Top-Five Most Insane Road Course Ringer Performances

This week at the Glen, we’re bringing over ringers like Josh Bilicki, Legge, Preston Pardus, Kaz Grala, Austin Green, Austin J. Hill, William Lambros, and Wesley Slimp, all making the trip for the weekend in New York State. You’re about to see that 1 of them could make history this weekend!

P.J. Jones at Watkins Glen in 2002

A.J. Foyt Racing came into the 2002 Watkins Glen unstable and struggling. They had fired Stacy Compton a few weeks before, after he had been averaging a finish below 30 and had even failed to qualify for Sonoma. And replacement driver Mike Wallace‘s last two finishes were 39th and 43rd. But based on PJ Jones’ performance alone, you would swear they were a team ready to win races.

Starting in 14th, the former CART driver turned ringer quickly charged up front and stayed there for the rest of the day. Getting into a legendary battle with Tony Stewart and fellow ringer Scott Pruett after a late restart, which would result in him finishing 4th for AJ Foyt’s only Cup Series top 5 of the 2000s before shutting down.

  Jacques Villeneuve at Montreal in 2012

Villeneuve, the ex-F1 world champion, would be a ringer at the 2012 race in Montreal. And you could feel the love once the #22, who started third, went by teammate Hornish for the lead, and the crowd lit up with cheers and even honks. Danica Patrick, however, looking for her first-ever win, after the first caution, took the lead and began to pull away from the field. Villeneuve started to close in, however, and Danica would become the first-ever driver in NASCAR history to run into a shoe that had been thrown on a track. Causing damage that allowed the 22 to dive past her and take the lead.

On a restart with 11 to go, another Canadian ringer, Turner-Scott’s Alex Tagliani, slammed into the 22’s door, forcing himself into the lead. A move Villeneuve did not like. He showed this by turning him on purpose 3 laps later to get back the lead. On the final restart, another Turner-Scott driver, Justin Allgaier, was in charge, passing Sadler for 2nd, then Allgaier bumped the 22 out of the way on the last lap, causing the Canadian to finish 3rd and be robbed of a win in front of his home fans. He was upset by something as he tried to stop Allgaier’s burnout, but then the 3rd TSR driver, Brad Sweet, stopped him.

Kevin O’Connell at Road America in 2014

Some remember when Cody Ware almost won at Daytona when the rain washed away most of the field, but that wasn’t the only race RWR almost won. Kevin O’Connell was a former sports car driver and experienced ringer by the time he signed with RWR for two races in 2014. He qualified 26th for Road America, which looked like business as usual. But he slowly made his way through the field and by the end got involved in the last-lap battle between Gaughan, Chase Elliott, and Tagliani, finishing 3rd for RWR’s only Nationwide Series top 5 ever.

 Ron Follows at Watkins Glen in 1998

The road course ringer—this was Ron Follows’ breakout performance. Fellows is a Trans-Am and GT driver at this point. Driving as a ringer for NEMCO, Fellows started 2nd for the day; he took the lead on lap 1 and dominated. Leading the most laps with 54, and after passing Dale Jr. with 15 to go, he took his 1st of 4 career Busch Series wins.

 Shane van Gisbergen at Chicago in 2023

Because what else could it be? Not many NASCAR fans had heard of the multi-time V8 Supercars and Bathurst 1000 champion when he was announced to be Trackhouse’s next Project 91 driver. He caught the eyes of many in his debut when he qualified 3rd for NASCAR’s first-ever street course race. He stayed in the top 5 for most of the race, even producing 73 top 15 laps and 21 quality passes to stay upfront. Eventually, on the final restart, with one of the most beautiful crossover moves I’ve ever seen, he passed Haley for the lead and became the first driver since 1950 to win in his debut. Going from ringer to full-time driver!