Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Stenhouse at the 2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350
Born	Richard Lynn Stenhouse Jr. (1987-10-02) October 2, 1987 Memphis, Tennessee
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	165 lb (75 kg)
Achievements	2011, 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion 2017 GEICO 500 winner 2017 Coke Zero 400 winner
Awards	2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
183 races run over 7 years
Car no., team	No. 17 (Roush Fenway Racing)
2017 position	13th
Best finish	13th (2017)
First race	2011 Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte)
Last race	2017 Ford EcoBoost 400 (Homestead)
First win	2017 GEICO 500 (Talladega)
Last win	2017 Coke Zero 400 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles 2 26 2
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
108 races run over 6 years
2016 position	99th
Best finish	1st (2011, 2012)
First race	2009 Nashville 300 (Nashville)
Last race	2016 Ticket Galaxy 200 (Phoenix)
First win	2011 John Deere Dealers 250 (Iowa)
Last win	2012 Kansas Lottery 300 (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles 8 63 8
Statistics current as of November 19, 2017.

Richard Lynn "Ricky" Stenhouse Jr. (born October 2, 1987) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 17 Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse was the 2010 Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year, and won back-to-back Nationwide Series championships in 2011 and 2012. Stenhouse was the 2013 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year.

Racing career

Early career

Stenhouse began kart racing at the age of six, and acquired 47 wins and 90 podium finishes by the time he moved into sprint car racing in 2003.

Beginning his sprint car racing career in 360 cubic inch winged sprint cars, he won the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Driver Poll and Dirt Winged Sprint Car Rookie of the Year in 2003. He began racing in the USAC sprint car series in 2004, and in 2006 won National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Driver Poll Wild Card in both the 360 and 410 winged sprint car divisions. Stenhouse won dual Rookie of the Year honors in the United States Auto Club sprint car (finished 6th in the standings) and midget (finished 3rd in the standings) series in 2007.

In 2008, he began his major-league stock car racing career in the ARCA Racing Series, driving for Roush Fenway Racing. On May 10, 2008, in only his sixth race in a stock car, Stenhouse won his first ARCA RE/MAX Series event at the Drive Smart! Buckle Up Kentucky 150 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. He had two wins in 21 races and finished fourth in the season ranking as a rookie.

NASCAR

2009–2012

Stenhouse's 2009 Nationwide Series car at the Milwaukee Mile

In 2009, Stenhouse began competing in partial schedule in the Nationwide Series at events that conflicted with the Sprint Cup schedule. He had his first Top 10 finish at Kentucky Speedway when he finished ninth. At the following race in Milwaukee, he led 46 laps in the later stages of the race and finished fifth.

2010 started out in horrible fashion for Stenhouse, but he showed signs of life as the year went on. After crashing out of four out of the first ten races of the season (and crashing in practice, too), Stenhouse was replaced by Brian Ickler for three races and Billy Johnson drove at Watkins Glen. After taking on veteran Mike Kelley as crew chief, Stenhouse immediately responded with a third-place finish at Daytona. He proceeded to take seven top tens and was locked in a tight battle for Rookie of the Year (ROTY) with Brian Scott. With Scott struggling after his release from Turner Motorsports, Stenhouse took the ROTY award after a fourth-place finish at Homestead.

2011 Nationwide championship car at Road America

On May 22, 2011, Stenhouse held off charges from Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski for the final 18 laps to claim his first win in the John Deere Dealers 250 at Iowa Speedway, his 51st start in the Nationwide Series.

Stenhouse made his Sprint Cup Series debut at the 2011 Coca-Cola 600 substituting for fellow Roush teammate Trevor Bayne. Stenhouse finished 11th in the Wood Brothers Racing entry.

Stenhouse had dominated the Kroger 200 Nationwide Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway before being passed by Brad Keselowski late in the race. Stenhouse took his second Nationwide win at Iowa in August, again holding off teammate Carl Edwards, but in a more bizarre fashion as Stenhouse's engine blew coming off of turn 4. Edwards subsequently rear ended his teammate, pushing him across the line to the win.

At the end of the 2011 season, having scored sixteen top-five finishes, Stenhouse won the Nationwide Series championship by 45 points over Elliott Sadler.

2012 Nationwide car

Stenhouse drove the No. 6 Sprint Cup Series car for Roush Fenway Racing in the 2012 Daytona 500, finishing 20th.

