Ricky Stenhouse Jr: A No BS Straight-Up Racer

Summary

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Herm & Schrader Podcast – Episode: "Ricky Stenhouse Jr: A No BS Straight-Up Racer"

Host: Kenny Wallace
Guest: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Date: February 26, 2026
Podcast Network: SiriusXM, Dirty Mo Media

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Episode Overview

This episode welcomes NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for a candid, story-filled conversation with Kenny Wallace. True to the show’s unfiltered, irreverent vibe, it’s a laid-back exploration of Stenhouse’s racing roots, his historic Daytona 500 win, life’s biggest changes, and his thoughts on the state of NASCAR. The guys cover everything from growing up in Olive Branch, Mississippi, to the intense realities of today’s Cup Series racing. Expect laughter, genuine moments, a wealth of racing insight, and a few “No BS” reflections on competition, team dynamics, rules, and the evolution of the sport.

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Main Discussion Points

1. Ricky’s Roots: Family, Olive Branch, and Growing Up Racing

(01:00–08:56)

• Where He’s From and Why It Matters (03:19)

  • Ricky expresses deep pride in being from Olive Branch, Mississippi, a name he and announcers love to say.
    • "I love where I’m from. You know, I always thought that when I made it to NASCAR, I’m like, oh, I’m going to move back home… but obviously that wasn’t the case. I love being from Olive Branch, Mississippi…" (03:19 – 03:38)

• Early Racing Journey (04:38–07:57)

  • Began with BMX at 3, go-karts at 5 (after also trying dirt bikes), and sprint cars at 15.
    • His father, himself a successful local sprint car racer and mechanic, encouraged Ricky’s independence.
    • Notable story: His dad retired on the day Ricky first practiced in a sprint car:
      • "Dad was like, alright, are you ready? ...about halfway through that practice day, ran 10 laps. And then my dad, when I came in, he’s like, ‘Alright, you’re racing next weekend, I’m done.’ He has not got back in a car since." (05:58–07:16)
  • "To be a real racer, you have to have a checklist…your dad, although that was crazy, he's a racer." – Kenny Wallace (08:41)

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2. Life Highlights: Marriage and the Daytona 500

(09:03–11:24; 12:19–14:14)

• Marriage and New Beginnings (09:46–10:39)

  • Married in late October; honeymooned in Bora Bora after a gruelling season.
    • "For sure, the greatest time of my life..." (09:46)
    • "Going back for big reasons is always neat." (03:19)
  • Stresses how refreshing it was to truly disconnect while on vacation.
    • "On our honeymoon, it was… just spending time with each other and…not having to take the trash out… We just hung out and had a lot of fun." (12:53–13:42)

• Winning the Daytona 500 (14:14–21:32)

  • Reflects on the chaotic, adrenaline-filled week post-win with only 3.5 hours sleep nightly.
    • "I would go through that again. No sleep, man. It was just a whirlwind…” (15:14)
  • Emphasized pride in using that win to promote his team, sponsors, and the sport.
    • "That was something I got to do for a solid week… I took a lot of pride… and didn’t complain about being tired…” (16:14–17:01)
  • Talks about the prestige of being called “Daytona 500 Champion.”
    • "You’re not the Daytona 500 winner, you’re the Daytona 500 champion." – Kenny Wallace, quoting Kyle Petty (17:01)
  • Where are the mementos?
    • Trophy: Only major cup displayed at home; others are in storage.
    • Daytona ring and Rolex (Daytona): Both kept safe and worn only occasionally. (17:45–18:12)
  • Talks through “winner’s week” – breakfasts, Disney, team celebrations, and the tradition of the winning car going to the Daytona 500 museum.
    • "It literally probably costs us money to win… everything stayed in that car." (20:33–21:35)

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3. Path from Dirt Racing to NASCAR

(22:03–32:16)

• Making it to NASCAR via Sprint Cars (23:10–28:22)
  • Recounts traveling for 410 sprint cars, signing with MMI talent agency, and driving for Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart in Silver Crown and sprint series. Key career break:
    • "We went to Manzanita and we won the sprint car and the Silver Crown race in the same, same night. Tony... had his cars there..." (24:32–25:32)
  • Meeting with Roush Fenway Racing led to eventual signing in October 2007; first ARCA start followed in 2008.
  • "I went from 2007 in January signing with MMI... to winning out there racing for Tony Stewart… to going through the gates of Daytona in February of 2008 to race an ARCA car. It was wild." (27:36–28:23)
• Transitioning to Stock Car Racing (29:28–32:16)
  • Candidly describes adjusting to longer races, learning to “take what the car gives you,” and maturing through early struggles.
    • "On asphalt, it’s not near as easy as it is on dirt to make it do what you want." (30:12–31:13)
  • Credits the introduction of the new NASCAR Nationwide cars for helping him find success and confidence in 2011–2012.
    • "That new car definitely helped my stock car career." (32:16)

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4. Current Success: Why Is 2026 Going So Well?

(32:16–37:14)

• Building a Competitive Single-Car Team

  • Mix of last year’s hard lessons, stability with crew chief Mike Kelly (from his Xfinity championship years), stronger factory support from Hendrick and Chevrolet, and a refreshed mental approach.
    • "I feel like there’s a long list ... you know, getting Mike Kelly back over in my corner ... he knows me really well, he knows how to get the most out of me as a race car driver…” (33:37–34:45)
  • Team confidence and atmosphere cited as crucial with “everybody has the same chassis and same bodies… It’s the little things that push us forward.” (34:45–35:20)
  • Currently sitting 14th in points:
    • "If we could get back to, you know, 10th in points before the end of the regular season, that would be almost as big an accomplishment as winning the Daytona 500 for us this year." (36:28–36:45)

• Recent Heartbreak: The “Bitch Slap” Incident at Gateway (Worldwide Technology Raceway) (37:14–39:14)

  • Got caught up as “an innocent bystander” in someone else’s on-track feud, ruining a top-10 effort.
    • "It is just getting blindsided… you’re more in disbelief… what just happened?" (37:50–38:14)
    • Stresses team’s improvement at Gateway versus prior years, finding positives amid setbacks.

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5. State of NASCAR: Hot Takes on the Big Picture

Rapid-Fire Fan Q&A: The “Three Questions” (41:20–50:08)

A. The State of NASCAR Today

• Believes the sport is trending up again after years of contraction.
  • "The state of NASCAR, you know, is in a really good spot… teams, fans, drivers… continually climbing…" (41:20–41:44)
  • Cites willingness to innovate, try new markets, and listen to feedback as positives.
  • "NASCAR is way more proactive now than they’ve ever been… they’re working… to continue to grow our sport.” (41:44–42:31)

B. Next Gen Car – Hits and Misses

• Praises the competitiveness but acknowledges mixed results on safety and certain performance aspects.
  • "I think we’ve nailed the next gen car in areas... and… swung and missed in other areas." (44:07)
  • Commends NASCAR for evolving based on driver feedback (e.g., on crash impacts, tire issues).
  • Notes no one dominates – "You show up each weekend, you don’t know who’s going to win… our sport was so predictable on Jimmy Johnson…” (45:39–46:02)

C. Fines, Penalties, and the New Era of Rules Enforcement

• NASCAR warned teams the new car would have severe penalties for tampering, and Stenhouse sees the harshness as warranted for blatant violations.
  • "They were pretty clear right off the bat… a lot of these issues are pretty blatantly obvious… it doesn’t seem like they’re learning very much at all." (46:45–48:33)
  • Amused by how large penalties now fund the NASCAR Foundation:
    • “The foundation’s probably not going to have to do any charity events this year. They got them in tech!” (48:33)

D. The “Hooking” Wreck Technique

• Wallace and Stenhouse discuss the rise of “hooking” cars to wreck them post-next-gen (because traditional bump-and-spin is less effective).
  • "I think that’s just because people get frustrated and mad, and that’s the easiest way to wreck somebody." (49:03)
  • "We kind of made NASCAR play their hand there a little bit." (49:03–50:08)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Family and Racing Heritage:
  • "My parents got married at noon on a Saturday. My dad raced that night. I was born at noon on a Saturday and dad raced that night. My mom's a saint." – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (08:17)
• On Life’s Best Moments:
  • "Greatest time period of my life... looking forward to, you know, kind of building on that and building on our future." (11:08)
• On the Value of a Daytona 500 Trophy:
  • "That was the one trophy Madison let me put out… the other ones are in [storage]." (17:27)
• On the Harsh Realities of Success:
  • "It literally probably costs us money to win… everything stayed in that car." (21:35)
• On NASCAR’s Approach to Innovation:
  • "If you don’t try it and you don’t go to it, you’ll wonder about it... I think they’re doing a good job with it." (43:00)
• On the Sport’s Evolution:
  • "You show up each weekend, you don’t know who’s going to win… our sport was so predictable…" (45:39)
• On Team Leadership:
  • "...he [Mike Kelly] knows how to get the most out of me as a race car driver… he brings out the confidence in them." (34:45)
• Humor on Penalties:
  • "The NASCAR foundation probably isn't going to have to do any charity events this year. They got them in tech!" (48:33)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Opening and Introductions: 01:00
• Ricky’s Racing Roots & Family: 01:34–08:56
• Marriage and Personal Life: 09:46–11:24; 12:19–14:14
• Winning Daytona 500: 14:14–21:32
• Path to NASCAR (Mid-south to Cup): 23:10–32:16
• Team Success Explored: 33:14–37:14
• Recent Gateway Disappointment: 37:14–39:14
• Rapid Fire on State of NASCAR, Next Gen, Penalties: 41:20–50:08
• Signature Quotes and Send-off: 50:59–51:18

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Overall Tone, Style & Final Thoughts

This conversation is funny, honest, and laced with stories that reveal Stenhouse’s no-nonsense, blue-collar racer spirit—a perfect fit for the Herm & Schrader show. Wallace keeps the energy high and playful, drawing out insightful reflections on racing culture, team dynamics, and the personal growth that comes with a life spent chasing speed. The episode is a mix of affectionate roast, genuine admiration, and deep-dive racing talk, serving up both wisdom and laughter for fans and fellow racers alike.

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Transcript

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[Kenny Wallace]

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Kenny Wallace show, brought to you by jegs. Where's it? There's that badass diecast. Welcome to the Kenny Wallace Show. As I've already said. Why are you repeating yourself, Herman? Brought to you by jegs, the leader in high performance aftermarket car parts. And remember to go to jegs.com I Ricky, I always, always want to sing that. I always want to go. But anyway, welcome to the show, my friend.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Thank you. Thanks for having us on. Glad we're glad we're doing things to get asked to come on the Kenny Conversation.

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, I. I do like to say that I think I know you a lot better than the other drivers and I think our commonplace is our love for dirt racing. And my dear friend Nick Hoffman loves you so much he considers you his brother. What are all those pictures in the background?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I'm in our war room here at JTG Doherty Racing. So you'll see the Watkins Glen win. Yeah. I don't know how you point backwards. That one right there.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah. Right.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, it's all backwards. But yeah, just old pictures of JTG Doherty racing from back in the day out in the shop. We have all the updated pictures. Obviously we're a single car team now. So you see my face everywhere throughout the shop being the single car team here. But yeah, so I'm. I'm in the. The throwback room. I guess.

