September 27, 2019 | By Lee Spencer

Stenhouse remains optimistic despite abrupt firing

CONCORD, N.C.—Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wasn't surprised when he got “the call”—even though, in this case, the request came in the form of a text.

Over the course of his 11 years at Roush Fenway Racing, the driver had been summoned to the Roush campus in the past.

But the affable 31-year-old racer wasn’t expecting that this trip would result in his termination at season’s end.

“I got a text on Tuesday night to swing by the shop tomorrow before 11,” Stenhouse said. “I’ve gotten plenty of those texts before, so I didn’t think anything of it. My agent called me at 7:30. I was drinking coffee on Wednesday morning. I was getting ready to go work out. He said, ‘Hey, they called me to come to the shop.’ When he said that I said, ‘Uh, that’s probably not very good.’

“We went to the shop at 11, so I found out just before everyone else did. I really didn’t have any knowing that it was coming. But that’s just part of it. People get fired every day from their jobs. I can’t feel sorry for myself. I’ve got to make sure we look forward to these eight races and what we can land and showcase what we’ve got for 2020.”

In 248 Cup starts, Stenhouse has produced two wins, two poles, 15 top fives and 33 wins. He’s also DNFed 28 times, only three of which were the result of mechanical failures. Of the 220 races where Stenhouse was running at the end, he finished on the lead lap only 135 times.

With Roush Fenway Racing on the upswing, the company opted to replace Stenhouse with Chris Buescher, who started with the company as a development driver a decade ago and still had a contractual obligation to RFR.

In the last 48 hours, Stenhouse has been able to process the news.

“Over the past two days, I went from angry to sad to optimistic,” Stenhouse said. “Sometimes change is good. It just didn’t work. It hadn’t been working for the last couple of years. We’ve had speed. We just haven’t had consistent finishes.

“I think that’s what sucks for myself. I feel like we’ve had plenty of speed to get the job done. A lot of things have just come down to us not getting those results. Ultimately, that’s what we’re here for—results—and they weren’t coming.”

Kevin Harvick has been supportive of Stenhouse this season. His agency KHI has plans to represent Stenhouse in 2020 although the driver is currently under contract to Spire Motorsports.

“We’re trying to help him through a pretty bad situation—a really, really, really bad contract that was already written before we had been involved,” Harvick said. “It’s unfortunate timing. You look at those particular business practices are tough to deal with just because how late in the season it is and how few cars there are.

“Based on everything that we had been involved with nothing had ever been talked about. When I had tough moments at RCR and things were bad, we’d sit down. We’d talk through things. We’d say, ‘Ok, this is what you need to do and this is what I need to do better. This is what I think the team needs to do better.’ You’d have real-life conversations. To just drop the hatchet (smirks) in a surprise meeting with seven days to go is just pretty bad business ethics in my opinion.

“We’ve tried to be a little bit of assistance and try to help him forward through a process where he doesn’t have anybody. Ricky has a great reputation in the garage. He’s well connected. He’s the only driver at Roush Racing that has won races since Carl Edwards left. The unfortunate thing is he’s a Cup winner, a two-time Xfinity champion. It’s bad timing and it sucks.”

Understandably, Stenhouse wants to remain in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series but remains open to options.

“It was unfortunate, for sure,” Stenhouse said. “Tough timing for myself and my group to try and find another option. But all in all, I have to look back on the 11 years I had with Jack and winning races and (Xfinity) championships, getting my first Cup win and being competitive—not as consistent as we would have wanted, but at the end of it all, I’m very thankful that Jack took a chance on a dirt racer from Mississippi to come drive his cars.

“It was fun, a little emotional with the relationship Jack and I have—the only team I’ve ever been at. Looking forward to what’s next. There’s a lot of work to do on that. But I’m looking forward to these last eight (races) and the great partners that we have, everybody on the 17 team. I’ve worked with a lot of them since my Nationwide days. It will be tough, but it will be a fun eight races with them.”

Stenhouse plans to make the most of the time he has left behind the wheel of the No. 17 Ford. He knows this weekend at The Roval won’t be easy. Last year, he wrecked on the 2.28 road course with nine circuits remaining in the contest. On Sunday, Stenhouse will start 21st.

“Definitely, a tough weekend here, but I look at the race tracks we have left and how we’ve run at the mile-and-a-half race tracks,” Stenhouse said. “We definitely have some opportunities to run well and showcase what I feel like I can still do behind the wheel.

“I think my team—the 17 team—they’re going to work hard and give me the best piece to go showcase that.”