FORT WORTH, Tx.(April 9, 2017) – Despite the newly repaved surface, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his Ford Performance Ford to a 14th- place finish in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Texas Motor Speedway scoring two top-10 and three top-15 finishes in his past three starts.
“Our Ford Performance Ford was solid all day,” Stenhouse said afterwards. “We struggled with handling in stage two but were able to bounce back in stage three. We were definitely better on the longer run so that last caution hurt us, but overall it was a good day for our entire Roush Fenway Racing organization.”
After advancing to round three of qualifying on Friday, the two-time XFINITY Series Champion started the 334-lap race in the 11th position and quickly marched his way up to sixth place by lap 20. After a flurry of cautions in the first 85-lap stage, Stenhouse was able to take the checkered in the eighth position picking up valuable stage points for the playoffs.
The Olive Branch, Mississippi native started stage two in the 11th position but battled a tight handling machine early on which caused him to lose a couple of positions but with long green flag runs Stenhouse was able to make up the lost ground.
Stenhouse steadily ran in the top-15 for a majority of the final 164-lap stage. When the final caution was displayed on lap 299, crew chief Brian Pattie brought Stenhouse down pit-road for four tires and fuel for the final 30-lap shootout.
Stenhouse took the final green flag in the 13th position but his Ford struggled on restarts forcing Stenhouse to settle with a 14th place finish.
Stenhouse and the No. 17 team travel have a weekend off before heading to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500.
