Is Ricky Stenhouse Jr. the secret to Danica Patrick’s success? Or does she have a great car?
Patrick won the pole for the Daytona 500 next weekend, becoming the first woman to win the pole in NASCAR’s top division. Her lap at 196.434 mph helped her gain the pole for the Great American Race.
On Thursday, NASCAR held its media day as it prepared to open up the new season of racing. Patrick’s relationship with Stenhouse has been the talk of the sport over the past month, and Stenhouse answered questions about it.
When asked what he liked about Patrick, the back-to-back Nationwide Series winner had a simple answer: “She’s hot,” he said.
Stenhouse is 25 and a rookie in the Sprint Cup Series. Patrick, 30, is also a rookie in the Sprint Cup Series, though she has raced in it 10 times.
Patrick announced in November that she would be divorcing husband Paul Edward Hospenthal after seven years of marriage. Stenhouse and Patrick revealed last month that they are dating.
“Media day, we knew the story was going to be about us,” Stenhouse said Sunday, per Bob Pockrass of Sporting News. “That was really kind of the biggest thing going into this week. But now that we’re on the racetrack and we’ve got races under our belt, … hopefully we can talk about things on the racetrack and that’s what we’re here for.
“We’re here to race. Hopefully we can put all our focus on that and go for it.”
Stenhouse was No. 12 in qualifying.
