Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is no stranger to pushing his car to the limit. The veteran racer has built a reputation by wrestling every ounce of speed out of his vehicles, long before he even made a name for himself in NASCAR. Growing up in a sprint racing family, he learned very early on how to extract every last drop of performance from his machines. Perhaps that’s why by 2003, he was already winning Rookie of the Year honors in wing sprint cars. And in 2007, he stunned the dirt racing world by sweeping major USAC events and dominating the Copper on Dirt weekend.

But that same all-out, elbows-out sprint car style didn’t translate easily to stock cars. The intensity that once won him big dirt track moments started causing him trouble during his early NASCAR transition. And now, the 38-year-old driver knows why.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. reminisces about the good ol’ sprint racing days

Speaking on Chase Holden’s YouTube video, Stenhouse Jr. revealed, “I would say the biggest thing is just, and I still deal with it now, is just, you know, overdriving the race car, right? Like I mean, you’ve seen, I mean, sometimes the harder you drive a sprint car, the better it feels, faster it goes. You know, it fixes a lot of problems. Stock car racing’s not necessarily like that…But for the most part, you’ve got to get your car driving the way it needs to so that you can drive just under that limit. And, you know, that was difficult.” 

And the Hyak Motorsports driver is right in pointing it out. Sprint cars reward aggression, full stop. They are light, high-powered, and built with massive wings that generate extreme downforce, especially on dirt. Because of that, the harder a driver pushes (the more throttle, sharper entry, and more rotation), the better the car often responds. This extra aggression can actually solve handling issues in a sprint car. The car tightens up, gains grip, and becomes faster when pushed to its limit. This is the driving instinct Stenhouse Jr. grew up with, so muscling a car into working faster becomes second nature.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s 2025 season has already offered several moments that reflect the aggressive edge he’s long been known for. The clearest example came at Nashville, when he spun into the wall after hard contact with Carson Hocevar. The 38-year-old driver later admitted he’d defended the position too strongly, saying he wondered if he should have “just hung a right and let him go” instead of fighting so hard. The wreck resulted in his first DNF of the season and intensified his feud with the 22-year-old, who accused him of being overaggressive.

Stock cars behave in almost the opposite way. A NASCAR Cup car is heavy and far less forgiving. It is extremely sensitive to tire management and aerodynamic balance. When a driver pushes a stock car too hard, it doesn’t get faster; it slows down. Overdriving causes the front tires to slide, the rear to step out, and the tires to wear dramatically quickly. Instead of fixing problems, aggression creates more of them.

Another notable moment came at Dover, where a risky no-pit call left Stenhouse on old tires and vulnerable. Not long after, he slammed into the Turn 3 wall, a crash that destroyed his car. It underscored how an aggressive strategy paired with aggressive driving can go sideways fast. These incidents illustrate that while the 38-year-old may not be overdriving in the Sprint Car sense, he is still towing that fine line between maximum attack and self-inflicted damage, something he openly acknowledges he still wrestles with.

Reflecting on the good ol’ days, Stenhouse Jr. recounted, “You know, I’m watching sprint car racing, you know, and you know, when I was racing sprint cars in 2007 racing USAC, I helped the guys work on the car because that’s, you know, that’s one of the things that I miss about sprint car racing is, you know, working on the race cars.”

He went on to say, “And so when I started driving for Tony’s sprint car team, I would work on the cars with the crew guys. We would stay out late at the car wash. Then you would sleep in till, you know, noon, and then you know race that night and do it all over again. So, trying to come back over to asphalt racing was very difficult for a while.”

But as Stenhouse recalls his stint with the man who played a big role in shaping his career, the Tennessee native couldn’t help but send out an emotional message to Tony Stewart.

Stenhouse Jr. traces his NASCAR career to Tony Stewart

Stenhouse Jr. burst onto the scene at the Copper on Dirt event at Manzanita Speedway, winning two of the three races and making it clear he was far more than just another up-and-coming sprint car driver.  By sweeping both the USAC National Sprint Car and Silver Crown features, excelling in both winged and non-winged machinery, he quickly drew the attention of people across NASCAR.

Among those watching was the three-time Cup Series champion, who chose Stenhouse to take over Tracy Hines’ seat at Tony Stewart Racing.  And Stenhouse will forever be grateful for that move.  Speaking to Chase Holden, the Tennessee native said, “I bugged him for 2 or 3 years to drive his car, and then finally I got two opportunities. I don’t know if I would have made it to where I’m at without Tony’s sprint team … that was the number one reason why I wanted a sprint car team … once you’re around it, you don’t really want to get rid of it.”

The move paid off almost immediately. In his second outing with the TSR Stenhouse #21 car, he won the USAC National Midget Car Series at Tri-State Speedway, securing a spot with the team for the rest of the year. His rapid rise continued at the close of 2007 when he signed with Roush Fenway Racing to compete in the ARCA Menards Series, setting him on the path toward NASCAR’s national divisions.

He added, “I want to get out as much as I can … I watch just about every single night … we have debriefs every week … I debrief with the driver and go over everything … I’ll probably make it to 5 to 10 races a year.” While praising the Stenhouse crew, he said, ” They got a lot riding on their shoulders … clean the truck and trailer … work on the car … make sure everything’s tip top … then they go to the car wash … do it all over again.” 

And while admitting that NASCAR was never on his radar, Stenhouse Jr. is more than grateful for the opportunity, and clearly, he doesn’t forget his roots.