Team: No. 17 Fifth Third Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Brian Pattie
Twitter: @Stenhouse17Team, @stenhousejr, and @roushfenway
ADVANCE NOTES
Stenhouse at Darlington Raceway
Stenhouse Jr. has four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Darlington Raceway with an average starting position of 18.0 and average finishing position of 23.5.
Stenhouse Jr. and Fifth Third Bank will honor NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip with a throwback again for the 2017 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The paint scheme from Waltrip’s 1997 season is one of Stenhouse Jr.’s favorite paint schemes along with the all chrome scheme that Waltrip ran the same year. Darlington is also the track where Waltrip got his last MENCS win.
Last time at Darlington
After restarting on the outside of the front row, the two-time XFINITY champion steadily ran in the top-10 before losing a few positions on a long green flag run due to an ill-handling machine. When the final green flag waved setting up a 12 lap shootout, Stenhouse restarted in the 16th position and gained a few spots early on before a tight handling condition cost him a couple of positions in the closing laps to take the checkered flag in the 18th position.
Stenhouse Jr. on racing at Darlington:
“I always look forward to going to Darlington and seeing all the throwback paint schemes and uniforms. Darrell (Waltrip) has been an integral part of our sport so it is an honor to recognize him this weekend. So far this season, we’ve had a lot of success with Fifth Third Bank on our Ford so hopefully we can continue that trend and get this No. 17 Ford to victory lane, the same track that Darrell got his last win.”