St. Louis Area Synonymous with Stenhouse, Starts 12th in Enjoy Illinois 300

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had some fun around the St. Louis area leading into the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway this Sunday. Stenhouse, who won the season opening Daytona 500 at Daytona, had the one-of-a-kind opportunity to visit Busch Stadium Tuesday to throw out the first pitch.

“It was really cool! I grew up coming to Cardinals games when I was younger. I was a big baseball fan and I would always come up here with some of my cousins. Just a little road trip up.”

The St. Louis area has been synonymous with the driver from Olive Branch, Mississippi, as Stenhouse visited the area several times throughout his childhood and even the annual dirt races at the dome. Stenhouse spoke about the atmosphere around the city and the passionate fans.

“I think I noticed it when I came here to race in the dome in dirt cars, which was really neat,” Stenhouse told SD. “There’s a lot of big sports fans around here as I’ve been to some Blues (NHL hockey) games, obviously Cardinals games, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a football game but, this town loves their sports and they support them as shown here.” 

The driver sat 28th on the practice chart early Saturday morning prior to posting the 12th fastest time in qualifying.