NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
APRIL 10, 2026
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet and No. 4 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Media Availability Quotes:
WITH OUR MEDIA AVAILABILITIES FOR TODAY, WE’RE JOINED BY RICKY STENHOUSE, JR., DRIVER OF THE NO. 47 HYAK MOTORSPORT CHEVROLET. HE’LL ALSO BE DRIVING A NO. 4 NEICE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET THIS EVENING. RICKY, YOU WERE IN VOLS COUNTRY. DO YOU WANT TO GO AHEAD AND GIVE US A RUNDOWN AND HOW THAT WENT?
“Yeah, it was cool going to Tennessee, and you know, they got a new motorsports program there. You know, there’s a whole collegiate racing series that I got to learn about. I had no idea. I guess there’s like, 65, you know, colleges across the country that participate in this program. So, the Rocky Top race team is in the process of putting everything together for them to go race this year and then it is just really cool to go see how many people were interested in motorsports there at the University of Tennessee. And, obviously, while we’re there, I can’t not go to Neyland Stadium and check that out. We went over to the swim team and checked out some of their practice and what they were doing there, and, obviously, that facility and everything they have there is top notch. So, it was really cool to see, and I got to talk to the swim team, and I think I got a few of them interested. I think they’re going to come over for the Truck race tonight. So, it’d be cool to have them out. Had a good time.”
YOU’RE RUNNING THE TRUCK SERIES RACE TONIGHT, RAN IN DAYTONA. HAVE YOU FIGURED ANYTHING OUT FROM THESE RACES THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO CUP, OR IS IT JUST SO DIFFERENT?
“They’re so different. Um, you know this will be the first, I would say standard track, outside of Daytona, Atlanta, drafting tracks that I’ve run the truck. But, for me, it’s just about getting in a race car and making laps and racing some more. You know, we’ve cut down on practice so much that we’re not in the car that often. Compared to when I first got into NASCAR, we were in the car a lot. So, I asked my team about running some Truck races, and Hyak was super on board with it. They said, ‘yeah man, go make as many laps as you can and have fun’. So, the guys at Neice Motorsports have done a really good job. Obviously, their truck program’s strong, and they want to get back in the winter circle, and I feel like we’ve had the opportunity to do that at Daytona, Atlanta, right there towards the end of those races. I was kind of bummed that we didn’t get it done, so hopefully tonight we can get it done in our Comprehensive Logistics, number four.
AND JUST KIND OF HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS WHERE THE 47 IS AT RIGHT NOW, AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON?
“Before the off season, not great. But I feel, but there are some positives, you know, to still take out of it. Last year, felt like we raced well, especially towards the end of the season, but our Saturdays, we would really struggle. We struggled qualifying. We struggled to have a good practice session. But it seemed like we could, you know, manage the race and have a decently strong car in the race. This year, I would say it’s quite the opposite. We’ve had strong qualifying runs. I feel like our average, even though we didn’t qualify well at Martinsville, I think I could have done a couple things different to be a little bit better there on Saturday. But our average qualifying has to be, you know, 10 spots better than what we qualified last year. So, we made the Saturday practice session and qualifying sessions better, but we haven’t been able to turn that into good runs in the race. And so, the off weekend came at a really good time for the 47 team. I feel like we put our heads together for those two weeks to try and figure out what we’re going to do to be better on Sundays. And I think we have a good game plan, you know, going forward, but also, we got a good run of racetracks that we normally run well at. We have had good success at. So, looking forward to starting it off here at Bristol.”
TODAY’S A RECORD NUMBER FOR CUP DRIVERS RACING IN A TRUCK SERIES RACE. SO, WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES THIS SERIES SO ATTRACTIVE TO CUP GUYS?
“Yeah, it’s fun. You know, running the trucks is fun so far, the two races that I’ve got to run. And then we’re at Bristol. Bristol is, you know, probably one of our favorite racetracks. You know, no matter who you ask, if I wasn’t in the Truck race, I’d be in the grandstands watching. So, I’d much rather be in the race truck racing. So, yeah, it was a record number, and I look at the list of all those guys that run, and I would say we all run really well on the Cup side at Bristol, and so it’s a racetrack that we enjoy.”
