Stenhouse started racing when he was six, driving go-karts. He later moved in to sprint car racing, being named Rookie of the Year in a sprint car series in 2007.[2] He also raced for former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart in 2007.[3] Stenhouse signed a contract with NASCAR team Roush Fenway Racing in 2007,[4] running in the ARCA Racing Series in 2008. In only his sixth stock car race, Stenhouse won for the first time at Kentucky Speedway.[5] He won another race at Pocono Raceway[6] and was running for the championship with Scott Speed before he and Speed crashed twice in the race so that both of them wouldn't win the championship.[7]
After running in the ARCA series, Stenhouse drove for Roush Fenway Racing in seven Nationwide Series races in 2009 with Greg Biffle, Colin Braun and Jamie McMurray completing the schedule.[8] He qualified first at Iowa Speedway[9] and ran all of the races in 2010, winning the Rookie of the Year award.[10] The following year, he won the championship.[11] He won the championship again in 2012.[12] After the final race of 2012, Stenhouse was disappointed because he didn't win the race.[13]
He ran all of the races in 2013,[16] winning the series' Rookie of the Year award.[17] He came back for a full season the following year[18] but did not qualify for one race due to a new way of qualifying.[19] In 2015, Stenhouse had some sponsorship problems, leading to a 25th-place finish in the point standings.[20] His performance went along with the team not doing as well as before.[21] The following year, Stenhouse finished a career-best second at Bristol Motor Speedway;[22] however, his crew chief was suspended the following week for a steering wheel problem.[23] Overall, it was the best year of his Cup career.[24]
Stenhouse finally broke through to Victory Lane in the Cup Series in 2017, winning at Talladega Superspeedway in his 158th career start.[25][26] A couple months later, he won again, this time at Daytona International Speedway.[27][28] Both of his wins came on restrictor plate tracks.[29] He also made the NASCAR Playoffs for the first time, making it through the Round of 16 before being cut in the Round of 12.[25]
