Journal #35: Bet On Ricky

​It has been several weeks since I last wrote about JTG Daugherty Racing and the #47 car. In the last article I put out on the team, they were coming off their fifth finish below 25th in a row in Martinsville. After the Bristol and Talladega finish, I decided not to write anything because it honestly just became repetitive. I have always said I will not write anything unless it is something I'm genuinely interested in and passionate about. Going eight races in a row outside of the Top-20, I won't lie, made me lose interest in the team. I still engaged with JTG Daugherty's Twitter page, but that's it. ​

After the team's second-place finish in Dover, my ears started to perk back up, and I will shamefully admit, I did not watch or even keep up with that race. My mistake. But Darlington, one of my favorite races, was coming up. Too Tough To Tame. At the time, I was in Tennessee, and do you know what's legal in Tennessee? Online sports betting. 

I'm not going to sit here and tell you to go sports betting on every game you're interested in, but what I will say is that if a Sportsbook app is offering a $10 promotional deal to get you to sign up, you take it, bet on some easy bets, and ride that wave for as long as you can. I had roughly $18 I was able to bet on for this race. 

I put $5 down on Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, and Chase Elliott. Payouts ranged between $30 and $65. So I figured betting on those three would keep me on my toes for the entirety of the race. Kyle Busch, of course, was the one that made me regret everything. First, he wrecked Kyle Larson, then he wrecked and left his car on pit road. I will never bet on him again. He had his shot at making me a fan, and he blew it by being a crybaby, as per usual. 

Things got interesting when I put $3 down on Ricky Stenhouse to win the race with a potential payout of $303. Then, when he was running in the Top-10 in the last stage of the race, I got excited. Though it was unlikely he would win it all, it did make those last few laps far more interesting. Chase Elliott finished in the Top-5, so maybe next go around, I'll bet on my drivers to finish in the Top-10 instead of winning the whole thing. 

I was unfortunately not able to watch the Kansas race since I was driving from Oak Island, NC, to Cullowhee, NC. Ironically, that drive is only 13 miles more than the race on Sunday. It just took way longer. My fiancee and I had stopped at a rest stop west of Columbia, SC when I checked in to see how Stenhouse was doing, and much to my surprise, he was racing well for having started in 36th. I was beyond excited when I checked the results and saw he had finished in the Top-10 for the third time in a row! 

As per JTG Daugherty Racing's Twitter page, everything has been coming together for the team. Good car, good driver, and minimal mistakes. It's good to see Harrisburg's team doing well, and hopefully, they can keep up this momentum heading into the Coca-Cola 600 in two weeks, which I will be there. We have nothing but the Texas All-Star weekend before racing returns to Concord!