A new era begins next season as Hyak Motorsports makes its official NASCAR Cup Series debut. This is more of a reshuffling and a rebrand than a true launch of a new team, so what does Ricky Stenhouse Jr. expect as he returns to the No. 47 Chevrolet?
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"All of us at Hyak Motorsports are looking forward and definitely trying to get our performance back to kinda, really, 2023 season," Stenhouse said during an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
"I feel like obviously starting with a win at the (Daytona) 500 was huge, but I think we averaged a 14th-place finish throughout most of the regular season. That's something that we want to get back to, something that we failed to do this year."
The 2023 season, to Stenhouse's point, was his best statistical performance since 2017 when he drove for Roush Fenway Racing. He matched his career-best mark of nine top-10 finishes and he won a race. His average finish at the end of the season was 17.8 due to a stretch of issues in the playoffs.
Stenhouse told reporters ahead of the final race at Auto Club Speedway in 2023 that he wanted to average a 15th-place finish during the regular season. He said he wanted to approach every race like he was winless.
He backed up the bold talk with strong performances early in the season. He had top-10 finishes at such tracks as Bristol (Dirt), Martinsville, Charlotte, Pocono, and Circuit of the Americas. He only had two DNFs in the regular season. This consistency kept him above the playoff cutline.
Last season was a different story for Stenhouse and the team formerly known as JTG Daugherty Racing. His average finish fell to 22.1 and he only posted six top-10 finishes. He also missed the playoffs before winning a race at Talladega. His number of DNFs increased from three to seven.
This season followed co-owners Tad and Jodi Geschickter quietly departing the team while Gordon Smith took over as principal owner. Moving forward, Smith will lead the team as CEO while working with co-owners co-owners Brad Daugherty, Ernie Cope, and Mark Hughes. Mike Kelley will continue to play a key role as crew chief for the No. 47 team.
The ownership changes and the rebrand are both behind Hyak Motorsports. Now the team can just focus on moving forward and potentially contending for a spot in the playoffs once again. No one knows if the team will achieve this goal, but Stenhouse has said that they have spent the offseason really dialing in on why the No. 47 lacked speed last season.
