Daytona 500 win is among many things that makes JTG Daugherty crew member unique

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Nicholas Patterson stands out, though, it’s not because of his height or his strength, key elements to be a jackman on a NASCAR pit crew, but for what he’s done.

When Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won Sunday night’s Daytona 500, it marked the second time in the last three years Patterson had been on the winning team in NASCAR’s biggest race.

He is the only Cup road crew member or pit crew member who can claim that honor over the past three years. 

But that’s only part of what makes Patterson unique.

Stenhouse’s win came on one of the most special days for Patterson. Sunday was the anniversary of his adoption. His dad and uncle were in the stands Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.

Patterson doesn’t know his birth parents. All he knows about his birth mother is that she was tall, blonde and had blue eyes. 

“I’m tall and I was blond until I was about 10 or 11,” Patterson told NBC Sports. “Then I got brown hair.”

He thinks she was 19 when she had him. The father was out of the picture at the time.

“It was too expensive to keep a kid at that point,” Patterson says. “So, she had me put up for adoption. But she had to show up at a court date. That’s the only reason that I know what she looked like. I don’t know what he looked like.”

The couple that adopted Patterson in the U.S., had an International family. 

“I guess we were enjoyable enough as kids that they wanted to get some more,” Patterson said of he and his sister. “So (his parents) went back over and got a boy from Russia. They came back and they wanted some more. So they went over and got another girl from Russia. They came back and they wanted some more, so they got two more.”

It was his sister, the one he’s 11 days older than, that got him into