[Kenny Wallace]

I always tell my friends on the Kenny Conversation, Ricky, that this is a conversation. It can. It can steer all types of different ways and I Just want to start out like this, you know, when I was a kid, my hero is Dick Trickle out of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin or Terry Bivens from Shawnee Mission, Kansas. And I'm telling you, third is Ricky Stenhouse from Olive Branch, Mississippi. That is such a badass name. Tell me about Olive Branch, Mississippi. Do the announcers tell you? They, they like saying it? Do you like saying it? It's such a cool name.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I like it. I love where I'm from. You know, I always thought that, you know, when I made it to nascar I'm like, oh, I'm going to, I'm going to move back home to Olive Branch. And I'm a fly in and out of Olive Branch. But obviously that wasn't the case. I'm still in North Carolina, but now I love being from Olive Branch, Mississippi. You know, it was a great area to grow up in. A lot of racing around the mid south area, which obviously is the reason that I'm in racing. My dad was in racing and raced around the mid south area all while I was growing up. And obviously I think a few years before I was born. But yeah, I love where I'm from and I get to go back every now and then. I got to go back after our big win, so that was pretty cool. Going back for, for big reasons is, is always neat.

[Kenny Wallace]

So I want to get to that. But before we do, I want to ask you about your, your childhood, your area there. And I don't want to dive deep into it, but let's lay the format out. Am I correct that you came from wing sprint car racing? Is that the first type of racing you did right there around Mississippi area?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

So when I was four years old. Well, I started racing BMX when I was three, but I think when I was.

[Kenny Wallace]

Whoa, back up. That's awesome. You're an athlete. Bicycles.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Bicycles. And then. And I really like that. And then I got my first dirt bike. I was four. And so I started riding it a lot. And I think I was five years old, my dad took me to a go kart track and there was a dirt bike track right next to it. I spent half the day on the go kart track, half the day on the dirt bike track. And then at the end of the day, dad was like, which one do you want to race? And I picked the go kart. So that's how I ended up racing go karts at age 5 and raced those until I was 15 years old and then jumped right in the sprint car. So those are the two Things that I ran the whole time.

[Kenny Wallace]

First of all, that's an amazing story that your dad gave you the choice.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

You.

[Kenny Wallace]

You chose something that you didn't have to pedal so hard and wear yourself out. But when you got into that sprint car, I mean, like right now I'm too old. But when I got. I got into a sprint car, say five years ago, it was overwhelming for me. What a what up? Was it violent for you? A wing sprint car when you first got in it?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

So it was a 360, you know, so I feel like the four 10s, when I get in them now, I'm like, holy cow. Like, these are wild. I got so much power. I feel like almost like behind because I've, you know, ran 360s pretty much my whole life. You know, I've had really good success in 410 racing, but it's been a long time since I've done it, you know, frequently. But I gotten. There was a new racetrack down in Tunica, Mississippi. It was a big three, eight mile dirt track. There was a lot of quarter mile racing around our area. And they built this new big track and they had a play day. And this was about halfway through the season in 2003. I was working on my dad's car. I would get them ready for him. He was at the engine shop all week, and I would kind of help get the car ready during the week, and we'd go racing on the weekend and dad would race. And so we were on the way down to that practice day, and dad was like, all right, are you ready? And so I got in about halfway through that practice day, ran 10 laps. And then my dad, when I came in, he's like, all right, you're racing next weekend. I'm done. He has not got back in a car since.

[Kenny Wallace]

We're going to get to the Daytona 500 here in a minute and, and your. And your new life and your wife. But hold on, your dad builds motors. He's a mechanic, and he's a race car driver. And one day he said, I'm out.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

You're in the one day.

[Kenny Wallace]

The.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

The day that I. I made 10 laps at the new prac. The. The new track there in Mississippi. Made 10 laps. He had, he had tested, you know, that morning or for the first half the day. And then I. I ran some laps afterwards, and then I ran the next Friday night, you know, at our local track there. And he has not been back in a sprint car since.

[Kenny Wallace]

You know, I believe you're the very first Kenny Conversation where you're. I mean, I think Kenny Schrader's dad raced a little bit, but Tony, you know, everybody else we've had on here. Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Joey Logano. No, but nobody's dad raced. I think you're the first one where your dad raced at a high level.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, he. He was really good locally and traveled around. Raced some outlaw races. Never did, you know, outlaw racing full time. But yeah, he was. He was really good in a sprint car. And my. My parents got married at noon on a Saturday. My dad raced that night. I was born at noon on a Saturday and dad raced that night. True. My mom's a saint.

[Kenny Wallace]

And that's where the phrase. And we use capital letters. Racer.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

That's right.

[Kenny Wallace]

To be a real racer, you have to have a checklist. And your dad, although that was crazy. He's a racer.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I can't believe my mom let him do it, but she let him do it. It was. It's crazy. A cool story to tell now. Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, Ricky, let. Let's. Let's start the Kenny conversation up as I tell everybody. I let the fans look at it. I did my notes on you, and so I believe this. I'm not going to say year, but I'm gonna say this is a new time in your life where you got married and you won the biggest race NASCAR has to offer, the Daytona 500. Now, winning the race alone is a big deal, but you get married to the love of your life. So I draw a circle around those two stories. Is this. Are you living as of right now, at your age? Is this the greatest time of your life?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

For sure. For sure. The greatest time of my life. You know, the first. We got married October 26th of last year, so there was two. Two races left in the season. Those two races did not go well, but our whole season didn't go well. So, yeah, we. We had a great honeymoon after the season, and things have been. Things have been on an upward trajectory.

[Kenny Wallace]

I saw the Instagram post, man, you guys did not mess around. I. I want to go where you all went.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

And. Yeah, we. We enjoyed the beach. We went to Bora Bora.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's it.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Basically, there was nothing to do but hang out with each other, which was fun. You know, we. We needed that. Obviously, after. After a long season and then having everybody in town for our wedding, it was. Which. The wedding was amazing.

