AVONDALE, Ariz. (March 15, 2015) – After running in the top-15 for most of the 312-lap race, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. battled back after having a loose wheel on his Fastenal Ford to finish 12th in Sunday’s Campingworld.com 500 at Phoenix Raceway; leading the Roush Fenway efforts and jumped five positions in the point standings to 27th.
“It was a good finish,” Stenhouse said. “We ran top-15 the first run and lost a little ground in the pits and then made the wrong adjustment I think and got us too tight. We fell back and lost all our track position. Nick did a good job of getting us two tires and making sure we kept doing that to gain those positions. We had some really good restarts at the end that propelled our Fastenal Ford up a few more spots and got a good finish out of it. We needed that. It has been a tough start to the year but that was definitely a big positive for us.”
After barely missing round three in Friday’s qualifying session, the two-time XFINITY champion lined up in the 14th position, his best qualifying effort of the season, and maintained the top-15 for the first 75 laps of the 312-lap race.
After bringing his Fastenal Ford to pit road for four tires and fuel on lap 118, Stenhouse radioed that he had a vibration and thought he might have a loose wheel. The vibration stayed the same allowing the Olive Branch, Miss. native to stay out during the green flag run.
When the final green flag waved, the Roush Fenway Racing driver restarted in the 15th position and was able to pick up three additional spots in the final 12 laps to earn his best finish of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
Next up for Stenhouse and the No. 17 team is the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, March 22. Race coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. (EST) on FOX. Coverage can also be heard on PRN and NASCAR SIRIUS/XM radio channel 90.
