Ricky Stenhouse Jr. bemoans early Daytona exit after Stage 1 chaos: "Really aggressive racing there"

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ended his race at Saturday's NASCAR Cup Coke Zero Sugar 400 early when he was caught in a wreck at Daytona International Speedway.

Stage 1 saw the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet driver be among a number of cars that were collected in a crash on lap 27. Through contact between Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch, the three-wide clash triggered a massive wreck at the front of the field.

Wallace, driving high, received a bump draft from Kyle Larson behind him. This upset pushed his car downwards, triggering the chain reaction. Alex Bowman, Austin Cindric, and several other playoff contenders were involved.

Stenhouse, trying to push up the pack at this point, had his day come to an end as he was collected in the chaos.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., JTG Daugherty Racing

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Finishing 35th, he was disappointed after a race that could have yielded a strong performance from the driver.

"I couldn't really see anything. I got hit from about every direction after it happened. The No. 5 [Kyle Larson] got to the outside of the No. 22 [Joey Logano], which then in-turn, I think it put that row four-wide. I'm not sure what happened between the No. 22 and the No. 23 [Wallace]. It was just really aggressive racing there," Stenhouse explained.

"Our plan was to put our No. 47 Jack Link's Duos Chevrolet towards the front and be at the front as much as possible. We got there, and I was in the position that I wanted to be in. I felt like we were going to get into Turn 1 in probably fifth or sixth place there and try to finish the stage out, but it didn't happen."

Despite the disappointing end to his Daytona campaign, he's confident in his Chevrolet.

"Our No. 47 Jack Link's Duos felt really good. I was really stable. I felt like I had a little bit more speed, which was something I was excited about. I felt like I put my Chevy in a lot of good spots, and we went from the back to the front like we normally do."