Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Texas Advance
Team: No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Nick Sandler
Twitter: @Stenhouse17team, @StenhouseJr, and @RoushFenway
ADVANCE NOTES
Stenhouse at Texas Motor Speedway
Stenhouse has seven NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) starts at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) with an average starting position of 18.6 and average finishing position of 22.4.
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
Despite running in the top-10 for a majority of Saturday night’s NSCS race at Texas Motor Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his Ford to a 16th-place finish after a late-race accident damaged his machine.
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.
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.
Stenhouse Jr. on racing at Texas:
“I always look forward to Texas as Eddie Gossage (track president) and team always put on a good show for the fans. Earlier this year, we ran solidly in the top-10 before getting caught up in an accident. If we can play the right pit strategy, execute on pit-road, and stay out of trouble then we should leave Texas with a strong finish.”
Nick Sandler on racing at Texas:
“We’ve been working really hard on our intermediate program so I’m looking forward to see the strength of our Fastenal Ford this weekend at Texas. Texas typically has long green flag runs so we need to make sure we play the right pit strategy game. We are heading into the final three races of the season so it’s really important for us to finish this season off on a strong note.”