Ricky Stenhouse Jr – Auto Club 400 Advance
Team: No. 17 NOS Energy Drink Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Primary Chassis: RK- 815 – 2012 No. 99 chassis -last ran at Martinsville – finished 18th.
Backup Chassis: RK-811 – 2012 No. 99 chassis – last ran at Phoenix – finished 11th.
ADVANCE NOTES
· Stenhouse at Auto Club Speedway
o Stenhouse will make his first Sprint Cup career start at Auto Club Speedway this weekend.
o Stenhouse has four Nationwide career starts, earning two top-five and two top-10 finishes.
o Stenhouse has completed 93.7% of the laps ran at Auto Club in the Nationwide Series.
Stenhouse is currently 11th in the point standings tied with Kyle Busch.
· The Car
o Chassis RK-815 is a chassis that the No. 99 team ran various times in 2012. It is the same chassis that Stenhouse and the No. 17 team tested with in Las Vegas.
o The backup Chassis RK-811 raced various times in 2012 by the No. 99 team.
· NOS Energy Drink
o Teamed up with Stenhouse and Roush Fenway Racing in 2012.
o Six winners of the #IMNOSome Twitter campaign will be featured on the No. 17 decklid this weekend.
o NOS Energy Drink with the help of CrushIQ created a month long twitter campaign where fans submitted pictures to win sponsor related prizes.
· California Native
o Engineer, Julian Pena, grew up in Aliso Viejo which is approximately 50 miles from the Auto Club Speedway. Pena is a graduate of Stanford University.
Stenhouse on Auto Club
“We are bringing the same car that we tested with at Las Vegas. We had a lot of speed during the test so I feel confident going into this weekend. NOS Energy Drink sponsored me last year and stepped up to the Cup Series this year so it would be great to get a solid finish in their paint scheme this weekend. We’ve been strong at other mile-and-a-half tracks so I feel we should have a strong showing in our No. 17 NOS Energy Drink Ford this weekend.”
Graves on Auto Club:
“We are still learning the new Gen-6 car, but I feel that as a new team in 2013 that we have done a great job so far. During our mile-and-a-half tests, we have showed speed in the No. 17 Ford. I think if we keep building on what we learn each week that we will be strong contenders soon. We will work on getting the NOS Energy Drink Ford dialed in to Ricky’s liking and hopefully leave Fontana with a strong top-ten run.”
