Editor’s Note: Today’s Hyak Motorsports preview continues NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the 2025 Cup Series season.
HYAK MOTORSPORTS
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Engine: Hendrick Motorsports
Driver-crew chief pairing: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.-Mike Kelley (No. 47)
Team outlook: 2025 marks a new era for the longtime JTG Daugherty race team. Following a rebrand announced in November, the newly minted Hyak Motorsports — with “Hyak” meaning “fast” in Chinook Jargon — looks to bring a revamped look following a 2024 campaign that saw the team miss the Cup Series Playoffs. A rebrand, however, doesn’t mean a complete disassociation from familiarity as the team will maintain Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as its No. 47 pilot and additionally remain within the Hendrick Motorsports sphere of influence. Although 2024 might have been a step back compared to a Round of 16 postseason appearance in 2023, there were plenty of electric moments from 2024 that can be built upon, with the main highlight coming in spoiler fashion at Talladega Superspeedway during the Round of 12. With Stenhouse’s knack for winning at superspeedways (look no further than his 2023 Daytona 500 triumph), there is plenty of optimism within the Hyak camp as 2025 approaches. The season can’t come fast enough.
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RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 CHEVROLET
Experience: 12 full seasons in NASCAR Cup Series
2024 stats: 25th in final Cup Series standings; 1 win, 3 top fives, 6 top 10s
2025 championship odds (DraftKings): 200-1
Outlook: Yes, it’s true Stenhouse’s 2024 season wasn’t on par with his 2023. Yes, Stenhouse finished with fewer top 10s (nine vs. six) and laps led (39 vs. 28). His average start (21.8 vs. 25.7) and average finish (17.8 vs. 22.1) took a step back, certainly. Even still, there were positive building blocks. A 0.006-second OT victory at Talladega during the height of playoff racing — despite not being a playoff driver — gave Stenhouse the honor of going back-to-back seasons with a Cup win. Three top fives in 2024 were additionally a slight improvement from 2023 when the No. 47 tallied only two. Familiarity again plays a factor. Another year of crew chief Mike Kelley — entering his third year as crew chief for Stenhouse — only brings more continuity and grows the already strong relationship with Stenhouse, which spans back to the driver’s time in the Xfinity Series from 2010-12. Steady production on superspeedways (three of Stenhouse’s top-10 finishes in 2024 came at Atlanta and Talladega) and team stability between driver and crew chief should see Stenhouse and the No. 47 team rebound and make playoff noise once more.
MORE: 2025 Cup Series schedule
BOLD PREDICTION: Stenhouse and the No. 47 team will win not once … but twice in 2025. The superspeedway prowess is already known, given all four of Stenhouse’s Cup triumphs to date have come on them, and 21 of Stenhouse’s 28 laps led in 2024 came at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega, the same two tracks where Stenhouse has found Victory Lane at the Cup level. Stenhouse’s superspeedway talent definitely gives him a leg up to win multiple times during a season but don’t ignore the 37-year-old’s adaptability at non-superspeedway facilities, too. A sixth-place finish at the Chicago Street Course last season — despite starting the race in 33rd — only emphasizes the No. 47’s ability to crank it up a notch on different track types. With a touch more speed, the possibility of Stenhouse tallying a multi-win season for the first time since 2017 can’t be discounted.