MY SECOND ONE FOR YOU IS THIS IS CARSON FERGUSON’S FIRST START, A DIRT GUY. SO, WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN FROM HIM? I DON’T KNOW IF YOU WATCHED THE RACE FOR THE SEAT SHOW OR ANYTHING, BUT WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ANOTHER DIRT GUY GETTING A SHOT ON ASPHALT?
“Yeah, for him to do so well in that show and be getting an opportunity to run a truck, again, it’s a lot different. Clearly, he’s got, you know, a lot of talent, and if there’s anywhere that I would pick for him to run, it would be Bristol. It wouldn’t be a place like Martinsville. So, yeah, I think he’s going to have a lot of fun, and I know that they’ve been working really hard on those trucks to get them better. It seems like they’re trending in the right direction. So, I will be pumped for him to get out on the racetrack.”
WHEN I TALKED TO YOU LAST YEAR AT TALLADEGA, YOU SAID THAT CHANGING THE STAGES TO ADDRESS FUEL SAVING WOULDN’T REALLY MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE. NOW THAT THEY’RE ACTUALLY GOING TO EXPERIMENT WITH THAT, DO YOU HAVE ANY UPDATED THOUGHTS ON HOW THAT MIGHT PLAY OUT?
“Yeah, I think I’ll probably still save fuel. Because, you still have to make a pit stop after the stage is over, and so you’re still going to want to put as less…..especially the second stage, going into that third stage, you’re still going to want to put the least amount of fuel in as possible. So, you know, you got nine seconds to change your tires, and if you’re going to change four, then you need at least only put nine seconds of gas in. You don’t want to sit there any longer, so I’m sure we’ll still, you know, save some fuel. I don’t know if you’re going to spend a lot of time saving, but you’re still going to save fuel.”
WITH THE NEW TIRE HERE, IS THAT ANY SORT OF AN EQUALIZER FOR A TEAM LIKE YOURS THAT MAYBE DOESN’T GET ALL THE DATA AND HAVE ALL THE SAME TIME?
I don’t know if it’s an equalizer. I feel like you had teams come here and do the test session. So those teams got more information on it, and then, you know, I think they get more information, you know, from their manufacturers based off of that test. So, yeah, I’m not sure. if it’s an equalizer or not, but over the last handful of Bristol races, I feel like we’ve showed up here and not really known what we had anyway. So, we’ve had practice sessions here where our tires have lasted, and then in the race, they didn’t. And then we’ve had practice sessions where they didn’t last in practice and they did in the race. And so, you know, for us as a race team, we felt like we gave up some performance based off of, you know, coming here with a setup package that was going to be easier on the tires, and then not having tire issues. So, we gave up performance based off of, what we felt like was going to happen with the tires. So, we kind of came here, you know, with our normal, you could call it a more aggressive package, to make speed. So, because, obviously, if it is a tire wear race like we had, pitting more often and coming back out on the racetrack seemed to be the best strategy anyway. We were really good on the long runs, but it never paid off because you would finally pit later into the run and then you wouldn’t, there would be a caution before the end of the stage. And so you would never get back to where you were. And so, the guys that pitted, multiple times a little sooner, seemed to have the best strategy. So again, I don’t know if it’s an equalizer or not. I’ll let you know after Sunday.”
AT DAYTONA, THERE WAS A LOT OF BUZZ, A LOT OF CUP DRIVERS WERE IN THAT TRUCK RACE. DO YOU THINK THE FANS REALLY LIKE TO SEE YOU GUYS COMING BACK ON A FRIDAY OR SATURDAY WITH THE RULES RELAXED A LITTLE BIT WHERE THEY SEE SOME OF THAT RECOGNITION AND THEY’RE NOW TAKING IN A WHOLE WEEKEND OF PACKAGES FOR RACES?
“Yeah, I think so. I mean, when I when I first got into the sport and was in the Nationwide Series back in the day, I mean, I was racing against 5 to 7 cup guys pretty regularly. And there were a lot of fans in the grandstands, and I know that there were a lot of fans in the stands for the Cup race as well at that time. You know, but just talking to fans, there’s a lot of fans that seemed pumped up that were in the Truck race. And, you know, I get that a lot. Like, ‘man, I’m glad you’re running the truck race’. So yeah, I would say you get a handful of people that want to come and watch more Truck racing or more O’Reilly Auto Parts Series racing because the Cup guys are in there. So, I think it was a good move to open that up and let us run a little bit more.”
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