NASCAR CUP SERIES: CRACKER BARREL 400

May 31, 2026

Ricky Stenhouse

Pit Lane Interview

Q. Back-to-back weeks for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. You wind up fourth. How fun was that to come through the field on the four fresh tires?

RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: Mike Kelly and our guys in the war room made a great call to be on offense there with our four fresh Goodyears. It was really cool to get this Kyle Busch NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet tribute car in the top five. You don't want to come here with that scheme and run bad.

Started the day off a little not where we wanted to be, fought back, got some stage points, found ourselves in the top 15. It was fun to be on offense and be in the top-finishing Chevrolet. Really good momentum for our team from last week to this week at a track where we struggled a little bit.

Hat's off to my guys and all our people at NOS Energy Drink, Clemco, Onin Staffing, Chef Boyardee, Three Finger Jack, and all the guys at the shop. There's 28 of our employees that were probably really pumped up about this win, and it's good to continue this momentum that we got.

Q. It was a chaotic race. Did it feel to you chaotic behind the wheel?

RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: Yeah, I'm sure. Our guys did a really good job preparing a car that I could be aggressive with the whole run. I didn't really have any brake issues, and I know there were guys having that and struggling. Kudos to my guys for giving me the things I needed to run hard, a full run.

Man, at the end I was hoping those leaders would get into each other a little bit more and have a couple extra laps there. All in all, happy with our day.