Where did Ricky Stenhouse Jr. grow up? A look at NASCAR driver's roots and early racing days

Richard Lynn Stenhouse Jr., popularly known as Ricky Stenhouse Jr., is one of the most notable NASCAR drivers of recent times. The JTG Daugherty Racing driver, who took the NASCAR fraternity by storm with his victory in the second Round-of-12 race at Talladega on October 6, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, on October 2, 1987.

As the 2013 Cup Series Rookie of the Year grabbed the limelight, fans began to wonder about the 37-year-old's rise to fame, his roots, and his early racing days. In this article, we have managed to amass all of the information. Let's delve deeper into Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s life.

Richard Lynn Stenhouse Jr. was born to Ricky Stenhouse Sr. and Lisa Stenhouse. His father is an ex-NASCAR driver and one can understand how the JTG Daugherty Racing driver had a head-start as he is from a racing family.

The 2023 Daytona 500 winner spent most of his childhood in Olive Branch, Mississippi. At the age of just six, he began to show potential as he started his go-kart journey. He began to climb up the ranks of motorsport and graduated to sprint cars at 15.

Whenever he wasn't on track, Stenhouse Jr. was helping his father clean cars and stayed involved with motorsport in all possible ways. Being a racing driver himself, Stenhouse Sr. supported his son from day one, and reports say he and his wife Lisa are two of the biggest supporters of the 37-year-old driver.

Stenhouse Jr. became a stock car racing driver in 2008 when he joined Roush Fenway Racing. His magical rise continued as he joined the Xfinity Series in 2010 and claimed the Rookie of the Year award.

It was only a year after his Xfinity Series debut that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. debuted in the Cup Series. 2024 is his 14th season in the elite stock car racing competition.

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr. once spilled the beans about his racing reputation

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (47) celebrates a win after the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

Over the years, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has come to be known for his rough and hard racing. When asked about it during an interview in 2016, the JTG Daugherty Racing driver was nonchalant and straightforward.

Here is what he said (via USA Today):

"Everybody in the garage feels like I drive pretty hard. I’m a typical dirt racer that wants to go try different lines. When the line goes to the top of the racetrack, I feel like I’m a little bit better. Kevin Harvick came up to me one time and said, “You were fast this weekend, so I knew I could drive into the corner a lot harder than I was” -- because he knows I drive into the corner a lot further than him."

"I drive the car hard. I’ve got to have it pretty loose for the way I drive it, and that’s why we’ve struggled over the last few years. Our cars haven’t been able to turn very good. So I would say everybody thinks I drive the car pretty hard, and I would say that’s accurate," he added.

Interestingly, eight years after this interview, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got involved in a physical altercation with Kyle 'Rowdy' Busch at the 2024 All-Star race. Reports say it was the JTG Daugherty driver who started the brawl with a punch aimed at Busch after the latter wrecked him at North Wilkesboro.