Latest news with #HyakMotorsports
Fox News
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox News
NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse pays tribute to Hulk Hogan with Real American Beer car, Hulkamania decal
Back in June, NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse partnered with Real American Beer, founded by Hulk Hogan, to have the brand on his No. 47 car. The professional wrestling legend died late last month at the age of 71 after battling heart issues and other medical problems. The two-time Xfinity Series champ has had other brands on his car since RAB was featured for the first time on June 8 at Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400, but in homage to Hogan, he is going back to the American flag-themed car. The car features Stars and Stripes throughout, but one more touch will be added this weekend at Watkins Glen International. A "HULKAMANIA FOREVER" decal will be added to the car, with a photo of Hogan ripping his shirt. The photo has been used for WWE's tributes. "Hulk built Hulkamania and Real American Beer with strength, pride and resilience — for the fans, for their communities, for our country," Real American Beer co-founder Chad Bronstein said to TMZ Sports. "Real American Beer is here to carry on Hulk's legacy. We're grateful to Hyak [Motorsports] for helping us honor him and carry his commitment to his fans forward." Hyak seemed to announce the news earlier this week when they posted a picture of Stenhouse riding the RAB car. "This one's for Hulk," the Instagram caption read. Hogan became the main babyface of what was then the World Wrestling Federation and spent decades in the business. He won numerous world championships and was twice inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the first time in 2005 and the other in 2020 as a member of the New World Order. In 2024, he founded Real American Beer, aptly named after his walk-out music during his time as a wrestler. He also founded Real American Freestyle, a wrestling promotion, in April 2025. Hogan made sporadic appearances with the WWE in his later years and made his final appearance in January 2025 in Los Angeles. Hogan was set to join former pro wrestling executive Eric Bischoff in a new venture called Real American Freestyle. It was a fresh attempt at putting freestyle wrestling on the map. Hogan also dipped his toe into the political waters. He stumped for President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention and at a Madison Square Garden rally last year. He is credited with helping put today's WWE on the map. Tributes poured in from all over the sports world, and the WWE did a 10-bell salute on last Friday's edition of "SmackDown!" the day after Hogan's death.
Associated Press
03-07-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
Rate Gears Up for Hyak Motorsports at Grant Park 165 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr Behind the Wheel
CHICAGO, July 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rate, a leading fintech company, is hitting the track this weekend with Hyak Motorsports, sponsoring driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr at the Grant Park 165. As part of the growing Rate Racing initiative, the event marks another high-speed moment where Rate's passion for excellence meets hometown pride. 'I'm excited to light up the streets of Chicago and represent Rate in front of their hometown crowd,' said Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The Grant Park 165 is a key milestone in Rate's broader push to connect with customers through partnerships that mirror its core values: speed, precision, and high performance. The Hyak Motorsports collaboration builds on that foundation, blending the excitement of racing with the company's relentless drive to innovate and compete at the highest level. 'At Rate, we partner with people who play to win. They move fast, take smart risks, and stay locked in on performance,' said Victor Ciardelli, CEO of Rate. 'That's exactly what Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Hyak Motorsports bring to the track. This partnership is built on a shared mindset, whether it's winning a race or helping someone win a home.' All Eyes on Chicago This Weekend This weekend's Chicago Street Race, running July 5–6, brings together top-tier talent, high-performance engineering, and brand-backed momentum. As part of Hyak Motorsports' race advance, fans can expect a dynamic showing from the team, fueled in part by Rate's sponsorship and the driving force of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. With deep experience and leadership from Hyak Motorsports VP of Sales & Marketing Todd Carte, the team is primed for a standout appearance on one of the most iconic road courses in the country. The partnership with Rate not only brings added visibility but also reinforces Hyak's ongoing mission to build strategic alliances that elevate motorsport culture and fan engagement. More information on Hyak Motorsports can be found at Event Overview Event: Grant Park 165 Time/Date: 2 PM ET on Sunday, July 6 Location: Chicago Street Course Layout: 2.2-mile, 12-turn street course Format: 165 miles / 75 laps | Stages: 20 / 45 / 75 TV/Radio: TNT / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio About Rate Rate Companies is a leader in mortgage lending and digital financial services. Headquartered in Chicago, Rate has over 850 branches across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Since its launch in 2000, Rate has helped more than 2 million homeowners with home purchase loans, refinances, and home equity loans. The company has cemented itself as an industry leader by introducing innovative technology, offering low rates, and delivering unparalleled customer service. Recent honors and awards include: a Best Mortgage Lender of 2025 by Fortune; Best Mortgage Lender of 2025 for First-Time Homebuyers by Forbes; a Best Mortgage Lender of 2025 for FHA Loans, Home Equity Loans, and Lower Credit Scores by NerdWallet; Best Mortgage Lender of 2025 for Digital Experience and Down Payment Assistance by Motley Fool; Chicago Agent Magazine's Lender of the Year for seven consecutive years. Visit for more information. About Hyak Hyak Motorsports is a race-winning NASCAR team co-owned by Gordon Smith, Ernie Cope, Mark Hughes, and Brad Daugherty as of Nov. 18, 2023. The Harrisburg, North Carolina-based organization won the 2023 Daytona 500 with driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr and has accumulated two other wins in the NASCAR Cup Series. For more information, please visit the newly rebranded team at and on social at Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn. Media Contact [email protected]
