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

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

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. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

K&N Pro Series East The ARCA Menards Series East (formerly Busch East Series, Busch North Series, Camping World East Series, and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East) is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and ...

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 Camry ...

for

Rev Racing Rev or Rév may refer to: Abbreviations Rev. * Rev., an abbreviation for revolution, as in Revolutions per minute * Rev., an abbreviation for the religious style The Reverend * Rev., the abbreviation for Runtime Revolution, a development environ ...

. Hemric is married to current

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

driver

Daniel Hemric Daniel Hemric (born January 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 11 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing and part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving t ...

. 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 wit ...

, 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 t ...

. She later competed as a NASCAR

Drive for Diversity The 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 sport, primarily as drivers, but also including ownershi ...

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 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretch ...

, 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 is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24° ...

(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. The race car bodyshells are 5/8-scale replicas of American automobiles from the 1930s and 1940s, powered by Yamaha XJ1250, FJ1200 ( ...

, 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 (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including th ...

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

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. 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 automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

. 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 national ...

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 jointly by Roy Mott and ARCA President Ron Drager. It is operated by ARCA and run as the sister track to Flat Rock Speedway in Flat Rock, M ...

in the No. 25

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

, 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, United States, about northwest of downtown Indianapolis. It ...

. In December, she participated in the

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

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

for

Jeff Fultz Jeff Fultz (December 14, 1968) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He is a multiple time champion of the now defunct NASCAR Southeast Series having won it three times (2002, 2004, 2005), and has the most wins in th ...

, 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 Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series, the Camping World Truck Series, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series ...

to contest the 2013

season, and in June, she was named a member of the

NASCAR Next 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. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

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, includi ...

, and finished sixth in the points standings. For the 2014 season, Ruston was signed by

Ben Kennedy Racing Benjamin Kennedy (born December 26, 1991) is an American motorsports executive, professional stock car racing team owner, and former driver. He currently serves as NASCAR's Senior Vice President of Racing Development and Strategy. Executive caree ...

. 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 competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. The Boston native is the youngest NASCAR ...

. 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 Spee ...

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

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, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

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.

Motorsports career results

Career summary

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (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

(

) (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 Racing drivers' wives and girlfriends 21st-century American women ARCA Midwest Tour drivers