Ricky Stenhouse Jr. not sure about future – NASCAR news
Ricky Stenhouse is not sure where he will be driving in the next 2012 season after sponsorship issues that have hit the game in recent times started being felt at Roush Fenway Racing team.
Stenhouse was the Nationwide 2010 Series Rookie of the Year and currently leads the Nationwide series by 15 points over Elliott Sadler.
Stenhouse has been driving an unsponsored car in the Nationwide Series for most of the season, and is yet to find a sponsor for the race at Phoenix in November.
“I know I'm going to be racing something,” Stenhouse said during a promotion for Friday’s Nationwide breast cancer awareness race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. “I'm just not sure if it's going to be another full-time Nationwide deal.”
Stenhouse knows that his future depends on the No. 17 Cup car of Matt Kenseth, which is also out of sponsorship for the next season along with the No. 6 Cup car currently driven by David Ragan.
“I know right now they have to get sponsorship for Matt's car,” said Stenhouse. “If they get sponsorship for Matt's car, it'll kind of open up the door for whatever else we're doing. If I had a choice, I'd like to run another full year of Nationwide and
part-time in Cup.”
Roush Fenway Racing president Steve Newmark said that they were still in the process of discussing whether to have 3 or 4 cars in the Cup next year. The number of Nationwide cars that they will run depends on the number of Cup cars they will run.
Newmark did not rule out the possibility of Stenhouse sharing a ride with David Ragan in the Sprint Cup series in an unsponsored or partially sponsored No. 6. It would not be the first time that team owner Jack Roush has done so. He previously fielded an
unsponsored ride for Jeff Burton in the Cup Series and may be willing to do it again for the next season.
With a Nationwide series title that is his to lose, this distraction will be the last thing that Stenhouse would have wanted. The next Nationwide Series race is at Texas on November 5, 2011.
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