[Kenny Wallace]

It's all the people.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, that. That was. That was cool. You know, I complained about, you know, cost and things like that, but I told you I told her I was like, I would do it again with her because. Because she nailed it with our wedding planner, so that was cool. But, yeah, I mean, you know, starting off the season, you know, we. We got a lot of good things going here at JTG Doherty Racing. A lot of people bring up, you know, Mike Kelly being back as my crew chief. Madison likes to remind everybody that we also got married. So, you know, those two things go hand in hand. But, yeah, greatest, greatest time period of my life and looking forward to, you know, kind of building on that and building on our future.

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[Kenny Wallace]

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[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

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[Kenny Wallace]

Let's talk about your wife and your vacation. Just for a second. With my wife, sometimes I feel like in my house, it's like business. You take the trash out, pay the taxes. And when. When Kim and myself, when we go anywhere, anywhere by ourselves, I look at it, I'm like, why. How. How you doing, honey? So on your. On your vacation, Bora Bora, where it's just you and her. Nobody can interrupt you. Don't you. Did you catch yourself? Like, it's like, hey, it's just. Hi,

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

yes. Vacation. I like. I like to not use my phone. Like, I'm like, I'll be off of it. I don't have the social media. I don't have to. I don't want to check in at the shop. Like, I want a pure vacation. And especially on our honeymoon, it was, you know, we worked out every day. We. We just did random stuff, you know, that. That they had to offer there and enjoyed just spending time with each other and. Yeah. Not having to take the trash out. Not having to take our dog out to go to the bathroom. You Know, she wasn't doing laundry, which she loves to do. She loves to keep our house spotless. You know, before the cleaning lady comes, she's cleaning to make sure everything's good. So none of that. We just hung out with each other and had a lot of fun.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, you know, I like that. You know, my dad, my dad was a clean person. He would come in all the time and take his hand and go on top the refrigerator and, you know, listen, I loved my dad, but he was hardcore. So it sounds to me like your beautiful wife has got some structure built in. Ricky, we're going to be clean.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I really enjoy, Yeah, I love our house being organized and clean and definitely better than Messi. Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

So let's talk about the Daytona 500 specifically. So you win that race, we see it, we know how you want it. You are a great race car driver. You have a hell of a year going right now, and we're going to talk about that. But let's zone in on the Daytona 500. You win the biggest race in the world.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Okay.

[Kenny Wallace]

I mean, we got the Indianapolis 500. I'll give it to them, you know, I mean, they got their deal, we got our deal.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

And that's right.

[Kenny Wallace]

And I admire everybody, but listen, you

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

win the end, you win the winning both.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, right. You win the Daytona 500. I want to zone in on how that, I mean, you're still Ricky, but tell me how you viewed things in that last week. Like, know, you get on the plane, you, you get two hours sleep, the breakfast, New York. Tell me about the Daytona 500. Winning it.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I would, I would go through that again. No sleep, man. It was just a whirlwind of a week. You know, we, you know, obviously I think I, I, I added it up. I think I was like, averaged the whole week, like three and a half hours of sleep, you know, maybe a whole week. The whole week, like every. And that was after I slept in one night. So, you know, so being tired, running on adrenaline, it was, it was all worth it. Getting to do that with my wife going to Chicago and New York and coming to the shop and taking pictures with, you know, the crew guys that weren't at the racetrack, you know, taking pictures with the trophy and hanging out with them, promoting the sport for a week. I mean, that's something that, you know, I think I used to kind of take for granted when I used to, when we used to have to go do all these things to promote the sport. You know, you're also, as, you know, promoting yourself. And your race team and your partners. And that was something that I got to do for a solid week. You know, I got to promote, you know, what we were able to accomplish as a race team, you know, all of our great partners in the sport of NASCAR and its 75th year and the 65th anniversary of the Daytona 500, that was special. And I took a lot of pride in that and didn't complain about being tired or the no sleep. Just took every opportunity that we could get in Chicago and in New York and any phone interviews just took advantage of that. Luckily for us, it rained a lot in California, so I got to really catch up on rest and sleep out there. But all in all, man, it was, it was just an unreal experience. You know, you, you think you know what it's going to be like, but you don't really know until you do it.

[Kenny Wallace]

So when you win the Daytona 500, you get the champion ring. And you know, it was the great Kyle Petty that said to me, you're not the Daytona 500 winner, you're the Daytona 500 champion.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

You know, is a big difference. The crown jewels are like championships events. So where is the ring? And what about a trophy? How'd that play out?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, so I've got the original trophy. It's displayed in our house. That's the one trophy Madison let me put out. And about the other ones are in jewelry.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, it's jewelry.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I got the ring in the safe, you know, took it with me, obviously promoting the race, you know, that week. But you know, I wasn't gonna, you know, continue to wear it. It's, it's pretty big. Got a Rolex which was super cool.

[Kenny Wallace]

What kind of Rolex?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

The Daytona. The Daytona.

[Kenny Wallace]

So how much you think that rings are that, is that a ten thousand dollar watch or like five grand?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Might be more. I think it might be more than 10. Well good.

[Kenny Wallace]

We want it to be a 50.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yes. So I've got it in the safe. I wear it on special occasions. But yeah, those, those three things came with that and it was so cool.

[Kenny Wallace]

And you earned every bit of it, buddy. So when you win the race, you do breakfast the next morning, but you still don't see your complete team. So are you telling me you don't see the complete team until be like four days later or. When did you.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I came to the shop on Wednesday. Monday, the chat. So the champions breakfast on Monday was at like 7, but I had to be in Victory Lane at 6:45 doing interviews for Good Morning America. My team Got a champions breakfast. I did not really get to eat because I was doing interviews. Go back to the media center.

