — but unfortunately those big finishes are too few and far between. Without a second car and driver to share data with, Stenhouse is a one-man band, so to speak. It‘s likely to be a season of more of the same from Stenhouse, once again falling short of the playoffs and likely finishing somewhere between 20th and 30th in the final standings.
MORE: 2023 Cup championship odds
NASCAR.com 2023 team previews schedule
Jan. 23: Non-chartered and teams outside the top 30
Jan. 24: Spire Motorsports
Jan. 25: Wood Brothers Racing
Jan. 26: JTG Daugherty Racing
Jan. 27: Front Row Motorsports
Jan. 30: Kaulig Racing
Jan. 31: RFK Racing
Feb. 1: Legacy Motor Club
Feb. 2: Richard Childress Racing
Feb. 7: 23XI Racing
Feb. 8: Stewart-Haas Racing
Feb. 9: Joe Gibbs Racing
Feb. 10: Hendrick Motorsports
Feb. 13: Trackhouse Racing
Feb. 14: Team Penske
