Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took questions from the NASCAR media last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway appearing as relaxed and hopeful as he could be. Hopeful being the key adjective.
This year is poised to be a welcome new chapter in his Sprint Cup career — a winning chapter.
Stenhouse is ranked 11th in the standings following a 12th-place finish in the No. 17 Fastenal Ford on Sunday in Las Vegas. He was 22nd at Daytona and 10th in Atlanta — which marked his 12th top-10 effort in his four seasons. It’s his best start since his rookie year when he was ranked 11th after the opening three races.
Stenhouse, 28, has never had more than five top-10s in a single year (2014) and with his early pace — and the bulk of the schedule remaining — he may well post his best year statistically speaking. A win — or multiple — is still the goal.
With new hires behind the scenes and a reinvigorated effort on the cars, the entire Roush organization is as optimistic for the 2016 season as it has been in many years.
“I think we were more pumped up this media tour because of the way we ended last year versus the way we started last year,” Stenhouse said. “We were going in the right direction. All the things we learned throughout last year, the things we implemented to the cars and our system, the people we implemented brought over some more information, and all that, kept playing into how we ended the year last year.
“It kind of made us more motivated, and pretty happy with the group of people we got and believe in the direction we’re going. You can see it throughout the shop. The drivers feel like we drive it now and can see a difference. That’s the biggest thing for us drivers.”
After back-to-back championships (2011-12) in the NASCAR XFINITY Series much was expected of the Ford driver when he transitioned to the Roush Fenway Racing Sprint Cup team. Especially because he particularly dominated en route to his 2012 XFINITY title, winning six times and posting 19 top-five finishes in 33 races.
Stenhouse was understandably hopeful and confident entering the Cup ranks in 2013. Although he won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title that season, his showing (three top-10s, one top-five) was disappointing in relation to his expectations and those of others. The organization struggled in general and it was a harsh learning experience in particular.
Instead of getting better, however, his second and third seasons were tough, too. During this same three-race period in 2015, for example, Stenhouse had finishes of 29th, 36th and 29th.
“Over the last few years we were doing a lot of work, the team was doing a lot of work, but we really didn’t feel anything different in the race cars and we didn’t see any speed difference in the race cars,” Stenhouse said. “Last year, throughout the year we could see a difference and the first time since I’ve been on the Cup side I could feel the difference and that was a big thing for me.”
Three races in, Stenhouse still seemed a bit reluctant to declare himself a contender this season, but he was clearly more enthusiastic and confident than in years past. Promise is just that and for a former NASCAR champion it comes with tempered and realistic expectations.
But seizing on the positives … having positives is certainly a sign of improvement.
“Went to Daytona and the cars were fast and we qualified well and didn’t get the results we wanted in the race, but the cars were fast,” Stenhouse said. “Everyone was like, ‘This is great.’ But I was like, ‘It’s a superspeedway race.’
“Then at Atlanta cars were good and I was like, ‘I hope the race goes well.’ I didn’t know, I’ve had cars go the other way.
“Definitely on the 17 team we’re taking it one race at a time, one practice at a time. We had a good race in Atlanta, but I was a little nervous about how the car would be today (in Las Vegas). … If we were going to have speed, how would it drive, and it was a lot better than we were here last year.
“We’ve still got a long ways to go. We want to be back winning and running top-five consistently. I’m happy with how we ran last week, but you don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself.”
