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Daytona 500 weekend is here and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is looking to write his name further into history.
Winner of the 2023 race, Stenhouse would become the 13th driver to take the Daytona 500 checkered flag twice.
After laying low for a few months after the start of the season, Stenhouse is “motivated” to return to competition.
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Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet, celebrates on victory lane after winning the 65th annual NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
“I’m ready to go. My team, we have a lot of good things working with our team, and everyone is ready to go,” Stenhouse told PK Press Club Digital in a recent interview.
Stenhouse’s victory three years ago hasn’t really changed his view of himself as a driver, but he knows the Daytona 500 is where legacy is made.
“I think it changed the way a lot of fans viewed me as a driver. I mean, any time you can put the Daytona 500 champion next to your name, that’s something we look for,” he said. “I mean, I ran my first 500 in 2012, and it took me until 2023 to mark that box. shot to win. “
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet, drives during practice for the 65th annual NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2023, in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
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Since then, Stenhouse has won just one race: the 2024 YellaWood 500 at Talladega. Winning in NASCAR, of course, isn’t easy, and it’s a constant mind game for anyone who plays the sport.
“It’s very similar to golf, because, you know, a good season is going to be two, three wins, right? You’ll have guys who jump into that five and six category, but there’s not a lot of them. You’ll see guys making a living in the top 10, right? It’s tough,” Stenhouse said. “But I think for us, Hyak and our team, we have 35 employees, we’re a small team, we kind of know our place, we know our resources, the things that we have.
“If we run in the top 15 every week, it’ll be a home run for us. But I think that’s what keeps us motivated, keeps us going, keeps us from getting down, is that, on the one hand, every week is a different course, a different track. And you just have to pick up your stuff if it was a bad week and move on to the next one.”
So how can you avoid this bad week? Or better yet, how to have a successful week?
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet, celebrates with his crew after winning the 65th annual NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023, in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
“You need a car that you’re comfortable with, that you can push, push people with, you can maneuver it left and right really quickly. If you need to go up the track, down the track, do the blocking,” Stenhouse said. “But you also have to have a good strategy. You have to be able to save fuel, maintain your position on the track, and then when it’s time to go down pit road, your team has to do the work when you come into the pit to get you out and make sure you’re still in the lead when you come back. And I would say that’s probably the hardest part of winning at Daytona.”
“So I would say the last three years, the last four years at Daytona, that gas driver on that last pit stop has kind of been a game changer. He can save you seconds, and seconds are a lot. So just put yourself in position, missing the wrecks and the chaos, you never know what’s going to happen.”