[Kenny Wallace]

No food for you.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, no food for us. So. But I had Waffle House about, you know, 1:32 o' clock in the morning, so I was still full. I was, I was ready to go, but then I went to, then we went to Disney Monday afternoon, which was so cool. And then Tuesday, went to Chicago, got home Tuesday night from Chicago, went to the race shop on Wednesday morning through lunch, and then flew out for New York that afternoon. So I got back to see the team guys on Wednesday.

[Kenny Wallace]

And when you arrived at this shop, was it a. They were ready for you when you, when you walked in, you had to be nervous a little bit, like, oh, here we go.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Like, the rest of the shop. Met our team guys back on Monday. When they. At the airport. They all, they were all out there. That was really. Videos and pictures of that. But, yeah, they were all ready for me when I came in. We had a lunch, took pictures with everybody. But I mean, they were, they were digging on our California car. They had to get it ready, you know, because it had to leave. So they were thrashing, but everybody was working with a big smile on their face.

[Kenny Wallace]

So to wrap up the Daytona 500, it's nothing we gloss over, Ricky. We take all the time we need to. It's our biggest race. So the car that you won the race with, where's it at right now?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

It's in the 500 museum. So the team, after the race, tears it all the way down. NASCAR inspects literally everything, engine, you name it. Then they got to put it all back together so that it can go into the museum Monday morning. I haven't been to the museum to see it, so that's one thing I'm going to do in August when we go back is go in the museum, check that out. I get to see. I think they put my, you know, handprint and footprint and stuff in the concrete, asphalt or the, the sidewalk there. Get to go check all that out. But, yeah, I would say it probably cost our team a little bit of money to win because they had to buy a whole nother car seat. You name it, they had to buy everything. Everything stayed in that car.

[Kenny Wallace]

So the seats are like $20,000 or is that too much?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I think they're like 15 or so. Yeah, I, I don't know. I'm glad the team.

[Kenny Wallace]

These are things that fans like to know, you know.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, I mean, like, it literally probably costs us money to win yeah, well, it's just crazy. But hey, they wouldn't trade it for anything.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's right. That's right. That, that Jay, Actually the guys yesterday

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

just got, they let the team guys order like three quarter scale or a quarter scale of the trophy. So they all got their trophies in yesterday. So they were all pumped up about that.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, I want, I want to go back a little bit. Brother Rusty, Dale Earnhardt, senior Dick Trickle, so many great people. Kenny Schrader, they give me words of wisdom and they, they say herm, it's sad to say, but you have to remind people because people remember what they want to. So I want to remind everybody that you've checked all the boxes. You are a 2011, 2012 NASCAR Xfinity champion. You, you earned your way into the cup series. You, when you got to the cup series, you're the 2013 Rookie of the year. So you, you've checked all the boxes when you went from Olive Branch, Mississippi to Roush Racing. Tell me about that phone call. Tell me about how did that connection. How did that happen?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

So 2006, we had a really good season in sprint car racing. Running wing sprint cars, four 10s with the all Stars all throughout Ohio. Won a lot of good races, big races.

[Kenny Wallace]

You went all the way to Ohio?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, we were racing. I was racing for kind of a group of people, group effort with my dad and some car owners from back home, some car owners from Ohio. And like, you know, we just had a good season in 2006. And then at the end of 2006, motorsports management at the time, MMI was trying to get, he was trying to hire me or to represent me. They wanted, they wanted to represent me. They wanted me to sign.

[Kenny Wallace]

Recognized your talent.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

And so I kind of put them off for like kind of halfway through 2006. Well, Chili bowl of 2007, the Old Chili, I ended up signing with them. And so I signed with them I think around chili bowl in 2007. And that was in January, February. I went to Manzanita Speedway out in Phoenix, Arizona. I raced a non wing sprint car and I was racing for Carl Edwards and RE Technologies racing in their Silver Crown team.

[Kenny Wallace]

Well, back up, we can't gloss over this. You drove for Carl Edwards, the race car driver?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah. Yeah. So Carl would go back and run USAC races in the Silver Crown series and he would run for this team based out of Memphis called RE Technologies. Roger Johnson owned it and he helped a lot of people race in the mid south area and even some on the outlaw tour. So he's been around racing for a long time. Well, Carl put his name on it, was getting some help from Ford on engine side and so had his name on the race team. So we took their Silver Crown car to. I was running all the dirt races in the Silver Crown series in 2007 for them and they had room in their trailer to take my sprint car. And so I'd ran two or three non wing sprint car races up until that point. But we went to Manzanita and we won the sprint car and the Silver Crown race in the same, same night. And Tony had his cars, Tony Stewart had his sprint cars there and Midgets and Silver Crown and Casey.

[Kenny Wallace]

No wonder you're a cup driver nowadays. We got my Lord.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

And so then one of Tony's guys got hurt in March or April of that year. So because I was signed with mmi, they said, hey, they called me. I was driving down the road. They're like, hey, Tracy Hines got hurt. You're going to fill in for Tracy for the rest of 2007. You know, head over to Tony's shop, you know, get your seats and you're going racing over there. So I was like, holy cow, this is.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's Santa Claus coming to town.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yes. So. But after man's, I guess I can back up a little bit. After we won Manzanita, MMI flew me to North Carolina and I met with at the time Max Jones was the general manager at, at Roush Fenway. And so I met with him and I said, hey, you know, what do I need to do to, you know, to get a chance at running, you know, say the ARCA series or whatever. He's like, just keep winning races and we'll talk at the end of the season. Well, obviously that was a Ford team. Well then all of a sudden I get a call, you know, to go race for Tony in a Chevrolet team. And so we had to kind of let you know, Roush know and Ford know like hey, I'm going to go run for this, you know, Chevy team. And they're like, all right, perfect. You can go run asphalt, figure out asphalt, because I'd never really ran asphalt.

