Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has heard the rumors that he will depart Hyak Motorsports for another team. He has responded by reiterating that he will continue to drive the No. 47 Chevrolet for the foreseeable future.
"For me, we redid my contract last year with Hyak Motorsports," Stenhouse Jr. told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "So, I'm here through '26 unless they tell me otherwise or unless we redo another one and stay there for longer.
"For me, Mike (Kelley, crew chief), and the boys -- like I said -- are working hard trying to figure out how we can get some consistency and a little bit more speed heading into the offseason so we can hit the ground running for next year. I've got a great group of guys who work hard, and we all want the same thing."
The rumors of Stenhouse Jr.'s departure have coincided with discussions surrounding a driver at another organization. Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic noted in a reader mailbag that one situation to monitor featured Justin Haley and Spire Motorsports. Bianchi noted that the team gave "serious consideration" to replacing Haley during the season.
Haley has improved his performance and kept his seat for the rest of the 2025 season, but Bianchi said that Spire Motorsports continued to evaluate its options. Daniel Suarez and Stenhouse Jr. were the two names included in this mailbag.
Why would Stenhouse Jr. be on this list of options? The simple answer is that he has been very good at superspeedway racing in his career. He has celebrated four wins split evenly between two tracks and two different eras of NASCAR. He has also delivered top-five finishes at a mix of intermediate and short tracks.
Photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography
Possibly more important is the fact that Stenhouse Jr. has cleaned up his driving since his early days suiting up for owner Jack Roush. He has acknowledged multiple times that he has learned to only push for what the car can do. He doesn't need to run top-five or win every week. If the car is capable of 12th, try to run 12th.
Stenhouse Jr. has driven the No. 47 since the 2020 season when he and Chris Buescher essentially swapped seats. He first worked alongside Ryan Preece in a two-driver lineup before becoming the team's sole driver in 2022 and beyond.
According to his comments responding to these rumors, he will continue to drive for the rebranded team into the future as he pursues more wins.