Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2025 season in review

Editor's note: This is the first in a series in which we review the top 30 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in reverse order of the 2025 final standings.

Driver: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
Crew chief: Mike Kelley
Final 2025 ranking: 30th
Key stats: 0 wins, 1 top five, 3 top 10s, 8 laps led

How 2025 ended: For much of the summer, Stenhouse and the rebranded organization struggled to place competitive results, at one point going 13 consecutive races without finishing better than 20th. But over the final five weeks of the season, the 38-year-old started to turn the corner, picking up three finishes of 19th or better heading into the winter, including a top 15 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Stenhouse failed to extend his career-best two-year win streak, but transitions to the offseason with some momentum.

Best race: While Stenhouse is often known as a superspeedway ace, arguably his best race in 2025 came at Texas Motor Speedway in May. Qualifying 34th, the Olive Branch, Mississippi, native benefited from mass attrition and an overtime attempt to finish sixth, his best result in 21 tries at the 1.5-mile track. That set him up for top 20s in the next two races, both at intermediates, to end May sitting 13th in points.

RELATED: 2026 Cup Series schedule | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. driver page

Other season highlights: Stenhouse contended for the win in both his trips to EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway) in 2025, finishing fifth in the spring and sixth in the summer. His 11th-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 was equally impressive, qualifying in the same spot and remaining in the mix for a majority of the race. He also qualified second for the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway, and in both races there, he spent more than 46% of laps inside the top 15, according to NASCAR's loop data.

Stat to know: Stenhouse finished 30th or worse 10 times this season, all of which came in the final 23 events of the season. Conversely, in the first 13 races, he finished 19th or better eight times.

Quotable: "Being in Mexico, it's the reason I just went and talked to him instead of letting him get out of the car and making sure nothing did happen that I would have regretted later ... Just walking up and doing it in the garage -- that's what got me in trouble for the All-Star Race (in 2024) . It's been two out of three weeks, so I'm sure there might be something else. We'll just see how that goes ... I'm tired of giving the kid any publicity," said Stenhouse, referring to Carson Hocevar after run-ins at Nashville Superspeedway and Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez over the summer.

Looking ahead: Stenhouse is expected to return to the No. 47 Chevrolet for the seventh consecutive season and his second under the Hyak banner. Although 2025 didn't play out in his favor, history shows this season was likely an anomaly. Until this year, Stenhouse never finished worse than 26th in points, and wins in both 2023 and 2024 prove that the veteran remains plenty capable in the Cup Series.