[Kenny Wallace]

You're a full blown dirt racer?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, I'm a dirt racer. And so they're like, get some time on the asphalt and then at the end of the year we'll get you back. And so, you know, then 2007 happens. Tony's talking to Jack. You know, we had kind of had a plan. Well, at the end of 2007, I ended up signing with, with Ralph Fenway in October. So I told Chevrolet, hey, I'm gonna go race some ARCA cars.

[Kenny Wallace]

So when you say Tony, you're talking Tony Stewart, right?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yes.

[Kenny Wallace]

Stewart's your friend.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

He is.

[Kenny Wallace]

He wants you to drive for him. This.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I begged him forever to drive for him and then all of a sudden he let me and then he couldn't and all of a sudden here we are, you know, racing stock cars.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's a sound bite right there.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Then Chevrolet was like, well, go figure out stock cars. Then we, then we'll get you back. Well, obviously I was at know Ford and Roush Fenway for, for a long time and, and then, you know, now, now I'm on the Chevy camp. So you know, it was just kind of a whirlwind. I went from 2007 in January signing with MMI, not really knowing exactly what I was going to do in 2007 to winning out there racing for Tony Stewart in the whole USC series all of 2007. Signed with Roush Fenway in October of 2007. And then all of a sudden I'm going through the gates of Daytona in February of 2008 to race an ARCA car. It was wild.

[Kenny Wallace]

Crazy.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

It was wild.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Kenny Wallace]

And there it was, that hologram trading card.

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[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

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[Kenny Wallace]

When I look back at your career when there was highlights, the one thing I remember is that, well, let me, let me kind of compare myself with you. When I grew up in an ASA where I always ran 200 lap racers and I was never feisty enough. I don't think you were feisty right away because you, you, you knew you had a six lap dash.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

That's right.

[Kenny Wallace]

So you had to go now. So when you went to nascar, how hard was it for you to understand that, hey, I, I gotta go, I gotta run two or lap, right? How did that take some getting used to that you didn't have to kill yourself right away?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, for sure. You know, I had to get used to a lot of things. Waking up early and going test, 9 o' clock in the morning. I mean, 8:30. Yeah, I was used to staying till 2 o' clock in the morning and sleeping in. Well, man, my first few tests, I remember I would be fast in the morning session, but after lunch I would just kind of start getting slower and slower. I'm like, guys, I don't, I'm, I'm worn out. So I had to get my sleep pattern a little bit. But no, you know, I think, you know, looking back at my stock car career, it definitely took some getting used to. Of course, you know, even if the car wasn't right, just taking what the car gives you make an adjustment on a pit stop and, you know, go out and try it again. Versus, hey, the car's not doing what I want. Let me try and make it do what I want. You know, on asphalt, it's not near as easy as it is on dirt to make it do what you want and can't shake.

[Kenny Wallace]

You can't shake an asphalt car.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

No, you just gotta take what it gives you. It took me a long time to learn that. And then I finally, you know, I mean, I was racing against you in like 2010 when it was still the old school, you know, cars. And then we, I think we ran those four races in the new style, you know, back then, Nationwide Series cars and those four races, man, I felt really good in those race cars. I don't know, they just, I felt like I could fill them better. You know, obviously they were a lot bigger and kind of bulkier than what we had been running. And I just, I just loved them ever since I got in them. And we were fast. And that's when I was like, all right, 2011 is going to be a good season. Like, we can, we can get this accomplished and get our goals accomplished of winning a championship. Nobody really thought we could because we had kind of a rough 2010, at least half the year, and then we ended strong. But that new car definitely helped my stock car career.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, well, you're what we call a diamond in the rough. And they polished you up and look at you now. You're getting it done. So, okay, this is a point in the Kenny conversation where we talk about, now, we don't like to go back, but, you know, Rick, I think it was very important. We always want to let the kids that are watching. And we know there's a lot of people that tune into the Kenny conversation because they want to know, is, is Ricky Stenhouse like me? Can I be like him? And you just told us your path. You know, you had to earn every bit of it, go out to Manzanita, win, and you and your dad. So let's. Let's talk about right now. Clean slate. So you win the Daytona 500, and now all of a sudden, Ricky Stanton. I was running the top 10 every week. Seventh, seventh, you know, five top tens, handful of top fives. You're 14th in the points right now.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yes.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's big time. You know, this is not Formula One. We don't have 20 cars. We have 39 or 40. So, you know, I think we all want to win. But listen, top 15 is big time. Why are you running so good this year?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

There's a. I feel like there's a long list. You know, I feel like, you know, last year we definitely learned a lot about this new race car. And as the whole sport was, you know, trying to learn, felt like we learned at a slower rate because we were a single car team. And so there was a lot of things that we couldn't. We couldn't adapt quick enough, you know, throughout the season last year, and we learned a lot of things not to do. Got married. I do think that, you know, I mean, I look back at people's career and it seems like after they get married, they definitely, you know, seem to race a little better.

[Kenny Wallace]

So going to the bar so much.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah.

[Kenny Wallace]

Quit partying so much.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I didn't spend a whole lot of time at the bar, but I did hang out with Nick Hoffman a lot at my house. So we did stay up a little later than we probably should. But, you know, I think getting Mike Kelly back over in my corner, you know, was. It was a good, you know, game changer for me because I feel like he know. He knows me really well. He knows how to get the most out of me as a race car driver.

