Rookie overcomes largest deficit in award’s history to win prestigious honor
Three Roush Fenway drivers finish in top-10 of final 2010 NNS Standings
CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 22, 2010) – Youth was served for Roush Fenway Racing in the Nationwide season-finale at Homestead on Saturday afternoon, as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne each battled to top-five finishes. The pair lead an organizational effort that saw four Roush Fenway Fords in the top 10 and Stenhouse leaving the event with the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award in hand.
Stenhouse’s late charge for the award capped the largest come-from-behind effort in the history of any NASCAR rookie of the year award. Never before in any series had a driver come back from 35 points down to win the honor. For Roush Fenway it marked the 12th time a driver has taken the award and the fifth time in the Nationwide Series. Stenhouse Jr. joins company with Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and David Ragan as drivers who have captured the honor for Roush Fenway.
“It’s special to win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year,” said Stenhouse after the race. “It is a huge honor. We came back from adversity early in the season. I wish we could have started the year where we are right now. This is good momentum going in the offseason for this whole team. Jack Roush has done an awesome job with this team. It has been a fun year and I learned a lot.”
Stenhouse will be honored tonight at the Nationwide Series Awards Banquet in Miami. Roush Fenway’s Carl Edwards, who finished second in the series standings and Paul Menard (fifth) will also be honored at the function. Trevor Bayne used his fifth-place finish at Homestead to secure a seventh-place finish in the points and will also be in attendance at the awards ceremony.
Roush Fenway ends the 2010 Nationwide Series with three drivers in the top 10 and the Raybestos Rookie Awards winner.
Roush Fenway Rookie of the Year Awards Winners
2000 Matt Kenseth – Sprint Cup
2007 David Ragan – Nationwide
2006 Danny O’Quinn – Nationwide
2005 Carl Edwards – Nationwide
2001 Greg Biffle – Nationwide
2008 Colin Braun – Truck
2006 Erik Darnell – Truck
2005 Todd Kluever – Truck
2003 Carl Edwards – Truck
2000 Kurt Busch – Truck
1998 Greg Biffle – Truck
Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR’s largest team operating nine motorsports teams. Four in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with drivers Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan; and five in the Nationwide Series with Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Trevor Bayne, Colin Braun, Brian Ickler, and Paul Menard. For more information on any of the Roush Fenway Racing teams, log onto www.RoushFenway.com. Become a fan of Roush Fenway Racing on Facebook by going to http://www.facebook.com/roushfenway and follow us on Twitter @roushfenway. For sponsorship inquiries please contact Robin Johnson at 704.720.4645.
