Heading to Watkins Glen on Saturday, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. can reflect on how his career has come full circle from this time last season.
In 2010, Stenhouse was taken out of the No. 6 Ford for this race, forced to watch Roush Fenway Racing teammate Bill Johnson work the seven turns at Watkins Glen after having a rough start to his season, posting five DNFs and a DNQ. Things have changed drastically.
Now, Stenhouse has slid himself ‘sideways and backwards’ into the spotlight of the NASCAR Nationwide Series, skidding over the start/finish line last Saturday at Iowa Speedway for the win after teammate Carl Edwards slammed into the back of his No. 6 Ford. The 23-year-old, Olive Branch, Miss. native retained the lead in the series standings with the Iowa sweep.
Stenhouse is having a championship caliber season. The list: He holds a 12-point lead over second-place Reed Sorenson; he leads the series in top-10 finishes (17) and is tied for the series lead in top-five finishes (10) with Elliott Sadler; he’s the first series-only regular to have multiple wins in a season since Brad Keselowski did it in 2009.
Road-course racing dominates the upcoming schedule, with Watkins Glen and Montreal on deck. After the Zippo 200 at the Glen on Saturday, Stenhouse plans to get some more seat time by running in the GRAND-AM race with RFR teammate David Ragan.
“We are going to go to these road courses and try and get solid top 10s out of them,” Stenhouse said. “We were looking at the schedules and after we clear these road courses, we have 10 really good race tracks that we have run really well at,” Stenhouse said.
| 
|