Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Las Vegas Advance
Team: No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Nick Sandler
Twitter: @PR17RFR @stenhousejr @FastenalRacing and @roushfenway
ADVANCE NOTES
Stenhouse Jr. at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
· Stenhouse has three-career Sprint Cup starts at Las Vegas with an average starting position of 14.7 and average finishing position of 24.7.
· In 2012, Stenhouse Jr. cleared veteran Mark Martin with 54 laps remaining and built a six-second lead going on to claim his first victory of the 2012 NASCAR XFINITY season and his third XFINITY career win.
· Stenhouse has a total combined (XFINITY and Sprint Cup) six starts at Las Vegas with an average starting position of 10.0.
· Stenhouse Jr. scored his first top-10 finish of the season last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway and is currently 13th in the point standings.
Last time at Vegas
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.
On the Car
· Fastenal is currently in its fifth season as a primary partner in the NSCS for Roush Fenway. They spent three years on the No. 99 before jumping over to the No. 17 entry, and were the primary partner on the No. 60 XFINITY team that captured the owner’s championship in 2011.
· Next weekend, Fastenal will serve as the primary of the No. 17 machine at Phoenix International Raceway.
Stenhouse Jr. on racing at Las Vegas:
“I’m looking forward to heading out West and racing at Las Vegas. I think when you walk into the garage you can sense all the excitement from the fans as they look on from the Neon Garage. We have extra track time on Thursday with testing so hopefully we can learn some things that will help us with future mile-and-a-half tracks. Our main goal this year is to be consistent which hopefully will keep us high in the points so we can make the Chase in 2016.”
Sandler on racing at Las Vegas:
“The extra day of testing at Las Vegas will be important since testing is limited. Majority of the tracks in the Chase are mile-and-a-half so hopefully we can learn some things that we can help us throughout the season. I know we have really worked hard over the off-season on our intermediate program so I’m looking forward to Vegas. I think if we stay mistake free then we should leave Vegas with a solid finish.”