Stenhouse “School’s” them at Chicagoland!

[media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday.  This was his fifth win this season and the seventh of his career.

“This is cool. I felt like we should have been here last time. It is good to get redemption after a dominating performance last time. We didn’t have a dominating car until that last run. Mike kept making good calls and I put us a little behind stalling it on pit road. We had to drive up to the front but Mike gave us a Blue Bird Mustang that could do it. I have to thank all the fans for coming out. It was a lot of fun out there today.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

Stenhouse Jr. also captured Roush Fenway Racing’s first ever NASCAR win at the 1.5-mile tri-oval of Chicagoland Speedway.

“That was a lot of fun and to get Jack’s(Roush) first win at Chicago is pretty cool.” Stenhouse Jr. said.

Kyle Busch finished second, Austin Dillon third, Brad Keselowski fourth and Paul Menard rounded out the top-5.

“We had a really good car. It ran well throughout the race. It was fast. I thought that there wasn’t anybody back there that we had to deal with and then the No. 6 (Ricky Stenhouse) came out of nowhere there at the end. I don’t know where he came from, but he had a fast race car. Really excited about that run. We had a solid run. Ran up front most of the race. Was able to capitalize on a good finish there.” Busch said.

Joey Logano brought the field down to the green flag as he won his 200th pole in NASCAR. Stenhouse Jr. started second but got loose and fell back to fourth on the first lap of the race. Stenhouse Jr. continued to fall as he was trying to find grip on the high side.

The first caution came out on lap 4 when the No.39 of Dexter Stacey spun on the front stretch and threw dirt all over the racetrack. He came in and got four new tires and was out and away. None of the front runners came in due to only four laps being run.

They went back to green on lap 8 with Logano back in front of the field. Sam Hornish Jr tried to take the top spot away on the backstretch but Logano took it back but Hornish Jr. took it back and lead that lap for that bonus point. Logano took over the top spot, while Dillon, Busch and Hornish went three wide on the start finish line. Logano stretched out to a 1.2 second lead on lap 12 while Sadler and Dillon, who are both in the title race, battling for the fourth spot.

The second caution waved when Brad Sweet spun coming out of turn four and spun into the grass. He was okay and came in and got tires and went back out. All of the leaders came in with Logano  leading them in. Stenhouse said he was tight off the center and got a air pressure, four tires and fuel. Busch got to his stall and said he was tight off and wanted a air pressure adjustment. He got that and four tires with fuel and was off. Logano said he was tight off the center and got a air pressure adjustment and four tires with fuel. Logano came in with the lead and out with the lead. Dillon gained two spots and came out second.

They restarted the race on lap 45 with Logano getting a great restart. Dillon did not and Busch was pushing him to get up to speed. Logano was pulling away as Cole Whitt got together with Justin Allgaier. Allgaier got away but his exhaust pipe touched Whitt’s left rear tire and cut it down. Whitt was slowing to get on to pit road but missed it and spun on the front stretch to cause the 3rd caution. Whitt came in and barley beat the pace car off pit road by about ten feet.

They went back to green on lap 51 with Logano getting another good restart. Stenhouse was on the high side and did not get a good restart. Logano was pulling away when Stenhouse Jr, Dillon, Hornish and Busch all battling for second place. Busch took over the spot. Busch then took over the race lead on lap 63 with Dillon right behind him. They battled for several laps with Logano a little ways back. Dillon took over the top spot five laps later and pulled away.

Green flag pit stop starting on lap 95 with Logano coming in reporting he was feeling a vibration. He couldn’t take it anymore and was coming in. He got four tires and fuel and was on his way. Sadler came in saying he was tight in the center but it was getting better. He got four tires and fuel and was away. Busch stopped in his pit stall and told his team he was tight in the center and was loose on the exit. He got a trackbar and air pressure along with four tires and fuel and drove away.  Stenhouse followed him into the pits saying he was mostly tight. He got a wedge and a air pressure adjustment and was off. The leader came in and told his crew chief his car was pretty good. He only wanted four tires. Dillon retained the lead with Logano, Busch, Stenhouse and Sadler in the top-5.

The forth caution waved on lap 120 when the No.24 of Benny Gordon was slowing on the apron in turns 3 and 4. It looked like he broke a suspension. All of the leaders came in with Dillon leading them in. Dillon said he was just about perfect and just give me four tires and fuel. Logano said he was too free on exit and want to turn better. He got four tires and a wedge adjustment and was off. Busch came in saying he wanted more turn in the front from the entry to the middle. He got a air pressure, four tires and fuel and was away. Stenhouse said he wanted more right side grip. He got wedge out and the trackbar went down as well as four tires. He was about to leave when he couldn’t no get it started and lost valuable positions. He went in the pits third and restarted in 11th.

They went back to green on lap 130 with Logano back on top. He led the field into turn 1 and was clear of them on the backstretch. Lap later, Michael Annett got loose and tapped Allgaier’s quarter panel and bumped him into the wall. Allgaier saved up but lost a lot of track position. Busch passed Dillon on lap 134 and took over the top spot one lap later. Dillon followed Busch passed Sadler but could not stay with Busch as he pulled away.

The fifth caution came out when Jason Bowles was slow and could not maintain minimum speed. All of the lead came in to pit road which could be there last stop of the day. Stenhouse Jr. came in saying he want to have this car stay the same but he wanted a little more grip. He got a track bar and was gone. Dillon got a round of wedge out of the right rear and a air pressure with four tires and fuel. Sadler said he was free on exit and was tight off the center of 3 and 4. He got a wedge with four tires and fuel and came out of the pits ahead of Dillon and Stenhouse Jr.

They green flag waved with 30 laps to go with Sadler leading. Busch took over when he got a great run off of one with Sadler getting challenged by Hornish Jr. and Dillon. Sadler got passed by both Stenhouse Jr. and Dillon and radioed to his team that his car was “junk”!

Stenhouse Jr. and Dillon both passed Hornish Jr. for second with there sights set on the race leader Busch. Stenhouse Jr. got to Busch’s back bumper and passed him for the lead with 19 laps remaining.  But Busch was not giving up. Busch tried to get around him but Stenhouse Jr. pulled away and never let go of the lead.

Sadler came into the race with a one point lead in the series standings and now trails Stenhouse Jr. by nine points.