Interview
NASCAR Cup
Stenhouse: "Tough conversations" held on Roush team performance
It’s been a year since Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s last Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series victory.
Jim Utter
Edited: Jul 5, 2018, 8:41 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
He believes he’ll be in contention again in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the site of his most recent race win.
But his Roush Fenway Racing organization still has a ways to go to become competitive week-in and week-out during the season.
“We’ve had some tough conversations these last few weeks. I think I’ve been pretty vocal in the shop and sometimes whether it be in an interview or on the radio probably when I shouldn’t, and I definitely need to respect all of our guys at the shop that are working hard and trying to provide new stuff for us,” Stenhouse, 30, said Thursday at Daytona.
“We just haven’t got that new stuff as quick as what we wanted. I think last week I got a little frustrated hearing other teams bringing new cars to the track and kind of seeing their performance have an uptick and then some of those cars we’re racing to get in the playoffs.
“So, that’s kind of where the frustration comes in.”
Stenhouse managed a respectable 16th place finish last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway and sits 16th in the series standings entering this weekend’s race. He finished a career-high 13th last year and qualified for the playoffs.
Daytona an opportunity to win
His only top-five finishes this season have come at Bristol, Tenn., and Talladega, Ala., giving him hope of contending for the win this week at Daytona.
“Daytona and I feel like Bristol – there are two tracks that we can still potentially win at, being able to go out and win a race. Obviously, they are race tracks where things can play out,” Stenhouse said.
“I don’t think we have the speed at the mile-and-a-halves yet to go out there and win like we want to, but Daytona definitely Saturday night is a really big opportunity for us, but for everyone else, too.”
Stenhouse said Roush is working to bring cars with some new updates to the track soon, but they aren’t quite ready yet.
“It needs to be now, but, like I said, the process of getting something new and deciding what path you’re going to go down to make the cars better and faster is you sit there and kind of get a group together,” he said.
“It’s been nice having Matt (Kenseth) kind of back up what we’ve been saying in our cars and trying to get us going down a direction of fixing that, so it’s been good having him there.
“We’ve been talking a lot of what we need for our cars to be faster, so that’s been a huge positive.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Clint Bowyer leads Ford armada in first Cup practice at Daytona
Next article Kyle Larson: "I feel like I've become a lot smarter racer"
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
More from
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Winners and losers from a frantic NASCAR Cup race at Talladega
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
Winners and losers from a frantic NASCAR Cup race at Talladega
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. explains why he lost Talladega Cup race
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. explains why he lost Talladega Cup race
Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics
More from
Roush Fenway Racing
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
Brad Keselowski to address questions about NASCAR future and RFK exit at Martinsville
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
Brad Keselowski to address questions about NASCAR future and RFK exit at Martinsville
Ryan Preece on RFK nearly lapping the field: "You'll never see that again"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
Ryan Preece on RFK nearly lapping the field: "You'll never see that again"
Latest news
Why Hypercar drivers are going “blind” into Monza WEC qualifying
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
6 min
Why Hypercar drivers are going “blind” into Monza WEC qualifying
Steve O'Donnell touts growth, acknowledges challenges in State of NASCAR presser
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
29 min
Steve O'Donnell touts growth, acknowledges challenges in State of NASCAR presser
"We failed so we had to react" - Fred Vasseur on Ferrari driver talks and Mexico F1 fallout
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
43 min
"We failed so we had to react" - Fred Vasseur on Ferrari driver talks and Mexico F1 fallout
F1 Brazilian GP: Kimi Antonelli sets early FP2 pace
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
50 min
F1 Brazilian GP: Kimi Antonelli sets early FP2 pace
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe