CONCORD, N.C. – The 2023 DAYTONA 500 win had its roots in the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 47 Chevrolet had an engine from Hendrick Motorsports. JTG Daugherty Racing, which is the team Stenhouse Jr. drives for, is supplied with engines by the organization that has won a record 291 NASCAR Cup Series races. In addition, there is a technical alliance between the two teams.
"There was a lot of great energy in our engine shop yesterday morning," Hendrick Motorsports director of powertrain Scott Maxim told HendrickMotorsports.com. "To have an engine from our shop win in the DAYTONA 500 is a big accomplishment. We have very much enjoyed working with JTG Daugherty Racing to be the very best we can be and doing so together.
"All the folks that make up the No. 47 racing team, for many of them this is their first win or their first win with us as engine partners. It is super special to be able to be a small part in helping to achieve that goal especially when its the DAYTONA 500. That is extremely gratifying for our engine shop."
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Besides its four Cup Series teams and JTG Daugherty, the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop also supplies engines to Spire Motorsports on the Cup side and JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In its history, the company has also supplied engines to Chip Ganassi Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing – when the latter two raced Chevrolets.
In his post-race press conference, Stenhouse Jr. as well as his crew chief Mike Kelley touched on the importance of the relationship their team has with the Rick Hendrick-owned organization.
"Rick (Hendrick) has been a great supporter of JTG Daugherty Racing in the past," Stenhouse said when talking about working with the 14-time championship-winning organization. "We’ve been using their engines. I think that’s going to be a huge help for us."
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The victory marked the eighth time that a Hendrick Motorsports engine won the DAYTONA 500.
Hendrick Motorsports engine wins in the DAYTONA 500:
2023: Stenhouse Jr. (JTG Daugherty Racing)
2014: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2013: Jimmie Johnson
2006: Johnson
2005: Jeff Gordon
1999: Gordon
1997: Gordon
1993: Dale Jarrett (Joe Gibbs Racing)
In addition to the win, the engine shop earned another DAYTONA 500 pole as Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman scored the top starting spot in Sunday’s race. The pole position marked the ninth in a row for a Hendrick Motorsports engine. The four-car organization accounts for eight of those with Stenhouse Jr. earning the other in 2020. With Kyle Larson earning the second starting spot, it marked the fifth straight front row sweep for the engine program and sixth in seven years.
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Hendrick Motorsports engine poles for the DAYTONA 500 since 2015:
2023: Bowman
2022: Larson
2021: Bowman
2020: Stenhouse Jr. (JTG Daugherty Racing)
2019: William Byron
2018: Bowman
2017: Chase Elliott
2016: Elliott
2015: Gordon
"I know how much time, effort and attention to detail goes into every little aspect from one end of the car, top to bottom, to the other," Maxim said. "The collaborative effort for us from an engine department working with our race teams to optimize everything to the best of our ability and then achieving that goal is something we are always very proud of."
Hendrick Motorsports engines have been responsible for 53 wins across the Cup and Xfinity Series since the start of the 2021 season. A pole position and a race win are just the start of what should be another fruitful and prosperous year.
"We have a special group of women and men in our engine department," Maxim said. "We are proud to start our season off with our Daytona success and we are going to use that as a springboard to be better and stronger every week in the 2023 season."