In the Nationwide Series the previous day, Stenhouse had been caught up in a 10-car wreck on the final lap of the series' season-opening event; a week later he finished 3rd at Phoenix, while a week after that Stenhouse won his first race of 2012 at Las Vegas, winning the Sam's Town 300, holding off Mark Martin to take the checkered flag; he would win races at Texas Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway before suffering a run of bad luck starting at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Stenhouse would score 3 more victories at Atlanta, Charlotte, and Kansas. He once again held off Sadler to take his second consecutive Nationwide Series championship.

2013–2015

On June 26, 2012, Roush Fenway Racing announced that Stenhouse will drive the No. 17 car in the Sprint Cup Series full-time for 2013, replacing Matt Kenseth. Trevor Bayne is expected to replace Stenhouse in the Nationwide No. 6 car for 2013.

Stenhouse during practice for the 2013 NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway

Stenhouse competing in the 2013 STP Gas Booster 500 at Martinsville Speedway

To prepare for the 2013 season, Stenhouse ran in the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway where he finished 12th, the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway where he finished 35th because of engine problems; but he was running near the front of the field. He also ran in the season finale Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in which bad luck struck again as he cut a tire and smacked the wall, similar to what happened to Marcos Ambrose two races before, in Texas. In all of these races he ran in the No. 6 car of Roush Fenway Racing sponsored by Cargill, Best Buy, and Fifth Third Bank respectively.

In 2013, Stenhouse competed full-time in the No. 17 Ford Fusion in the Sprint Cup Series. He was paired with rookie crew chief Scott Graves, who was formerly an engineer for Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse placed 12th in his second Daytona 500 (his first with the No. 17 team) despite suffering crash damage on lap 134. Stenhouse led his first lap of Sprint Cup competition at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Later in the season Stenhouse had his breakout race at Kansas, where he qualified third and led 26 laps, before finishing 11th. In qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Stenhouse won the pole position with a 29.227 lap time. Stenhouse recorded his first top ten finish with a 10th-place finish at Richmond, followed by an eighth-place finish at Chicagoland. His best finish of the season was a third-place finish at Talladega behind Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Stenhouse was eventually named Cup Series Rookie of the Year.

In 2014, both Stenhouse and Roush-Fenway suffered though a dismal season. Stenhouse's best finish was a second place showing at Bristol in the spring, a race won by teammate Carl Edwards, one of the few impressive showings by Roush in 2014. Stenhouse failed to qualify at Talladega in October and finished 27th in points.

After a slow start in 2015, Stenhouse nearly won the Food City 500 where he came home in 4th. After a weak summer, he had a consistent runs of 15th or better in 6 of the last 10 races, including two top 10s at Dover and Talladega. After poor performances at Martinsville and Phoenix where he was as high as 22nd in the points, he fell down to 25th at season's ending.

2016–present

Stenhouse Jr. racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2015

Stenhouse got off to a better start in 2016 than 2015 including a Top 10 run in Atlanta. He got his next Top 10 at Fontana, in 2015 It took 29 races to get two Top 10's in the year, it took 5 in 2016. On March 1, his team announced that Sunny D would be his sponsor in select Cup and Xfinity Series races. On August 21, 2016, Stenhouse recorded a then-career-best 2nd-place finish in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

After a gamble to stay out, Stenhouse restarted 2nd with two to go at Phoenix on the Green White Checkered. He stacked up the line and caused Ryan Newman to cruise away to the finish. After a flat tire early on at Richmond he rebounded to finish 4th. At Talladega's 2017 GEICO 500, Stenhouse won his second career Cup Series pole and his first since the 2013 Cup Series season. It was also RFR's first pole of the 2017 season. Stenhouse led the opening laps and then stayed mid-pack for the rest of the race. After Stenhouse avoided an 18-car pileup he found himself in second place chasing Kyle Busch. After the final restart, Stenhouse passed Busch on the final lap for the win. It was his first Cup Series win, while RFR snapped its 101-race winless drought, dating back to Carl Edwards' victory in the 2014 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Stenhouse later picked up his second victory of the year at Daytona in July, passing David Ragan with two to go, further solidifying his spot in the 2017 Playoffs. In the Playoffs, at Chicago he had a rough showing with a not so strong car and commitment line penalty which he ended up in 25th. In the next race at New Hampshire he hit the wall on Lap 3 but recovered to finish 15th on the lead lap to tie Austin Dillon on points for the last spot. At Dover in the elimination race, he struggled early starting in 14th, falling back to 23th and off the lead lap but took a risk of staying on the lead lap and getting a caution while in third place and finished 4th in Stage 1 getting 7 Stage Points. He would not earn any Stage Points in Stage 2, but finished 19th while Ryan Newman finished 13th which proved enough for Stenhouse Jr. as he finished above Newman by 2 points for the last playoff spot in the Round of 12 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. Stenhouse was eliminated in the second round after failing to perform well enough in the races.

