DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb, 15, 2014) – Roush Fenway Racing (RFR) will kick off the 2014 NASCAR season in tonight’s ‘Sprint Unlimited’ all-star event at Daytona International Speedway.
RFR will field two cars in the event; Carl Edwards in the No. 99 Fastenal Ford and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No. 17 Nationwide Insurance Ford. It will mark the Sprint Unlimited debut for Stenhouse, who will become the 10th RFR driver to make a start in the event. Both drivers qualified for the race via winning a pole during the 2013 season.
“We had a good day of practice yesterday,” said Stenhouse, who is reunited with crew chief Mike Kelley this season (Kelley led Stenhouse to back-to-back Nationwide Series Championships in 2011 and 2012). “It was really comfortable working with Mike again. I was pleased with the No. 17 Nationwide Insurance Ford and we are excited to see what we have for tonight’s race.”
RFR won the event in 1999 with Mark Martin in the No. 6 Ford. The organization has fielded at least one car in the race for the past 26 seasons — making its debut in the then Busch Clash in 1989. All-in-all RFR has fielded 53 entries in the Sprint Unlimited, with one victory and three second-place finishes (1991, 2009 and 2013).
Last season Greg Biffle made a last-lap charge at victory, but came up just short en route to RFR’s third career runner-up finish in the event.
Tonight’s 75-lap Sprint Unlimited is set for 8 p.m. ET and will be televised live on FOX Sports 1. Fan vote will determine the starting lineup, as well as how many laps will make up each of the race’s three segments. The starting order can be voted on until 7:30 p.m. Saturday night. The restart order for the final segment will be voted on during the race, through the end of the second segment. Fans can vote either through NASCAR’s official app (“NASCAR Mobile”) or at NASCAR.com/SprintUnlimited.
Roush Fenway Racing is the winningest team in NASCAR history, fielding multiple teams in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series’ with championship drivers Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Trevor Bayne, Ryan Reed and Chris Buescher. Having celebrated 25 winning years in 2012, Roush Fenway is the leader in NASCAR marketing solutions, pioneering motorsport’s first team-focused TV show and its award-winning marketing campaigns for “RFR Driven”, “Let Ricky Race”, Pillow Pets, RickyvsTrevor.com, “25 Winning Years” and Google+. Visit RoushFenway.com, circle on Google+, become a fan on Facebook and Instagram and follow on Twitter at @roushfenway.
