Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spoke with an enthusiastic crowd of Nascar fans on Friday afternoon in the car park of a Ralph’s grocery in Fontana, California, under a tent that was leaking from the pissing rain and with temperatures in the 40s.
The promotional appearance was planned long before anyone expected Stenhouse to come out on top the season-opening race in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday.
Yet since performances like Stenhouse’s on Friday are essential for maintaining the important sponsorship connections that support a single-car outfit like JTG Daugherty Racing, business must go on.
“Not many understand, you’re out here at a grocery store event in the rain on a Friday, where he’s meeting fans and meeting our sponsor people and does everything with grace and dignity,” said team co-owner Tad Geschickter.
“He’s happy to do it. No question is too dumb or no extra appearance is too much. I think he’s enjoyed it.”
Even though Stenhouse visited New York City and Chicago as part of his “Victory Tour” after winning the Daytona 500, he still recognizes the importance of occasions like Friday’s.
“I feel like one of the things I’ve always tried to do in my career is take care of our partners, go above and beyond what they expect,” Stenhouse told Motorsport.com. “I thought I had done that at Roush. That’s what I do for my sprint car team, and it’s what I do for JTG.
“Obviously, here at JTG, it’s a little more intensive just because we have so many partners with just the way the program is run with Kroger. But it takes every single one of them to make this work.”
Stenhouse acknowledged that coming off a victory at Daytona makes the timetable easier to manage, but appearances are equally crucial when things aren’t going well.
“I feel like even when we were grinding it out and struggling at the end of last year, we were still going around and doing all these same things in parking lots for Kroger or Ralph’s or Dillons or Fry’s all across the country,” he said.
“This sport has changed a lot. To be in this sport you have to show results on the track but you also have to be willing to go do things like this. You can’t just sit back and expect it all to just happen.
“I recognize that and feel like it’s part of the work I have to put in – not just in the gym, not just looking at data. It’s all part of it.”
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Nascar, NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity, Daytona 500, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, JTG Daugherty Racing