09/05/2016
Stenhouse Jr. Drives His Fastenal Ford to an 18th-Place Finish at Darlington
Stenhouse Jr. Drives His Fastenal Ford to an 18th-Place Finish at Darlington
DARLINGTON, S.C. (September 4, 2016) – Honoring Darrell Waltrip’s first win during NASCAR’s Throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his Fastenal Ford to an 18th-place finish after losing a couple of positions on the final restart.
“We got a lucky break there with the caution coming out before we pitted,” Stenhouse said. “I got to run up front a little bit but all in all we didn’t get our balance right all night. It was back and forth all night. It was a tough night for us with the Fastenal Ford. We couldn’t do anything to make it fast and run the same speed all night. Some of those cars got us at the end. They made their cars better and we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
After track activity was cancelled on Friday due to hurricane Hermine, NASCAR chose to line up the field by the driver point standings and give the competitors two practice sessions instead of qualifying on Saturday.
The Olive Branch, Miss. native lined up in the 22nd position in his throwback orange and white Fastenal Ford and quickly maneuvered his Ford inside the top-20 within the first seven laps.
After going a lap down to the leader, crew chief Nick Sandler was waiting on the leader to pit before bringing Stenhouse to pit road when a much needed caution came out allowing Stenhouse to get back on the lead lap and gain valuable track position.
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.
The No. 17 team heads to Richmond International Raceway for the final race before the Chase begins. The Federated Auto Parts 400 will be televised on Sept. 10, 2016 at 7:30 pm E.T on NBCSN. Race coverage can also be heard on Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SIRIUS channel 90.
