Ricky Stenhouse Sr: A Troublemaker for NASCAR or Passionate Racing Dad?

Ever since he was a little boy lighting up the go-kart scenes of Mississippi, Ricky Jr’s father has kept a watchful eye on his son’s now-realized NASCAR-worthy potential. But in light of a million-dollar All-Star brawl emerging as one of the biggest storylines heading out of North Wilkesboro. Stenhouse Sr’s ‘controversial stoppage’ leads many to place a negative lens on his chequered past as a sometimes over-passionate admirer of his son’s premier-tier advances.

Ricky Stenhouse Sr has been heavily active in helping his son gain notoriety within the inner circles of American Motorsports. A former sprint car racer with stints across three decades in USAC, World of Outlaws, and ASCS, Ricky Sr is a racer dad through and through guiding his son to back-to-back Nationwide Series (now known as Xfinity Series) championships in 2011 & 2012.

The Stenhouse family’s racing legacy is steeped into the fabric of Northern Mississippi’s dirt tracks, where the father-son duo have both won races out of their race shop in native Olive Branch. Although Ricky Sr failed to capture the broader imagination by venturing into the world of full-body stock cars, his son sure made him proud in 2008 when Kentucky Speedway witnessed a fresh-faced, 20-year-old Ricky Stenhouse Jr carried Roush Fenway Racing’s #99 Ford to his first Late Model victory in just his sixth-ever ARCA race.

How to celebrate victories like the Stenhouse family (or Not)

It was at this event that Ricky Sr (literally) climbed the fences of a NASCAR track for the very first time. While his son would go on to win one more race at Pocono that season, followed by full-time Xfinity Series runs only a year removed, Stenhouse Sr wouldn’t make headlines again, until 2017 when Junior would win his first-ever Sprint Cup Series race at none other than Talladega Superspeedway. 

Facing mixed emotions witnessing his son break a three-year-old winless streak for Jack Roush’s race team, Stenhouse Sr was detained by track officials after unsuccessfully trying to climb the backstretch fence of Talladega to reach his son to congratulate him. According to Superspeedway’s VP of Business Operations, Russel Branham back in 2017, “His son wins the race, he goes down, he tries to find a way to get across the track. He tried to climb the fence, found out he couldn’t. He begins running down outside of the perimeter road of Turn 3 outside the venue…. to go through the tunnel and get in here. Our guys saw it, naturally they stopped him, asked him who he was, said would you get in the car.”

After initial verifications, Stenhouse Sr received a champion’s escort to his son’s post-race celebrations in victory lane. Ironically, Stenhouse Jr had passed one Kyle Busch on the final overtime lap in this opportune race for his first of three Cup Series race wins. However, in speaking about his father’s actions during interviews post-race, Ricky Jr had justified to the media, “When I won at Kentucky (his first ARCA win), he climbed the fence, and I climbed the other side and met him at the top… “Everything that I know about racing, I learned from him. I’m glad he was able to be here in victory lane.”

Stenhouse Jr would win one more victory that year, coming at Daytona in July at the Coke Zero 400. It would take the 2013 Sprint Cup Series ROTY five more full-time seasons and team change in 2020 to win his next Cup Series race in 2023 again at Daytona, but this time Stenhouse Jr won the longest-ever edition of NASCAR’s season-opening crown jewel event. In what many deemed a wholesome retaliation for this father’s fate only a few years ago, the #47 driver climbed the fence along the grandstands near the start-finish line after claiming his last triumph since then.

Fast forward to 2024, and the Stenhouse family’s fortunes seem to be turning Rowdier courtesy of a two-time champion who wrecked out from top-5 contention in this race itching for a win at Daytona till this day – Kyle Busch.

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Rowdy won three races in his first-ever season driving an RCR Chevrolet. On the other hand, Ricky Jr won his first-ever race for JTG in his third year driving the #47 car. These two separate stars of stock car racing have had widely different approaches to life, success, and, racing in general. But what brings them together is the fact that neither the #8 nor the #47 has seen the victory lane with 2024 approaching its third crown jewel race of the season, the Coca-Cola 600.

And as things stand on the surface, Ricky Jr threatened Busch about a potential wreck awaiting him next Sunday at Charlotte after officials and team members pulled the two premier-tier drivers off each other on the verge of fisticuffs. As per The Athletic, Busch asked his familiar rival to “bring it,” stating further, “I suck just as bad as you… (#47)” If their promises hold, fans may witness the developing chapters of this physical feud come Sunday.

Regardless, the biggest story emerging out of the scuffle has been that of Ricky Stenhouse Sr potentially losing his hard card after slow-motion clips reveal that the former sprint car racer put his hands on Busch first. After separation from his son following the first hit of the ensuing meltdown, some angles show Stenhouse Jr’s father taking a right from the hands of Rowdy himself, painting a sorry picture. While others display a contrary image of the senior citizen landing a cheap shot on the #8 driver amidst the confusion.

Whatever the official ruling may be following Tuesday, NASCAR has undoubtedly benefited from this ‘Rowdy’ exposure concluding a million-dollar main event in repaved North Wilkesboro. Nevertheless, suspensions and fines await the culprits this upcoming week, as the sport is put under a negative light seemingly for the umpteenth time. However, the big question awaiting the Stenhouse family is, if it will be a harsh suspension or a relatively easier-to-settle fine, similar to the one Nick Sanchez’s father received following a melee with Matt Crafton at treacherous Talladega. The questions remain and only NASCAR can answer them all as the week progresses.