RICHMOND,Va. (April 26, 2014) – After battling an ill-handling race car for the majority of Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was running lap times faster than the leader before suffering a blown right front tire on his No. 17 Nationwide Insurance Ford forcing the 2013 Rookie of the Year to settle for a 38th- place finish.
After qualifying was rained out on Friday, the two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion started the 400-mile race in the 29th position, but slowly lost position after battling a tight machine.
After adding tape to the front brake opening, the Olive Branch, Miss. native was running laps faster than the top-five cars despite being two laps down.
With right front wear being an issue for a majority of the race, Stenhouse became a victim sending him into the outside wall and forcing him to bring his flaming Nationwide Insurance Ford to pit-road.
After numerous late race cautions, Stenhouse settled for the 38th-place finish.
Stenhouse and the No. 17 team return to action next Sunday at Talladega SuperSpeedway for the Aaron’s 499. Last time Stenhouse raced at Talladega, he had a strong third-place finish. Race coverage starts at 1:00 pm EST on FOX.
