Ricky Stenhouse Jr is ‘jumped’ as he aims for a second Daytona 500 victory

Daytona 500 weekend is upon us, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. he wants to put his name in history.

The winner of the 2023 race, Stenhouse will become the 13th driver to take the Daytona 500 checkered flag twice.

After laying low for several months after the start of the season, Stenhouse is being “pushed” to return to competitive racing.

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“I’m ready to go. My team, we’ve got a lot of great things we’re working on with our team, and everybody’s ready to go,” Stenhouse told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

Stenhouse’s victory three years ago didn’t change how he sees himself as a driver, but he knows the Daytona 500 is where legacies are made.

“I think it changed the way maybe a lot of fans saw me as a driver. I mean, anytime you can put a Daytona 500 champion next to your name, it’s something we’ve been fighting for,” he said. “I mean, I ran my first 500 in 2012, and it took me until 2023 to check that box. It was a big win for a small team like ours. I felt like that set us up for a good season that year, and I still feel like we’re building on that. Even though last season wasn’t the season we wanted to show 50 until the year. We’ll have a shot to win.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 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 is, of course, not easy, and it’s a constant mental game for everyone in the sport.

“It’s a lot like golf, like, you know, a good season is going to be two, three wins, right? You’re going to have guys that jump into that fifth and sixth, but not many. You’re going to see guys live with top-10s, right? It’s tough,” Stenhouse said. “But I think that we and Hyak and our team, we have 35 employees, we are a small group, we know our area, we know our resources, the things we have.

“If we’re running top-15 every week, that’s going to be a home run for us. But I think that’s what keeps us motivated, keeps us going, doesn’t go down, one week, each week is a different course, a different track. And you just have to pick your stuff when it’s a bad week and move on to the next.”

So, how do they avoid that bad week? Or better yet, how do they have a successful week?

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet, celebrates with his team after winning the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 19, 2023, in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

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“You need a car that you’re comfortable with, that you can push, you can push people, you can steer it left and right very quickly. If you need to go up the lane, down the lane, make blocks,” said Stenhouse. “But then you have to have a good strategy as well. You have to be able to save fuel, keep your pace, and then when it’s time to go down the road, your pit crew has to do the work when you go into the pit to get you out and make sure you’re still in the lead when you come back. And I’d say that’s probably the hardest part about winning Daytona.

“So I can say here, recently, the last three years, four years at Daytona, that gas man in that pit stop has been kind of a game changer. It can save you seconds, and a lot of seconds. So just put yourself in place, miss the crash, and the chaos, you never know what’s going to happen.”

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