Daytona 500 champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr disappointed after losing pit crew to RFK Racing

Daytona 500 champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s #47 pit crew has been recalled to service the #17 Ford of Chris Buescher. RFK Racing has decided to swap the pit crew of the two teams after the #47 crew performed extremely well at Martinsville Raceway.

JTG Daugherty Racing leases its pit crew from RFK Racing as it doesn't maintain or train its own pit crew. This gives RFK Racing the power to swap the two teams' pit crews accordingly when they wish. The team made the move before heading into the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

The #47 crew has been performing well since the season opener. The team clinched the Daytona 500, hence booking their spot in the playoffs. However, they won't be present to service Stenhouse's car as they will be RFK Racing for the rest of the year.

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr. expressed his disappointment on SiriusXM NASCAR radio:

"When you’re a team that is a customer of somebody else’s, I get that things like that happen. For us, we were basically told we had our pit crew, our pit crew was ours and we would have them for the year. And then our guys performed the best on pit road last week and they called and said 'Hey, we’re going to change them, we’re taking them.'"

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remains confident that the new pit crew can produce the same results working under crew chief Mike Kelley.

"One of the reasons our guys are good, they enjoy working for Mike Kelley and our team. I know Mike will take these other guys and get them pumped up and ready to go and I feel that Mike gets a little bit more out of them than other people do."

While the entire pit crew switches to the #17 team, the gasman stays with the #47 car and will join the new team. The crew will be put to the test at Talladega Superspeedway, where it is important to remain in sync with other Chevrolet cars to stay in the draft.

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How has Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s season unfolded after the Daytona victory

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr. currently occupies the 13th place in the drivers' standings, having qualified for the playoffs. He has two top-fives and four top-10 finishes.

Stenhouse Jr. has finished inside the top 10 in the previous two races with a fourth-place finish in Bristol followed by an eighth-place finish in Martinsville. The 35-year-old will be hoping for consistent results throughout the season, in case 16 different winners emerge before the playoffs.

The JTG Daugherty Racing driver is ahead of Chris Buescher, who occupies the 16th place in the standings. Stenhouse has had a better start to the season compared to Buescher, hence the pit crew switch might be aimed at improving the #17 driver's results.