Everything To Know About 'Race For The Championship' Star Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. kicked off the 2022 season hoping to build on his existing professional racing accolades by taking home his first NASCAR Cup Series win. The entire journey was captured in USA Network’s 10-part series “Race For The Championship,” which may have introduced many to the talented driver. 

So, who is Ricky Stenhouse Jr.? The short answer is, a born racer. 

He got his start like many pro drivers in kart racing at the age of 6, according to his website. He was born into a racing family as his dad, Ricky Stenhouse Sr., was a sprint car driver. When Jr. wasn’t on the track, he was helping his dad in his racing shop and cleaning cars at the local dirt track.

At age 15, Stenhouse Jr. graduated to sprint cars and began stock car racing in 2008 racing in the ARCA Racing Series for Roush Fenway Racing. After finding success, he began racing a partial schedule in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, winning Rookie of the year in 2010. 

In his second season in that circuit, he won the championship and then won it again the next year. This turned enough heads to get him a spot in NASCAR’s premier series. He performed well and even won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award.

Since then he’s been a full-time season competitor with two wins under his belt: one at Talladega and another at Daytona, both in 2017, according to his NASCAR bio. Now he’s hoping to finally secure a championship victory in the 2022 season and will do it all with cameras rolling for “Race For The Championship.”

Since 2020, he's been doing it with JTG Daugherty Racing.

As if his many NASCAR accolades weren’t impressive enough, he does it all while racing part-time in the sprint car racing community. He even owns a team within it. When he’s not behind the wheel, Stenhouse spends time with longtime girlfriend Madyson Joye Goodfleisch. In 2021, he announced he proposed to her and they’ve been engaged to one another ever since. 

Fans will get a look at his home life and professional life every week on “Race For The Championship,” which airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on USA Network. 

You can catch more NASCAR content on Peacock right now.