Sprint car and midget racing

Outside of NASCAR, Stenhouse is a car owner and part-time competitor in sprint car and midget racing. In 2012, he formed Stenhouse Jr. Racing and fielded the #41 car for Jason Johnson in the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS). In 2017, he partnered with Matt Wood to form Stenhouse Jr.-Wood Racing and fielded the #17w car for driver Joey Saldana in the World of Outlaws sprint car series.

After his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega in May 2017, Stenhouse became one of only eight drivers to have won in the NASCAR Cup Series as well as in the USAC Silver Crown, National Sprint Car, and National Midget series, joining Mario Andretti, A. J. Foyt, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman, Ken Schrader, and Tony Stewart.

Personal life

Stenhouse was born in Memphis, Tennessee and was raised in Olive Branch, Mississippi. He is the first Mississippian driver to attempt a full-time schedule since Lake Speed in 1997. He started out on dirt then made a transition to stock cars in 2008.

Stenhouse is a huge Ole Miss Rebels football fan. In 2014, he led the Rebels onto the field before the annual Egg Bowl game versus in-state rival Mississippi State.

Stenhouse is a devout Baptist.

Stenhouse was in a relationship with Danica Patrick from November 2012 to December 2017.

In media

In 2016, Stenhouse competed on the show American Ninja Warrior that first aired on June 13; he did not make it past the second obstacle.

In June 2017, Stenhouse was a pit reporter for the Fox NASCAR broadcast of the Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway. A Cup drivers-only coverage, he worked alongside Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Monster Energy Cup Series

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	MENCC	Pts
2011	Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT 11	KAN	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	54th	01
2012	Roush Fenway Racing	6	Ford	DAY 20	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	KAN	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	KEN	DAY	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV 12	TAL	CLT 35	KAN	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM 39	61st	01
2013		17		DAY 12	PHO 16	LVS 18	BRI 16	CAL 20	MAR 25	TEX 40	KAN 11	RCH 16	TAL 13	DAR 18	CLT 14	DOV 13	POC 26	MCH 16	SON 27	KEN 17	DAY 11	NHA 34	IND 25	POC 34	GLN 18	MCH 19	BRI 18	ATL 16	RCH 10	CHI 8	NHA 24	DOV 17	KAN 30	CLT 13	TAL 3	MAR 31	TEX 16	PHO 12	HOM 22	19th	909
2014				DAY 7	PHO 18	LVS 27	BRI 2	CAL 34	MAR 40	TEX 26	DAR 20	RCH 38	TAL 10	KAN 22	CLT 26	DOV 41	POC 15	MCH 27	SON 31	KEN 25	DAY 41	NHA 9	IND 24	POC 18	GLN 20	MCH 15	BRI 6	ATL 20	RCH 26	CHI 17	NHA 39	DOV 19	KAN 19	CLT 24	TAL DNQ	MAR 15	TEX 23	PHO 17	HOM 22	27th	757
2015				DAY 29	ATL 36	LVS 29	PHO 12	CAL 15	MAR 40	TEX 15	BRI 4	RCH 28	TAL 26	KAN 24	CLT 37	DOV 37	POC 42	MCH 25	SON 20	DAY 19	KEN 11	NHA 17	IND 35	POC 41	GLN 34	MCH 26	BRI 21	DAR 38	RCH 16	CHI 18	NHA 13	DOV 8	CLT 14	KAN 13	TAL 9	MAR 39	TEX 21	PHO 41	HOM 22	25th	712
2016				DAY 22	ATL 10	LVS 12	PHO 37	CAL 5	MAR 32	TEX 16	BRI 16	RCH 26	TAL 16	KAN 13	DOV 14	CLT 15	POC 15	MCH 29	SON 26	DAY 5	KEN 40	NHA 10	IND 12	POC 18	GLN 38	BRI 2	MCH 27	DAR 18	RCH 18	CHI 25	NHA 24	DOV 11	CLT 20	KAN 19	TAL 5	MAR 40	TEX 16	PHO 23	HOM 30	21st	772
2017				DAY 31	ATL 13	LVS 33	PHO 4	CAL 22	MAR 10	TEX 14	BRI 9	RCH 4	TAL 1	KAN 11	CLT 15	DOV 39	POC 11	MCH 8	SON 38	DAY 1	KEN 14	NHA 14	IND 35	POC 16	GLN 20	MCH 18	BRI 14	DAR 29	RCH 19	CHI 25	NHA 15	DOV 19	CLT 13	TAL 26	KAN 29	MAR 10	TEX 12	PHO 8	HOM 15	13th	2222
2018				DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	MAR	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	DOV	KAN	CLT	POC	MCH	SON	CHI	DAY	KEN	NHA	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	IND	LVS	RCH	DOV	CLT	TAL	KAN	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
2012	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	20	20
2013			28	12
2014			34	7
2015			32	29
2016			19	22
2017			23	31
2018			9