Forbes
01-07-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
A Consistent Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Grows With Hyak Motorsports
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 47 NOS Energy Chevrolet, walks onstage during driver intros ... More prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 01, 2025 in Lebanon, Tennessee. (Photo by) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is known for his on-track aggression, and each of his four career Nascar Cup Series wins are because of exactly that. But the 37-year-old racer, now in his 13th Cup season, is still searching for consistency. His small Hyak Motorsports is one of the biggest underdog stories in the entire sport. With less than 30 full-time employees and a lack of major tech support, the little team that could does plenty. When Stenhouse won the 2023 Daytona 500, it literally sent shockwaves throughout the garage. This year, the team formerly known as JTG Daugherty Racing underwent an ownership change. Jodi and Tad Geschickter, who first formed an Xfinity Series team in 1995 and debuted a Cup car in 2008, left the ownership group. Gordon Smith took over as principal owner, with NBA legend Brad Daugherty remaining as a minority owner. Mark Hughes and former Nascar crew chief Ernie Cope also joined the ownership group. 'Nothing has changed on the competition side," Stenhouse said. "My team has stayed the same with my engineers and shop guys. I think that's what helped us get off to a hot start. We focused this offseason on what we needed to get better at from last year. 'Executing was pretty high on the list. We still need to get our speed better. But even when we had cars that weren't as we needed them to be, we worked the system with strategy, good restarts and just came out with good finishes.' At the same time, the newly coined Hyak Motorsports had to hunt for a new sponsor. Kroger left the team to partner with all three drivers at RFK Racing, marking a major shift for the No. 47 car, which had worked with Kroger since 2010. But the new ownership group has done a great job at marketing the No. 47 car and its driver. Major partners have joined the team or expanded previous packages, such as SunnyD, Rate, Martin's Famous Potato Rolls, betr, Real American Beer, NOS Energy, Hungry Jack, Fun Pops and several other firms. 'The toughest part of switching the brand is you lose all of the office people who handled that side of things,' he explained. 'We put new people in place. We've had great [partners] come on board. We're looking to build our partners at our race team. Everybody's been really pleased about what we've been able to do for them.' Right now, Stenhouse's goal is to get the team back into the playoffs. After 18 races, he sits 21st in the regular season standings and likely needs a win in the final eight events before the playoffs begin to qualify for the postseason. 'It would be huge,' Stenhouse, who's qualified for the postseason twice, said. 'It's tough to do in the sport, especially as a single-car team. We have 24 employees that work on this thing. It would be huge for our company.' But even with the loss of a major corporate sponsor, Stenhouse's performance has stabilized. He has an average finish of 18.9, which is second behind his best with the No. 47 team (17.8 in 2023). If he didn't have some tough luck, he'd likely be right around the playoff bubble. He was 13th overall in the standings through the Coca-Cola 600 in late May. 'Mike Kelley [crew chief] and I have been working really hard together to dissect our races to see where they went wrong,' Stenhouse said. 'We're trying not to put ourselves or our car in bad positions before the end of the race. That's helped us out a lot this year.'
NBC Sports
28-06-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
What to watch for in tonight's NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta
HAMPTON, Ga. — Christopher Bell, who won the most recent race at what was known as Atlanta Motor Speedway, will have his third different spotter in the last seven races in tonight's Cup race. That's just among the things to watch tonight at newly named EchoPark Speedway. A new eye in the sky Tab Boyd, recently let go by Hyak Motorsports, will make his debut as Christopher Bell's spotter tonight. With the drafting style of racing on the 1.54-mile track, spotters will play a key role. 'It's going to be tough, for sure, getting acclimated at probably one of the most spotter-intense racetracks on the calendar,' said Bell, who starts 28th. 'But Tab has a bunch of experience. … Definitely the first stage or two is going to be a learning curve.' The challenge will be the close racing and how quickly the runs come. Bell will have to know how close Boyd will clear him for openings on the track. A mistake could lead to a multi-car incident. Dustin Long, Bell started the season with Stevie Reeves as his spotter. Reeves had been Bell's spotter since Bell's Cup debut in 2020. Reeves left the team after Bell won the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro in May. Matt Philpott took over as Bell's spotter for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and also served in that role at Nashville, Michigan, Mexico and Pocono. Boyd was Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s spotter when Stenhouse won last fall's playoff race at Talladega. Boyd also was Stenhouse's spotter when he won the 2023 Daytona 500. Stenhouse, who starts 37th, will be in his second race with Clayton Hughes as his spotter. Stenhouse said that Boyd 'gives a lot of information at a pretty high rate of speed, which is a good thing on superspeedways. … I think him and Bell will be no problem.' Team Penske leads the way again For the second consecutive race at this track Team Penske has locked out the front two rows with its three cars and the car of its affiliate, Wood Brothers Racing. Joey Logano will start on the pole. With teammates around him, he should be able to control the race in the opening stage and, possibly, longer. If not him at the front, then maybe it will be Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry (starting second) or Ryan Blaney (third) or Austin Cindric (fourth). Nate Ryan, Those four drivers combined to lead 187 of the 266 laps in the February race here, but it was Christopher Bell winning and Blaney, the top Penske finisher, placing fourth. 