CONCORD, N.C. – It had been so long since he had competed in a World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series race that even Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had to be reminded just how long it had been after climbing from his car Friday night.
“Nine years, huh?” Stenhouse mused. “I actually thought it had been 10, to be honest with you. Still a while, for sure.”
Stenhouse made his first Outlaws start since 2009 during the Outlaw Showdown at the same track where he’d made his most recent appearance prior to Friday night, returning to The Dirt Track at Charlotte driving for the team he co-owns with Richard Marshall – Stenhouse Jr./Marshall Racing.
Nine years ago, Stenhouse piloted Scott Hensley’s No. 40r machine to a 16th-place finish at Charlotte, earning KSE Hard Chargers in the process. This time, Stenhouse carried the No. 17bc on his own car, in honor of his late friend Bryan Clauson.
While he wasn’t able to charge forward quite like he did in 2009, Stenhouse replicated the end result, coming home 16th again after winning the 12-lap Last Chance Showdown to race into the main event.
“Even though Richard and I own this team, I still had to ask (crew chief) Tyler (Swank) if I could race,” Stenhouse laughed. “They had fun. It was a lot of work, but it was really cool to see two NOS Energy Drink/West Tennessee Expediting No. 17 sprint cars on track tonight.
“I wish I could have run better. It was cool to run the B (main) and get some extra laps, but I’ll admit I’m a little rusty when it comes to the racing part. All in all though, it was fun to finally get back in a World of Outlaws race and semi-remember how to do this again. I really enjoyed it and that was the goal.”
Stenhouse said that while he finished exactly where he did the last time he was at Charlotte, it wasn’t nearly as easy a journey as it was nearly a decade prior.
“Things have changed a lot since I was here last,” Stenhouse noted. “The cars and the competition, with the guys who are running every weekend now, are way stronger than even the last time I raced here.
“We actually worked on the car that I drove at my house during the week,” he added. “We got it all ready out there and didn’t have to get it ready out here (at the race track), which really helped us pull all this together. When you show up on a regular Outlaws weekend and you have to get a car down from upstairs … it’s just a lot more difficult to get everything ready the way it needs to be.”
While the extra car did add some hours to the SJM crew’s week, it served as a benefit to their primary driver, Sheldon Haudenschild.
“Just to have the extra feedback and getting to watch Ricky have a little bit of fun was really cool,” said Haudenschild. “I definitely enjoyed having two cars out there tonight and feel like it did give me some extra data … just to see what he was doing differently than I was. Yes, it was some extra work for our guys, it made tonight that much more special when it was all said and done.
Even though Stenhouse’s decision to run was a last-minute one, it brought a new fan to The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
“I didn’t really let anybody know we were going to do this before we flipped the switch, honestly,” Stenhouse admitted. “We were kicking the idea around on Thursday, and then I had a meeting with Jack (Roush) at about 1:30 before we headed to the race track … and at the end of that meeting, I said to him, ‘Hey Jack, do you want to come watch at The Dirt Track tonight?’
“He had never been here before this, so he came out for hot laps, qualifying and the heat race, which was really fun. We really enjoyed having him out here with us.”
