Ricky Stenhouse Jr. continues to find himself under fire from NASCAR fans, much of it dating back to his dust-up with Kyle Busch last season. Despite turning in a string of improved performances, public perception seems stuck in neutral.
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Now in his 13th full-time Cup Series campaign, the 37-year-old has logged four race wins but cracked the playoff grid just twice. His strongest season came in 2017 when he finished 13th in the standings, boosted by wins at Talladega and Daytona.
Though his lone win last year also came at Talladega, it was only after failing to qualify for the playoffs. This season, however, Stenhouse appears to have stepped up his game.
One top-five and three top-10s so far may seem a modest return but they don’t tell the complete story. According to NASCAR Insights, he currently ranks second in lead-lap finishes, trailing only Chase Elliott. While Elliott has finished on the lead lap in 17 races, Stenhouse has done so on 15 occasions in 2025.
Still, when Stenhouse took to X to share that statistic with a jab of his own, “Haters still gunna hate,” fans didn’t miss a beat in clapping back. One quipped, “Who did you pay to have your name put at the top of that tie list, Ricky?”
Haters still gunna hate https://t.co/H1GQhC8oMG
— Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (@StenhouseJr) July 2, 2025
Another chimed in with, “I am proud of you, Wrecky!” Meanwhile, a sarcastic jab read, “Too bad this means nothing under the current point system but good for you!” Even a self-professed former critic joined the fray: “As a former hater, I still call you spinhouse, but I do it affectionately now.”
Stenhouse currently sits 21st in the Cup standings with 355 points, dragged down in part by the costly wreck in Mexico triggered by Carson Hocevar, which left him limping to a 27th-place finish.
The No. 47 Hyak Motorsports driver has eight more bites at the apple to punch his ticket to the playoffs. But with three of those events scheduled on road courses, historically not his strong suit, Stenhouse faces an uphill climb, starting this weekend on the challenging streets of Chicago.
