Ricky Stenhouse Jr – Kobalt Tools 400 Advance
Team: No. 17 Zest Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Mike Kelley
Primary Chassis: RK- 882– new chassis
Backup Chassis: RK-860 – last raced at Texas – finished 16th
ADVANCE NOTES
· Stenhouse at Las Vegas
o Stenhouse finished 18th last year at Vegas after battling a tight machine later in the race.
o Stenhouse has three Nationwide career starts, earning two top-10 finishes and one win.
o Stenhouse is currently 13th in the Sprint Cup point standings.
· The Car
o The No. 17 team is bringing a brand new chassis for the first intermediate track of the season. The back-up chassis was raced mulitple times by Stenhouse last season, including Texas where he finished 16th.
· Zest
o High Ridge Brands is the name of the parent company/private equity firm.
o Zest’s first year in NASCAR was 2012 when they sponsored the No. 17 Ford.
Stenhouse on Las Vegas:
“Las Vegas is one of my favorite tracks, so I am excited to race there this weekend. The guys have been working hard over the off-season on new cars, so we should get a good feel how our cars are compared to the rest of the field. We have Zest on our No. 17 Ford for the first time this season so hopefully we will have a strong showing for them this weekend.”
Mike Kelley on Las Vegas:
“This is the first time we will get to see how our cars are with the new NASCAR rules package. We get an extra day out there for testing so hopefully we can get the No.17 Zest Ford dialed in to Ricky’s liking. This track really suits Ricky’s driving style. Last weekend was our first time under the new qualifying format so we learned a few things which we feel can help our qualifying efforts this weekend. I’m confident that we will have a strong showing on Sunday.”
