Team: No. 17 Zest Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Nick Sandler
Twitter: @PR17RFR, @stenhousejr, @ZestRacing and @roushfenway
ADVANCE NOTES
Stenhouse at Texas Motor Speedway
Stenhouse has six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) starts at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) with an average starting position of 20.8 and average finishing position of 23.5.
Stenhouse knows how to get to victory lane at TMS. In 2012, he held off NSCS veteran Denny Hamlin to claim his first victory at Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.
Last time at Texas
As the No. 17 Ford hit pit-road with less than 25 laps remaining in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Texas Motor Speedway, a caution was displayed trapping Ricky Stenhouse Jr. two laps down forcing Stenhouse to settle with a 21st-place finish.
Texas Natives
The No. 17 team has two Texas natives. Eric Wallace, the rear tire carrier, is from Austin, Texas and Kenny DeGuisto, the underneath mechanic, is from Garland, Texas.
Zest
Zest is currently in its fifth season as a primary partner in the NSCS for Roush Fenway. They have spent all five years on the No. 17 machine; one year with Matt Kenseth and four years with Stenhouse.
Zest will also adorn the No. 17 machine next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Stenhouse Jr. on racing at Texas:
“Texas is one of my favorite tracks. (Track president) Eddie Gossage and team really know how to put on a good show for the fans. So far this season, we’ve had strong runs at the mile-and-a-half tracks so we are looking to continue that trend this weekend. This is the first race of the season for Zest and the aqua colored Zest Ford definitely stands out under the lights. It’s a long race so if we can keep making the needed adjustments and execute on pit-road then I think we will leave Texas with another solid performance.”
Nick Sandler on racing at Texas:
“We are all looking forward to Texas after the strength we have shown at the other intermediate tracks this season. We’ve been working really hard on our intermediate program, and I definitely think our improvements are showing but we have to keep working and trying new things. Texas is a long race that tends to have long green flag runs so we will have to figure out our pit strategy because we don’t want to get caught on pit road like last year. I feel confident that the Zest Ford will be in contention this weekend.”
