LAS VEGAS, Nev. (March 8, 2015)- After making slight contact with the outside wall causing fender damage to his Fastenal Ford and hitting a loose tire on pit road, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. battled back to take the checkered flag in the 29th position in Sunday’s race at Las Vegas.
“Seemed like every time we pitted, the caution would come out a few laps later never allowing us to get our laps back,” said Stenhouse. “We struggled this weekend so we will go back and look at everything. As an organization we are working hard on getting our cars back to where we need to be to compete with the other top-tier teams. We will move on to Phoenix and try to keep clawing our way back up in the points.”
After battling a tight machine during qualifying, the Olive Branch, Miss. native started the 267-lap race in the 31st place. With a speedy pit-stop by the No. 17 crew, Stenhouse had marched his way up to 22nd place before the car’s handling faded.
With a handful of cautions in the final 100 laps, Stenhouse was unable to take the wave around to get his lap back as the field was on different pit-stop cycles late in the race.
After pitting multiple times to repair the left rear fender, Stenhouse restarted in the 33rd position and gradually worked his way up to 26th position. When the leaders started to pit, crew chief Nick Sandler chose to leave Stenhouse out 30 more laps in hopes for a caution flag which would allow the two-time XFINITY champion to get one of his laps back.
With the last 69 laps going green, Stenhouse took the checkered flag in the 29th position.
Next up for Stenhouse and the No. 17 team is the Campingworld.com 400 at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, March 15. Race coverage begins at 12:30p.m. PTon FOX. Coverage can also be heard on MRN and SIRIUS radio channel 90.
