Ricky Stenhouse Jr. reached the pinnacle of his NASCAR Cup Series career this season when he raced his No. 47 Chevy into victory lane in the 65th running of the Daytona 500.
A big win, of course, called for a big trophy — the Harley J. Earl Trophy to be exact — in which Stenhouse is in possession of. Now, you would think there’d be a special spot for the trophy, and you’d be right. During a recent interview with Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports, Stenhouse revealed the coordinates of his most prized possession.
“It’s between the living room and the kitchen,” Stenhouse said. “We did some updating to our house recently and we took a lot of the trophies that I had sitting out and put those in a back room. But we definitely kept the Daytona 500 trophy front and center. We’re pretty proud of that.”
It sounds cliche, but it’s true. When you win the Daytona 500, life changes a little bit for NASCAR drivers. Stenhouse has experienced that first-hand since claiming the victory in February.
“It’s been nice. It’s nice being introduced as a Daytona 500 champion. Just knowing we were — especially that week — representing the sport and the 75th anniversary and getting it kicked off,” Stenhouse said of life as Daytona 500 champion. “You know, we’ve had a great season, great turnouts, great crowd, great viewership. So, it was really cool to kinda kick off the season as the Daytona 500 champion, being able to represent the sport of NASCAR.
“And then going forward, going to all the appearances, I get reminded every day that we won the Daytona 500, which is not a bad idea.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. enjoying life as Daytona 500 champion
The prestige of winning the Daytona 500 never really goes away. Stenhouse gets to associate his name with some of the best to ever drive a car in NASCAR. He says it’s a surreal feeling.
“I look at the people who won the Daytona 500, and you’re always a Daytona 500 champion every time they introduce you at Cup Series races,” Stenhouse said. “For me, it’s unreal to be in that club. We worked really hard for that.”
Winning “The Great American Race” is one thing. Capitalizing off of it, is another. In the 21 races since his victory, Stenhouse has performed well for JTG Daugherty Racing. He sits 14th in the points standings, having recorded seven top 10s and two top 5s.
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