Stenhouse Achieves Full-Circle Moment at Guinness World Record Event
NASCAR Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who pilots the No. 47 Chevrolet for HYAK Motorsports, had a chance to be part of an official Guinness World Record ceremony on Tuesday, as he turned laps on the multi-level RPM Raceway indoor go-kart track in Farmingdale, NY.
Ripped a few laps around the world’s longest indoor go-kart track with @NosEnergyDrink 👀 pic.twitter.com/h0DWhtdDcD
— Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (@StenhouseJr) May 6, 2025
The veteran racer says the sheer length of the RPM Raceway indoor course makes it challenging for drivers.
"Man, [the track] was so long. I don't know how many laps I made, but I still have no idea kind of what corner is coming up next," Stenhouse said in an exclusive interview with Racing America On SI. "But there were some cool sections, and it was a fun event."
Stenhouse, who is a longtime partner with NOS Energy Drink, says the track's relationship with the energy drink brand led to his invite for Tuesday's ceremony.
"Yeah, so RPM Raceway was trying to set the Guinness World Record for the longest indoor multi-level go kart track, and a partner of mine NOS Energy Drink is a partner at their racetrack, so the racetrack kind of reached out and asked if I could come up there for that event," Stenhouse explained.
The track, which measures 3,515.7 feet in length, became the Guinness World Record holder for the longest multi-level indoor go-kart track as it was certified by Andrew Glass, a Guinness World Records adjudicator.
According to Stenhouse, Glass walked the entire course and measured the race track from the dead-center line of the course to come up with the final official world-record track length. Being part of Tuesday's ceremony was a full-circle moment for the 37-year-old driver, who fondly remembers thumbing through the pages of the Guinness World Record Book as a child.
"I used to grow up just reading the Guinness Book of World Records," Stenhouse said. "I guess people do that, probably online now, but back in the day, it was a cool book."
While Stenhouse has yet to notch his name in the famed Guinness Book of World Records, he keeps close tabs on an athlete who continues to flip-flop with others for the record for most pull-ups in 24 hours.
"I follow a couple of guys on social media, [one of them has] broken the record a few times for the most pull-ups in 24 hours," Stenhouse said. "I don't think I could match that. Actually, I don't know if I could or not, but his hands are destroyed when it gets done. He will pass whoever does it, and then, like, he won't just keep going for 24 hours. So, it seems like that record is always getting beaten. And then like, all of a sudden, they'll do it in like 18 hours. So, there are hours for them to do pull-ups. So, his name is Truett Hanes. I think he just ran the Boston Marathon in jeans, I am not sure why. He and his dad are beasts. So, I follow them. That's probably the closest thing to at least someone I know or follow that tries to break records all the time."
After Tuesday's event at RPM Raceway, Stenhouse will now shift his focus back to the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, where he currently ranks 16th in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid, the final driver inside the Playoff cutline after the opening 11 races of the season.
Stenhouse is happy with where he and his HYAK Motorsports team is at right now, but knows there is potential for more as the season continues to move on.
"You know, honestly, it feels really good. I mean, I felt like we had the potential to be where we are in the standings right now," Stenhouse said. "That being said, I feel like there's still a ton of room for growth and potential for us. I think we've executed really well. We've gotten base hits, we've gotten on base. We haven't hit any home runs or anything, but we haven't struck out yet."
While Stenhouse and the No. 47 team are finishing races, the driver admits that the area of focus has to be qualifying, where he currently averages a 27.3 starting position so far this year. If they want to have an easier path to racking up points, finishes, and better pit stalls, it all lies with qualifying.
"That's where we have to get better. I feel like we have good practices, we have good race cars, we struggle trying to hit that balance, and whether me doing my job in qualifying as well," Stenhouse explained. "You know we nailed it in Bristol, but we didn't follow that up in the race with that same speed, but we know it can be done. We just gotta figure that out. That'll be that thing I feel like that pushes us to that next level."
Stenhouse is coming off of a sixth-place run this past weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, that paired with his ranking in the championship standings, will yield a solid performance metric number, which will give the driver a better qualifying draw this weekend at Kansas Speedway.
Overall, Stenhouse is entering this weekend's AdventHealth 400 at Kansas with a level of optimism.
"We've had some strong runs at Kansas," Stenhouse said. "I would say, 2023, 24, not super, super great, but kind of like that 15th-ish position, which is strong. Look, if we could keep finishing 15th every week, I would take it and then just see where we stack up at the end of the regular-season. I think we have potential to do that."
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.