[Kenny Wallace]

Was he your crew chief at one point in the.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

He was my crew chief in 2011, 2012, when we were, duh, our championships. And so we've done a lot of things Together, we've accomplished a lot together. He still feels like he has more left to accomplish in this sport as a crew chief on the cup side. He's been a CUP crew chief a couple of times. Not really felt like he got to show what he's worth. And so you got somebody that's hungry, you know, leading our ship now and who has confidence in me probably more than I have in myself. But watching him throughout this shop bring that same kind of mentality to every single worker that we have, whether it be our engineer, our car chief, our tire changers, he brings out the confidence in them. And I think that when you have a car that everybody has in this sport, we got the same chassis and same bodies as everybody else. It's little things like that that push us forward. We have a stronger tie with Hendrick this year than what we had and that we've ever had in years past. And the same goes with Chevrolet. And so I think we're putting all those things together. And I have a different mentality of showing up to the racetrack. We have different goals. And, you know, take Daytona aside, we're hitting the goals that we set, you know, the season out to be. And, you know, that's. That's cool when you accomplish a goal one week and then you do it again the next week and you just keep doing that. You just keep building more confidence. And like you said, we're 14th in points. We don't get crashed by the.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

By the weekend. And we're points, you know, and so we still feel like we can get there by the end of the regular season. And, man, that I would say if we could get back to, you know, 10th and points before the end of the regular season, that would be almost as big of an accomplishment as winning the Daytona 500 for us this year. Obviously, you can't replace the Daytona 500, but for us as a race team and what we've set our goals out to be this year, that would be a huge accomplishment. And we're on the verge of that. And so we got some tough tracks going forward, but, you know, this, this year, I felt like we've been strong on every track we've, we've shown up to, to race at, and that's been fun.

[Kenny Wallace]

I want to touch on that worldwide technology race. You're going down the, the front straightaway. Once again. You're running in the top 10. You were up to six. You were running six for a lot of the race.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yep. And.

[Kenny Wallace]

And I call it getting bitch slapped. You're you're going down the straightaway and of course, I know, but explain it to the fans. When you're just running and all of a sudden it's like somebody comes out of nowhere with a two by four, knocks the hell out of you.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yes.

[Kenny Wallace]

What was that feeling like, getting hit so hard and not knowing it's coming?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

That. I mean, like, like you said, you know how it is, but I guess most of the fans probably don't. I mean, it is just getting blindsided. I mean, it's shocking. I mean, you're. You're more in disbelief, and then like, all of a sudden you're like, what just happened? Like, I'm like, I'm running like say 10th or 11th or wherever we were at the time on that restart, and.

[Kenny Wallace]

Right.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

We're still on the straightaway, and I get, you know, hammered by the, you know, in the left side of the door. And, you know, when I went back and watched it, I was like, dang. Like, it looked like two guys have been getting into it and from the sounds of it, been getting into it throughout the whole race. And maybe the last restart, that kind of bowled over. And we were an innocent bystander of that, which was a bummer. I mean, we'd finished every race up until that point. We'd been on a kind of a hot streak of top 15s, which I felt like obviously we were going to accomplish that again. And my guys had given me a great race car. But, you know, last year at Gateway, we were a 30th place race team, I think. I mean, we were slow, we were not good. And then, so for us to like, kind of flip the script, and now all of a sudden, we were, you know, running the top 10 all day. Still a lot of positives to take away from the weekend, even though we were bummed about the. The outcome.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, I. I compare what you just said. I get it. When you get on a roll, you don't want it to come to an end. It's. It's like bowling, right? You're bowling all these strikes. I mean, I got a 300 game going, and then all of a sudden, you know, you have a spare. I understand that. I get that. Well,

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Kenny Wallace]

and there it was, that hologram trading card. One of the rarest.

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[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

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[Kenny Wallace]

Ricky, we're already at 40 minutes. And that's, that's how these Kenny conversations go. So we do this with everybody. We did it with Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, and I always tell our new guests, I, I tell you, I let you know that this is the time of the show where we ask every driver the exact same question, all right? And we don't want you to get in trouble. They're not, it's not provocative. However, it is all about nascar. And the fans want to know this stuff. It's the stuff we all talk about behind closed doors. So it's three parts. The first one is this. What is your opinion, the state of NASCAR right now?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

My opinion, I think the, the state of nascar, you know, is, is in a really good spot. You know, I, I came in in 2008, you know, and I felt like it was, you know, massively way up here. And I've seen it go down. I've seen the teams go down, but I feel like everything from the teams, the fans, drivers in nascar, I feel like we're continually climbing and we're, we're way past where, you know, I felt like we have been. That being said, I mean, there's always, there's always room for improvement. And I think nascar, we're trending upwards now. We're trending upwards. I think NASCAR is, is way more proactive now than they've ever been. You know, there's a lot of people that might not agree with everything that they do, but they are innovative. They're, they're working, you know, and constantly trying to do things to, you know, continue to grow our sport. And, you know, I think every league is, every professional sport is doing the same thing. I mean, golf is in. Seems like it's in shambles right now.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah, they're all over in bga.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

And so, you know, I like that nascar, you can't just sit back and let it play out. You gotta, you gotta go try new markets. You got to go back to old markets. They've realized that that's something that we had never thought about in the past as a sport or at least, you know, the top, the top people in NASCAR haven't thought about going back to North Wilkesboro. There we did Mass, you know, great crowd. You know, obviously it's not a massive crowd. Compared to.

[Kenny Wallace]

It looks good.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

It looks good. But compared to like a, you know, you could be half empty at Texas and still have more people. But it's about, you know, the excitement that North Wilkesboro brought to, to that weekend and, you know, so I like the sport and the state of the sport that we're in right now and where we're going. A lot of old school fans, you know, don't know about Chicago. We don't either. We're about to find out. Right. So, you know, NASCAR doesn't either, you know, but if you don't try it and you don't go to it, you'll wonder, you'll wonder about it and know. I think, I think they're doing a good job with it.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah. Okay, so the next one is the next gen car. It is a game changer. We've never seen anything like it. You know, some people say it's based off the, you know, Australian V8 type car, one lug nut, you know, everything we just said. So what is your opinion on the new next gen car?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

I think, I think we've nailed the next gen car in areas and then I think we've swung and missed in other areas. Right. Again, NASCAR still being proactive, which is good. They take a lot of input from the drivers and teams, especially the drivers with this new car. When we say, hey, these crashes are hurting worse. Right. You know, when they built the car, they're like, hey, this is our car. This is what we're racing with. This is what we're moving forward. We're not changing it because we want this car to be the same from here on out. But they've listened to us. So I think we missed it a little bit on the safety aspect, overlooked some things.

