05/23/2017
Stenhouse Prepares for the Longest Race of the Season
Stenhouse Jr. has 10 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway with an average starting position of 20.7 and average finishing position of 20.8. The two-time XFINITY series champion made his first MENCS start at Charlotte in 2011 in the famed No. 21, finishing an impressive 11th; his best Cup career finish at the 1.5-mile track.
Team: No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Brian Pattie
Twitter: @Stenhouse17Team, @StenhouseJr, @FastenalRacing and @RoushFenway
ADVANCE NOTES
Stenhouse Jr. at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Stenhouse Jr. has 10 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway with an average starting position of 20.7 and average finishing position of 20.8.
The two-time XFINITY series champion made his first MENCS start at Charlotte in 2011 in the famed No. 21, finishing an impressive 11th; his best Cup career finish at the 1.5-mile track.
Last year’s Coca-Cola 600
With only four cautions and long green flag runs, the Olive Branch, Miss. native lost a lap to the leaders with less than 100 laps remaining in the 400-lap race. With only 14 cars on the lead lap, a much needed caution came out on lap 339 granting Stenhouse the lucky dog position.
Lining up at the tail end of the lead lap, the 2013 NSCS Rookie of the Year lined up in the 15th position but the race went green for the final 66 laps causing Stenhouse to settle with a 15th-place finish.
“600 Miles of Remembrance”
Stenhouse and the No. 17 Fastenal Ford will participate in “600 Miles of Remembrance” on Memorial Day Weekend, to honor military service members and their families.
LCpl Taylor B. Prazynski will replace ‘Stenhouse Jr’ on the windshield of the No. 17 Ford.
LCpl. Taylor B. Prazynski was born on Veterans Day in 1984 at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, the son of a staff sergeant, and lived his first four years on bases in Utah and Illinois. The family moved to Fairfield, where Taylor adopted The Army Goods Store on Dixie Highway as his favorite hangout. Since 1990 the store has hung a picture of six-year old Taylor, in a beret and camouflage jumpsuit, on a wall behind the counter. Prazynski left in January 2005 for Iraq, and passed away on Monday, May 9, while fighting alongside his U.S. Marine Corps battalion. He was 20 years old.
On the Car
Fastenal will run a special red, white, and blue paint scheme to honor military service members and their families on this Memorial Day weekend.
Fastenal is currently in its sixth season as a primary partner in the MENCS 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 in the Coca-Cola 600:
“I always look forward to this weekend. It’s a big racing weekend between the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. We struggled last weekend, but feel we learned some things that should help us this weekend. It’s a long race but with four stages now, I think it will create some excitement for the fans. Handling is always tricky since the race starts during the day but ends at night. We will keep making adjustments to our Fastenal Ford and hopefully can leave Charlotte with a top-10 finish.”
