Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Auto Club 400 Advance
Team: No. 17 Ford Ecoboost Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Mike Kelley
Primary Chassis: RK- 893 – new chassis
Backup Chassis: RK-860 – last raced at Texas – finished 16th
ADVANCE NOTES
· Stenhouse at Auto Club Speedway
o Stenhouse has one career Cup start at Fontana where he finished 20th after he took two right side tires and fuel for the closing laps. On the final green flag, Stenhouse restarted in the ninth position but got pinned down shuffling him back to take the checkered flag in the 20th-position.
o Stenhouse has four Nationwide career starts, earning two top-five and two top-10 finishes.
o Stenhouse is currently 10th in the point standings.
· The Car
o Chassis 893 is a brand new chassis for the No. 17 team this 2014 season.
· Ford Ecoboost
o Delivering up to 20 percent better fuel economy than conventional engines, EcoBoost uses smaller overall size combined with turbocharging and gasoline direct injection to bring customers the power they want and the fuel economy they need.
· California Native
o Engineer, Julian Pena, grew up in Aliso Viejo which is approximately 50 miles from the Auto Club Speedway. Pena is a graduate of Stanford University.
Stenhouse on Auto Club
“I really enjoy racing at Auto Club. The tires wear quickly so you slide around and can run anywhere on the track. Mike (Kelley) and I had some solid runs at Fontana in Nationwide. We are coming off our career best finish so we will carry that momentum into this weekend and hopefully get another strong finish in our No. 17 Ford Ecoboost Ford.”
Kelley on Auto Club:
“This is one of the tracks that we marked at the beginning of the season that we felt like we could have a good run at. Bristol was a great weekend for our No. 17 team and gives us extra confidence going into Fontana. We felt like we learned some things at Vegas that will transfer to Fontana. I feel strongly that we will have another strong run this weekend.”