[Kenny Wallace]

It's okay to say, ricky, we had flat tires, we couldn't move out of the grass. Burning the bottom up, up.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, you know, they're constantly changing them to, to make them right. And, you know, us as drivers appreciate them taking our advice at least on some of the things and then taking team advice on, you know, on on certain areas of the race car. So, yeah, I think we. We swung and missed on a few things. I think, you know, the. The competitiveness is unreal right now. I feel like the charts, you can show up each and every weekend. You don't know who's going to win. You really don't. And I feel like, you know, our sport was so predictive on Jimmy Johnson

[Kenny Wallace]

was going to win out of these

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

five cars, they're, you know, one of these guys is going to win, and they're going to win, you know, five or ten races, right? Yeah, the. The last season with the old car. Larson won, what, 10 or 11 races that year. And that can still be done with this car, but he's going, you know, that person's going to have to beat different people every week. And so I think that's a good thing.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah. All right. So for the last one, we are in an era where we see unprecedented amount of fines and penalties. We have never, you know, as we speak, we. We got another one coming out against Eric Jones. You know, you're gonna see it when you get off here. They messed with the greenhouse and, you know, all these points and 75 every week, you know, so they say the. The penalty money goes into the NASCAR foundation this year. The foundation is going to have more money than they've ever had. So what is your opinion on the unprecedented fines and penalties in NASCAR history this year?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

So nascar, I would say, came out when they built this new car and designed it, gave it to the team, said, if you mess with it, it is going to be bad. Right? Yeah. You know, so. And we saw that, I think, from the very first race, you know, with RFK and like, them drilling out their wheels. I mean, they gave him $100,000 fine or whatever that. That penalty was. They started looking at everything, you know, retracted that. But, yeah, I mean, they were. They were pretty clear right off the bat. And, you know, from everything that seen so far, a lot of the issues that they've had are pretty, you know, blatantly obvious. Like, it's not like, hey, should we find them? Should we not by yourself. You messed up, right? And so. But it seemed, you know, I would think that. That teams would learn not to do things after the first few penalties of $250,000, a lot of money, whatever, and 100 points, but, man, it doesn't seem like they're learning very much at all. So, you know, us at JTG Doherty Racing, I feel like we've learned a lot throughout some of the tests that we've done, and there's definitely, you know, areas of the car you want to push, but I mean, there's definitely areas that you do not want to go and mess with, and NASCAR's trying to make that clear, but it seems like people are still trying to push those limits. So, yeah, like you said, the. The NASCAR foundation probably isn't going to have to do any charity events this year. They got them in tech so they can cut their budget on charity events.

[Kenny Wallace]

We'll end it like this. This. This new hooking. It seems that we've got that about halfway through the year here. NBC's taken over Fox. You know, he's got one more race, and it seems like the front end is so strong on this next gen car that hitting people and spinning them out, you can't do it anymore.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

That's right.

[Kenny Wallace]

Do you think that's where the hooking technique, you know, the.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Is.

[Kenny Wallace]

Is that why the hooking things so popular? Is that the only way to wreck people?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

No, I think that's just because people get frustrated and mad and that's the easiest way to wreck somebody.

[Kenny Wallace]

Is there any other way to wreck somebody, Ricky?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Yeah, that's the easiest way. Get yourself wrecked, right? Like, I mean, if you hit them in the left rear, you don't know which way they're going to spin. But, you know, if you hook them in the right side, they're going to the right, you're going to the left, so. Good point. I feel like that is. That's probably their thought process behind that, and it's definitely worked, I guess, except for Chase. He caught himself up in it, but, yeah, it's. It's not good. You know, again, NASCAR listened to us about. We feel like the cars need to be safer. So in turn, when you got guys wrecking each other at the end of a straightaway, you know, right. Hooking them into the fence, you know, those are. Those are things where NASCAR is like, hey, y' all are complaining about the cars not being safe yet. Y' all are going to wreck somebody intentionally the way you're doing it. We're going to step in. So, yeah, I think. I think we kind of made NASCAR play their hand there a little bit.

[Kenny Wallace]

Yeah. Well, Ricky, listen, I could have definitely made this interview longer. I could have touched on your great car owners. I could have touched more on your relationship with Jennifer and Richard Marshall. But we find it's time to go, my friend, and thank you so very much. And I want to remind everybody, like I do at the end of every show, remember, we are in podcast form. You can listen to Ricky Stenhouse as you leave the house on your way to work, and when you head back home, you listen to the rest of the show everywhere. What's that?

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

You listen to it everywhere.

[Kenny Wallace]

That's right. We're in Spotify, itunes. Remember to like and subscribe. We're getting so close to that hundred thousand subscribers. We're gonna put that trophy right up here, buddy. But we love you all. Ricky, I want to thank you very much, my friend.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Thank you for having me on. Always a pleasure having conversations with you. You always make me feel like I'm ready to go out and compete and win the world. So I'm ready for Sonoma this weekend

[Kenny Wallace]

and you can get it done there because that new car has definitely proved the point that anybody can get it done in a cheerleader year.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr.]

Thank you.

[Kenny Wallace]

Bye bye, everybody. Check out Dirty Mo media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.

[Commercial Announcer]

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