Amy Walsh Stock Wins NMPA Helping Others Award

CONCORD, N.C. – Hendrick Motorsports manager of communications Amy Walsh Stock has been named the winner of the National Motorsports Press Ass’n’s Ken Patterson Helping Others Award.

Stock served as the public relations representative for seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, and her even-keeled temperament and accommodating manner have been a perfect fit with one of NASCAR’s most likable drivers.

The 2020 season was a particularly challenging one, given the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, it was the last as a full-time Cup driver for Johnson, who will compete in 13 IndyCar Series races next year.

Throughout the season, Stock managed Johnson’s schedule and the intense demands on his time with consummate grace and an unrelenting willingness to help members of the media gain the access they needed, despite the constraints necessitated by the pandemic.

The winner of the Ken Patterson Helping Others Award is chosen each year by vote of the NMPA membership. The prestigious award, named for the former director of public relations for Talladega Superspeedway, recognizes a public relations representative in the motorsports industry who has “exhibited the kind, generous qualities that Patterson always demonstrated.”

“Being selected for the Ken Patterson Award is one of the best honors I could ever hope to receive in motorsports,” said Stock, who began her career in motorsports in 2000 with driver Randy Tolsma in what was then the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

“Ken was a friend and one of the people I looked up to in the early part of my career. I am lost for words as to how much this means to me, and I’m appreciative of those who felt I was worthy of this honor.”

A graduate of Penn State and a former social worker with Child Protective Services, Stock began her tenure with Hendrick Motorsports 2004 and worked with marquee drivers Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as well Johnson. She was account manager for Johnson’s No. 48 team from 2008 through ’12 and has served as public relations representative for Johnson since 2014.