'These places race so differently here compared to Daytona and Talladega,' Blaney said. 'I honestly prefer the racing here more than those places. I feel like you can move more up to the field, though the field, than you can at Daytona and Talladega just because handling comes more into play here. 'I think controlling the race here is a little bit tougher possibly than those races (at Daytona and Talladega) because the runs are huge. Guys take them whenever they can get them. So, I honestly think it's tougher to control the lead here. 'If you're at Talladega, let's say, and I got like me and Joey lined up, we can kind of control the pace that we want to run, how we kind of get on each other and push. We can really determine how fast we want to go, and we can kind of like stall the third lane out, make them non-existent if we want to push the pace and get connected and … and we can kind of go back to back with the inside or outside lane. 'Here you can't get connected as much. It's like you might get a shot down the frontstretch, a shot down the backstretch, but it's not like you're shoving a whole straightway for like eight seconds like you do (at Daytona and Talladega). It's very hard to control the lead.' Playoff race duels With 11 different winners, five playoff spots remain via points. Nine races remain in the regular season (including tonight's race). Alex Bowman holds the final playoff spot. He's 20 points ahead of Ryan Preece, who starts fifth. 'I think we're good enough to move up in points if we run how we should,' said Bowman, who starts ninth. 'If we stay where we're at in points, I think you're in a must-win (situation) then. But I think if we run how we should, we should move back up in points.' Bubba Wallace, who starts 24th, holds the next-to-last playoff spot. He's 29 points ahead of Preece. Chris Buescher, who starts 13th, is 38 points ahead of Preece. While there will be much talk about the matchups in the In-Season Challenge, which begins today, how those near the playoff cutline will be worth keeping an eye on tonight.
Newsweek
22-06-2025
- Sport
- Newsweek
Carson Hocevar Expects Retaliation From Stenhouse Jr. After NASCAR Clashes
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar won't be surprised if Ricky Stenhouse Jr. takes revenge for the incidents he caused at Nashville and Mexico City. The contact in Mexico prompted a strong reaction from Stenhouse Jr., who walked up to Hocevar and threatened that he would see him in the USA. Hocevar's move into Stenhouse Jr. in Nashville triggered tensions between the two drivers, as the latter lost several positions in the Cup Series race, while Hocevar finished second. What escalated the rivalry further was Hocevar making contact with Stenhouse Jr. for the second time in Mexico. This made Stenhouse Jr. furious. Newsweek Sports reported the comments made by the Hyak Motorsports driver to Hocevar after the race. He said: Carson Hocevar, driver of the #7 Delaware Life Chevrolet, looks on during practice for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway on June 20, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Carson Hocevar, driver of the #7 Delaware Life Chevrolet, looks on during practice for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway on June 20, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania."I'm going to beat your a**. You're a lap down. You got nothing to do. Why did you run right into me? Second time." He added before walking away: "I'm going to beat your a** when we get back to the States." Jeff Gluck of The Athletic reported on X that Hocevar is aware of an incoming payback. He wrote: "Carson Hocevar says he knows payback is coming from Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and he knows it's fair. He says the scorecard is 2-0, he's been a fan for a long time and he knows how this all works -- whether that's tomorrow or six months from now." Quoting Hocevar, he added: "You live in the world you make for yourself, and this is the world I've made." Carson Hocevar says he knows payback is coming from Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and he knows it's fair. He says the scorecard is 2-0, he's been a fan for a long time and he knows how this all works -- whether that's tomorrow or six months from now. "You live in the world you make for… — Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 21, 2025 Stenhouse Jr. acknowledged that he had calmed down after the Mexico incident but admitted to being frustrated. Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he said: "I've calmed down a little bit. My wife talks me off the ledge sometimes. She does a good job of that. But it doesn't change the fact that you get spun out for no reason. Felt like it cost us at least seven spots. We didn't wreck like at Nashville, but we put ourselves in a spot. We got spun a couple times in that race. And just kept trying to fight back and get our track position. Felt like on that long run there at the end - there was still three or four spots right there in front of us that we could get and we ended up giving up another four or five spots. "Just frustrating, obviously, when you got someone a lap down that had ran into you a couple weeks before that. Our talk after Nashville - he said, 'Hey, I'm going to run you a lot different,' which hey, at Mexico City, he waved me by. I was like, 'Alright, things are looking up.' And then, he missed his marks and came from pretty far back and ran into us. Again, I know he wasn't racing us. But it's really frustrating for my team and our partners and myself to get spun at a stage like that where there was nothing to be raced for."
