Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

**Richard Lynn "Ricky" Stenhouse Jr.** (born October 2, 1987) is an American racecar driver. He currently drives in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 17 Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing. He has won the Nationwide Series championship in 2010 and 2011, and has been Rookie of the Year in both the Monster Energy Cup and Nationwide Series.

### Early years

Stenhouse started racing when he was six, driving go-karts. He later moved in to sprint car racing, being named Rookie of the Year in a sprint car series in 2007. He also raced for former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart in 2007. Stenhouse signed a contract with NASCAR team Roush Fenway Racing in 2007, running in the ARCA Racing Series in 2008. In only his sixth stock car race, Stenhouse won for the first time at Kentucky Speedway. He won another race at Pocono Raceway and was running for the championship with Scott Speed before he and Speed crashed twice in the race so that both of them wouldn't win the championship.

### NASCAR

After running in the ARCA series, Stenhouse drove for Roush Fenway Racing in seven Nationwide Series races in 2009 with Greg Biffle, Colin Braun and Jamie McMurray completing the schedule. He qualified first at Iowa Speedway and ran all of the races in 2010, winning the Rookie of the Year award. The following year, he won the championship. He won the championship again in 2012. After the final race of 2012, Stenhouse was disappointed because he didn't win the race.

Stenhouse made his first Sprint Cup start in 2011, driving in place of Trevor Bayne at Wood Brothers Racing. He did not run another race until the next year, when he ran four races for Roush Fenway Racing.

He ran all of the races in 2013, winning the series' Rookie of the Year award. He came back for a full season the following year but did not qualify for one race due to a new way of qualifying. In 2015, Stenhouse had some sponsorship problems, leading to a 25th-place finish in the point standings. His performance went along with the team not doing as well as before. The following year, Stenhouse finished a career-best second at Bristol Motor Speedway; however, his crew chief was suspended the following week for a steering wheel problem. Overall, it was the best year of his Cup career.

Stenhouse finally broke through to Victory Lane in the Cup Series in 2017, winning at Talladega Superspeedway in his 158th career start. A couple months later, he won again, this time at Daytona International Speedway. Both of his wins came on restrictor plate tracks. He also made the NASCAR Playoffs for the first time, making it through the Round of 16 before being cut in the Round of 12.

## Personal life

Stenhouse started dating another NASCAR driver, Danica Patrick, in 2013. The two split in late 2017.

## Infobox (nascar driver)

- **name**: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- **image**: TSM350 - 2015 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr - Stierch.jpg
- **caption**: Stenhouse at the 2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350
- **birth name**: Richard Lynn Stenhouse Jr.
- **birth place**: Memphis, Tennessee
- **achievements**: 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series, 2011, 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion
2017 GEICO 500 winner
2017 Coke Zero 400 winner
- **awards**: 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Year
2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year
- **total cup races**: 184
- **years in cup**: 8
- **cup car team**: No. 17 (Roush Fenway Racing)
- **prev cup pos**: 13th
- **previous year**: 2017
- **best cup pos**: 13th (2017 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series, 2017)
- **first cup race**: 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, 2011 2011 Coca-Cola 600, Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte Motor Speedway, Charlotte)
- **first cup win**: 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, 2017 2017 GEICO 500, GEICO 500 (Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega)
- **last cup win**: 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, 2017 2017 Coke Zero 400, Coke Zero 400 (Daytona International Speedway, Daytona)
- **cup wins**: 2
- **cup top tens**: 26
- **cup poles**: 2
- **total nationwide races**: 108
- **years in nationwide**: 6
- **prev nationwide pos**: 99th
- **prev nationwide year**: 2016
- **best nationwide pos**: 1st (2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series, 2011, 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series, 2012)
- **first nationwide race**: 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series, 2009 Nashville 300 (Nashville Superspeedway, Nashville)
- **last nationwide race**: 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series, 2016 Ticket Galaxy 200 (Phoenix International Raceway, Phoenix)
- **first nationwide win**: 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series, 2011 John Deere Dealers 250 (Iowa Speedway, Iowa)
- **last nationwide win**: 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series, 2012 Kansas Lottery 300 (Kansas Speedway, Kansas)
- **nationwide wins**: 8
- **nationwide top tens**: 63
- **nationwide poles**: 8
- **updated**: November 19, 2017