{"id":2010,"date":"2011-11-20T00:45:36","date_gmt":"2011-11-20T05:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=2010"},"modified":"2011-11-20T00:48:16","modified_gmt":"2011-11-20T05:48:16","slug":"ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html","title":{"rendered":"Ricky Stenhouse Jr., closes out NASCAR season with Nationwide Series championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., waves the championship flag after claiming his first NASCAR Nationwide series title (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Based on Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s 2010 season, there was really no way to know whether the driver of the #6 Roush Fenway Ford was going to be a contender in 2011 (as he appeared to be at the end of the last year) or if he would return to his struggling ways that cost the youngster valuable seat time due to poor early performances.<\/p>\n

On Saturday night, Stenhouse Jr., answered any doubts about his place within NASCAR’s ranks by claiming his first career Nationwide Series championship with a second-place finish at the Ford 300 in Homestead, Fla.<\/p>\n

Stenhouse Jr., got his chance to celebrate nearly nine months after his best friend Trevor Bayne rocked the racing world with his upset win at the Daytona 500. Back in October, Bayne told me how excited and Stenhouse Jr.’s Bible study buddies would be if he could bring the title into the fold.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s been cool to watch because he\u2019s gradually gotten better every week,” Bayne told Inspiring Athletes in Kansas last month. “He was at Victory Lane for me and I\u2019ll be at the banquet for him if he wins. We\u2019re just good friends, but if it wasn\u2019t for our faith, I don\u2019t know that we would\u2019ve been as good of friends. God\u2019s definitely the center of both of our lives and that\u2019s why we\u2019re able to be good friends.”<\/p>\n

Stenhouse Jr., was quick to praise God for his success during the post-race celebration when interviewed by ESPN reporter and fellow Christian Dr. Jerry Punch. It was a bold statement of faith that wouldn’t have surprised anyone who knows the Olive Branch, Miss., native well at all.<\/p>\n

“We wouldn\u2019t be doing this if God hadn\u2019t allowed us to do it,” Stenhouse Jr., said in last month’s Inspiring Athletes conversation. “He\u2019s the one that\u2019s ultimately in control of everything. You can\u2019t try to change things when they\u2019re not meant to be changed.”<\/p>\n

To check out that entire interview with Stenhouse Jr., click HERE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share with your friends! Based on Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s 2010 season, there was really no way to know whether the driver of the #6 Roush Fenway Ford was going to be a contender in 2011 (as he appeared to be at the end of the last year) or if he would return…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[356,3,382,388,5,4],"tags":[151,729,139,809,810,10,25,209,241,141,811],"class_list":["post-2010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-awards","category-christian-athletes","category-qa","category-racing","category-sports-features","category-sports-news","tag-daytona-500","tag-dr-jerry-punch","tag-espn","tag-ford-300","tag-homestead-florida","tag-nascar","tag-nationwide-series","tag-ricky-stenhouse-jr","tag-roush-fenway-racing","tag-trevor-bayne","tag-wins-nationwide-series-championship"],"yoast_head":"\nRicky Stenhouse Jr., closes out NASCAR season with Nationwide Series championship - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ricky Stenhouse Jr., closes out NASCAR season with Nationwide Series championship - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share with your friends! Based on Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s 2010 season, there was really no way to know whether the driver of the #6 Roush Fenway Ford was going to be a contender in 2011 (as he appeared to be at the end of the last year) or if he would return…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-20T05:45:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-20T05:48:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/11\/2011HomesteadNWRickyStenhouseFlag-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chad Bonham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ricky Stenhouse Jr., closes out NASCAR season with Nationwide Series championship - Inspiring Athletes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ricky Stenhouse Jr., closes out NASCAR season with Nationwide Series championship - Inspiring Athletes","og_description":"Click “Like” to share with your friends! Based on Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s 2010 season, there was really no way to know whether the driver of the #6 Roush Fenway Ford was going to be a contender in 2011 (as he appeared to be at the end of the last year) or if he would return…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html","og_site_name":"Inspiring Athletes","article_published_time":"2011-11-20T05:45:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-11-20T05:48:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/11\/2011HomesteadNWRickyStenhouseFlag-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"Chad Bonham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html","name":"Ricky Stenhouse Jr., closes out NASCAR season with Nationwide Series championship - Inspiring Athletes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/11\/2011HomesteadNWRickyStenhouseFlag-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2011-11-20T05:45:36+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-20T05:48:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/11\/2011HomesteadNWRickyStenhouseFlag-300x200.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/11\/2011HomesteadNWRickyStenhouseFlag-300x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/ricky-stenhouse-jr-closes-out-nascar-season-with-nationwide-series-championship.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ricky Stenhouse Jr., closes out NASCAR season with Nationwide Series championship"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/","name":"Inspiring Athletes","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Chad Bonham","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1","name":"Chad Bonham","description":"Chad has been working in mass media for over 20 years. Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2010"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2016,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions\/2016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}