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NASCAR Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will kick off his 2024 campaign at the 2024 Chilli Bowl Nationals this week.
Defending Daytona 500 winner entered te 2024 Chili Bowl Nationals at the last minute. The event will see him racing on Friday (January 12) in the Prelim action inside the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will drive the Keith Kunz Motorsports-Curb-Agajanian/NOS Energy No. 71R on the quarter-mile dirt oval known as Tulsa Expo Raceway, and try to qualify for the championship feature on Saturday.
The #47 JTG Daugherty Racing isn’t the first Cup driver to make a surprise appearance. He has joined the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson on the entry list for the 2024 edition of the world's biggest midget car racing event.
This reportedly happened thanks to a conversation between Stenhouse Jr. and Larson. According to FloRacing, the 2021 Cup champion suggested Stenhouse Jr. to reach out to Keith Kunz, whom Larson will drive for in Thursday’s event.
“I was texting with [Kyle] Larson, telling him, the same time you were trying to get your deal together, I was trying to get a deal together, and he said to call Keith [Kunz], which I’ve run for him one other time at the Chili Bowl, and I didn’t really perform the way I wanted to, so I wasn’t sure if he would let me back in one of his cars, but I shot him a text, and he said, let me get on that, so here we are,” Stenhouse explained as quoted by NASCAR.com.
“Obviously, Keith has the best cars out there, and they show every night, so I’m looking forward to getting back in a Midget at the Expo to see what we can do,” he added.
“Really looking forward to getting back to Chili Bowl” – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Three-time NASCAR Cup Series winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has appeared in the Chili Bowl 16 times and made the championship feature eight times. His best performance came in 2021, when he finished P7 in the main event.
Speaking about the opportunity to race again at Chili Bowl, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said, as quoted by NASCAR.com:
“Really looking forward to getting back to Chili Bowl. Obviously, took last year off and I missed it. I was sitting on the couch watching this week, and my wife looked at me and said, I can tell you really want to go; just go.”
Catch Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in action on Friday night’s Prelim action at FloRacing.
