Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Federated Auto Parts 400 Advance
Team: No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Mike Kelley
Primary Chassis: RK- 893 – last ran at Kentucky- finished 25th.
Backup Chassis: RK-877 – last ran at Loudon – finished ninth.
ADVANCE NOTES
· Stenhouse at Richmond
o Stenhouse has three career Sprint Cup starts at Richmond, earning one top-10 finish.
· Last time at Richmond
o Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was running lap times faster than the leader before suffering a blown right front tire on his No. 17 Ford forcing the 2013 Rookie of the Year to settle for a 38th-place finish.
· The Car
o Chassis RK-893 is the same chassis that the No.17 team ran at Kentucky where Stenhouse had maneuvered his Fifth Third Bank Ford up to the 12th position before a costly pit-road mistake on the final pit stop forced Stenhouse to settle with a 25th-place finish.
· Virginia native
o Team engineer, Tyler Nelson, grew up in Fredericksburg, VA.
· About Fifth Third Bank
o Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $133 billion in assets and operates 15 affiliates with 1,309 full-service Banking Centers, including 102 Bank Mart® locations, most open seven days a week, inside select grocery stores and 2,619 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, and Investment Advisors.
Stenhouse on Richmond:
“It’s the last race for us to make the Chase so we have to go for the win. Richmond is typical short track racing which is always a lot of fun. It is important to have a car that turns in the center with good drive off. I’m really looking forward to Saturday night’s race at Richmond and hopefully we can get our Fifth Third Bank Ford into victory lane and a Chase spot.”
Mike Kelley on Richmond:
“Even though Richmond is a short track it drives like a mile-and-a-half track. We have to win this race to qualify for the Chase so that’s our main goal. Track position is crucial so we need to qualify well on Friday. If we can execute on pit-road and stay out of trouble then I feel confident we can be a contender for the win.”
