Ricky Stenhouse Jr – Aaron’s 499 Advance
Team: No. 17 Zest Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Mike Kelley
Primary Chassis: RK- 830 – last raced at Daytona- finished seventh
Backup Chassis: RK-872 – new chassis
ADVANCE NOTES
Stenhouse Jr. at Talladega
o Stenhouse has two Sprint Cup starts at Talladega earning one top-five and one top-10 finish.
o Stenhouse earned a seventh-place finish in his first start of the season at the circuit’s other restrictor plate track, Daytona International Speedway.
The Car
o Chassis RK-830 is the same chassis that the No.17 team ran at Daytona finishing a respectable seventh.
Last time at Talladega
o Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran up front with the veterans for a majority of Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 500. After leading a total of six laps, the two-time Nationwide Series champion was sitting in fourth position when the white flag waved. After the No. 14 machine spun on the final lap freezing the field, Stenhouse Jr. settled for a third-place finish.
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 Jr. on Talladega:
“After finishing third there last fall, I am really looking forward to this weekend. I learned a lot and would love to have a redo so hopefully we can get our Zest Ford in the same position with one lap remaining. After the past couple of weeks, we need a strong finish this weekend.”
Mike Kelley on Talladega:
“We had a strong seventh-place finish at Daytona, another superspeedway, earlier this year. We are bringing the same car so we know we can run up front. There is always a multi-car wreck at Talladega and you just hope that you aren’t part of it. If we can stay out of trouble and have a little luck on our side, I feel we will have a solid finish in our Zest Ford.”
