Kenzie Ruston Hemric (born October 12, 1991) is an American former professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

driver. She last competed in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

K&N Pro Series East The ARCA Menards Series East (formerly known by other names) is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Races are h ...

in 2015, driving the No. 4

Toyota Camry The Toyota Camry (; Japanese: トヨタ・カムリ ''Toyota Kamuri'') is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact in size (narrow-body), the Cam ...

for

Rev Racing Rev Racing, short for Revolution Racing, is an auto racing team competing at the regional level of NASCAR. Owned by former Dale Earnhardt, Inc. president Max Siegel, the team primarily fields participants in the Drive for Diversity, an initiat ...

. Hemric is married to current

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock car racing, s ...

driver

Daniel Hemric Daniel Brian Hemric (born January 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado RST for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and part-time ...

. Hemric began her professional stock car racing career in the

2011 ARCA Racing Series The 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is the 59th season of the ARCA Racing Series. The season included nineteen races, down from twenty, and began with the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway and ending wi ...

, driving four races for

Venturini Motorsports Venturini Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, and ARCA Menards Series West. Founded in 1982 by Bill Venturini Sr., Venturini Motorsports is the ...

. She later competed as a NASCAR

Drive for Diversity The NASCAR Driver Development Program (formerly known as Drive for Diversity / D4D) program is a development system instituted by the American auto racing league NASCAR. The program's purpose is to attract minority and female individuals to the ...

member in the K&N Pro Series East, where she competed for three seasons (2013–15). Her best career finish came in 2014 at

Iowa Speedway Iowa Speedway is a oval short track in Newton, Iowa. Since its inaugural season of racing in 2006, the track has hosted a variety of racing events, including events sanctioned by NASCAR and IndyCar. NASCAR has owned the facility since 2013, wi ...

, where she finished second.

Racing career

Early career

Ruston both raced and played volleyball in high school before deciding to focus on racing full-time prior to her senior year; she began racing Bandoleros at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway (formerly known as Texas International Raceway from September to December 1996) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It has hosted various major races since its inaugura ...

(TMS) when she was 14 years old. When she was 16, she switched to

Legends car racing Legends car racing is a style of auto racing designed primarily to promote exciting racing and to keep costs down (as of 2022, a brand-new Legends car could be purchased in the USA for $17,500 USD). The race car bodyshells are 5/8-scale replicas ...

, competing in the track's Semi-Pro and Young Lions divisions, finishing third in the latter's Winter Series. In addition, she raced in TMS' Summer Stampede, finishing second, and in the top-ten in

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It has hosted various major races since it ...

's Summer Shootout. Upon turning 17, Ruston moved to

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. In 2009, Ruston won TMS' Winter Series, Summer Stampede and the track's Driver of the Year award, along with the U.S. Legends asphalt championship, the first woman to win the title. The next year, she began racing in super late models, finishing 12th in the PASS Series Southern Division's championship.

Stock car racing

In 2011, Ruston began competing in

stock cars Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

. She made four

ARCA Racing Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three nationa ...

races with

, making her debut at

Toledo Speedway Toledo Speedway is a half-mile paved oval racetrack located in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is owned by ARCA President Ron Drager, and is the sister track to Flat Rock Speedway in Flat Rock, Michigan. History Toledo Speedway opened in 1 ...

in the No. 25

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

, and finished 10th. She switched to No. 55 for three additional races, finishing 10th, 12th, and 26th. During the year, she also competed in the

Champion Racing Association Champion Racing Association (CRA) is a stock car racing sanctioning body based in the Midwestern United States. It was founded in 1997 by Glenn Luckett and R. J. Scott, who then sold the company to Bob Sargent's Track Enterprises in 2022. All CRA ...

, winning at

Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, about northwest of downtown Indianapolis. It includes a ...

. In December, she participated in the

Snowball Derby The Snowball Derby presented by Bayou Fox Hooters is a 300-lap late model, super late model stock car racing, stock car race held annually at the Five Flags Speedway, a half-mile paved oval track in Pensacola, Florida, Pensacola, Florida, United ...

Five Flags Speedway Five Flags Speedway is a half-mile (0.8 km) paved oval track racing, oval racetrack in Pensacola, Florida. It opened in 1953 and is located on Pine Forest Road. It is christened after the nickname of Pensacola—"City of Five Flags." It run ...

for Jeff Fultz, finishing 31st after a crash on lap 145.

NASCAR

Kenzie Ruston Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet Richmond 2013

In 2013, Ruston was signed by

Turner Scott Motorsports Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM), formerly Turner Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Sprint Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Nationwide Series, ...

to contest the 2013 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season, and in June, she was named a member of the NASCAR Next program, the first woman to join the program. She ended the year with four top-fives, including a best finish of third at

Greenville-Pickens Speedway Greenville-Pickens Speedway is a race track located in Easley, South Carolina, just west of Greenville, South Carolina. The track hosted weekly NASCAR sanctioned races. Several NASCAR touring series have raced at the track in prior years, includ ...

, and finished sixth in the points standings. For the 2014 season, Ruston was signed by Ben Kennedy Racing. She was not retained by Kennedy at the end of the season due to sponsorship, being replaced by

Kaz Grala Kaz Edward Grala ( ; born December 29, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently serves as the simulation/reserve driver for Legacy Motor Club. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 36 ...

. On January 26, 2015, Ruston was announced as a member of the 2015

roster, joining

for the full

2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East The 2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East is the 29th season of the K&N Pro Series East. It began with the Hart to Heart Breast Cancer Foundation 150 at New Smyrna Speedway on February 15 and ended with the Drive Sober 125 at Dover International Sp ...

season. She finished 11th in the points standings, with a best finish of sixth at

Motordrome Speedway Motordrome Speedway was a 1/2-mile NASCAR sanctioned racetrack located in South Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, to the northeast of Smithton, Pennsylvania, United States. Weekly series divisions that ran included super late models, m ...

Personal life

Ruston's father, Darren, was a dirt bike racer in Oklahoma, while her step-grandfather, Jerry Morrison, was an Oklahoma dirt track racer. The youngest of two daughters, Ruston was a cheerleader and volleyball, soccer, and basketball player in high school. On July 28, 2015, Ruston became engaged to

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock cars. The series i ...

driver

. They married on January 7, 2017. In November 2019, the Hemrics announced that they were expecting their first child. Their daughter was born on May 9, 2020. In August 2022, the Hemrics announced that they were expecting their second child. Their son was born on December 23, 2022.

Motorsports career results

Career summary

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

K&N Pro Series East

ARCA Racing Series

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruston Hemric, Kenzie Living people 1991 births Racing drivers from Oklahoma NASCAR drivers American female racing drivers ARCA Midwest Tour drivers 21st-century American sportswomen