Rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a clear path to his second consecutive top-10 finish this past weekend in Chicagoland. After a 5-hour rain delay the No. 17 fired back up and brought the Ford home in the 8th position, marking his career best finish. After two consistent weeks for the rookie he looks to win that first race this Sunday at Loudon.
“We started the race and thought we were in big trouble,” said Stenhouse, who dropped in the early stages after starting fifth in the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. “Luckily after the rain delay, getting back out there at night, it kind of helped our car turn a little bit better. I stayed out there on that last caution, thought we were going to be in trouble with those guys behind us on tires, but we were able to hold them off.”
The last time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) was at Loudon Stenhouse tangled with his girlfriend Danica Patrick and BK Racing’s, Travis Kvapil. That wreck put a damper on Stenhouse’s day as he only salvage a 34th place finish in his first career start at Loudon in the NSCS. Stenhouse has also raced at this track in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) three times where he notched two top fives.
“We have two back-to-back top-10 finishes so I am looking forward to racing this weekend at Loudon” Commented Stenhouse on New Hampshire this weekend ” The key is to get your car to turn through the center and to handle well over the bumps entering turn three as the car bounces a lot. We tested at Phoenix last week and feel that we learned some stuff that might help us this weekend. Loudon is the home track for Fenway Sports Group so we hope to have another strong showing this weekend in our Zest Ford.”
“We definitely have some momentum after the past two weekends” Said Scott Graves crew chief of the No. 17 “We tested in Phoenix last week and felt that we learned a few things there that could be beneficial to Loudon. We had a decent run in July before getting collected in an accident so hopefully this trip has a much better outcome and we leave New Hampshire with another top-10 finish.”
The Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 team looks for a third straight top ten with a new chassis heading to Loudon. The Roush Fenway organization is really focused on their chase contenders Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, both going for their first championship.
Meanwhile they battle for a championship, but watch Stenhouse try to crash the party of chase contenders this weekend by winning or anytime the final weeks of the NSCS schedule