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NXSC	Pts
2009	Roush Fenway Racing	16	Ford	DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	TEX	NSH 23	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH 32	KEN 9	MLW 5	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY 30	IRP QL†	IOW 22	GLN	MCH 19	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CAL		MEM QL†	TEX	PHO	HOM	62nd	677
		17																																CLT 40
2010		6		DAY 36	CAL 39	LVS 30	BRI 25	NSH 31	PHO 9	TEX 29	TAL 29	RCH 20	DAR 37	DOV 18	CLT 40	NSH DNQ	KEN	ROA 26	NHA 16	DAY 3	CHI 19	GTY 9	IRP 11	IOW 14	GLN	MCH 13	BRI 22	CGV 24	ATL 10	RCH 4	DOV 11	KAN 6	CAL 29	CLT 14	GTY 23	TEX 11	PHO 9	HOM 4	16th	3419
2011				DAY 8	PHO 7	LVS 8	BRI 14	CAL 4	TEX 8	TAL 38	NSH 5	RCH 21	DAR 10	DOV 4	IOW 1	CLT 4	CHI 14	MCH 2	ROA 8	DAY 27	KEN 9	NHA 4	NSH 2	IRP 3*	IOW 1	GLN 15	CGV 26	BRI 11	ATL 3	RCH 3	CHI 8	DOV 5	KAN 5	CLT 9	TEX 6	PHO 5	HOM 2		1st	1222
2012				DAY 19	PHO 3	LVS 1*	BRI 6	CAL 2	TEX 1	RCH 4	TAL 3	DAR 6	IOW 1*	CLT 26	DOV 32	MCH 25	ROA 11	KEN 8	DAY 2	NHA 5	CHI 2*	IND 9	IOW 5	GLN 4	CGV 12	BRI 2	ATL 1	RCH 2	CHI 1	KEN 17	DOV 9	CLT 7	KAN 1	TEX 4	PHO 3	HOM 6			1st	1251
2013		16		DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	IOW	MCH	ROA	KEN	DAY	NHA	CHI	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	KAN	CLT	TEX 17	PHO	HOM			115th	01
2016	Roush Fenway Racing	60	Ford	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	DOV	CLT	POC	MCH	IOW	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ROA	DAR	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO 3	HOM			99th	01
† - Qualified for Matt Kenseth

K&N Pro Series West

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Pts	Ref
2014	Bill McAnally	99	Ford	PHO	IRW	S99	IOW	KCR	SON 4	SLS	CNS	IOW	EVG	KCR	MMP	AAS	PHO	52nd	40

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	ARMC	Pts
2008	Roush Fenway Racing	99	Ford	DAY 25	SLM 6	IOW 19	KAN 2	CAR 3	KEN 1	TOL 7	POC 1*	MCH 2	CAY 3*	KEN 13	BLN 7	POC 30	NSH 7	ISF 2	DSF 5	CHI 2*	SLM 17	NJE 2	TAL 28	TOL 25	4th	5155

External links

• Official website
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• RoushFenway.com article on first ARCA win

Sporting positions
Preceded by Brad Keselowski	NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion 2011, 2012	Succeeded by Austin Dillon
Achievements
Preceded by Justin Allgaier	NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year 2010	Succeeded by Timmy Hill
Preceded by Stephen Leicht	NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year 2013	Succeeded by Kyle Larson