10/22/2018
Stenhouse Jr. Finishes 20th at Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Oct. 21, 2018) – After a pit-road speeding penalty set him back, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his Fastenal Ford to a 20th-place finish in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Kansas Speedway.
“We really struggled today with the handling of our Fastenal Ford,” Stenhouse said. “Kansas has been a decent track for us in the past but we just struggled. We have four more races to keep building momentum as we head into the off-season.”
The Olive Branch, Miss. native rolled off in the 15thposition for the 267-lap race but gradually fell back due to a lack of overall grip before the caution was displayed on lap 56. Crew chief Brian Pattie made a strategy call to stay out, giving the Fastenal Ford the lead on the restart. Newer tires prevailed in the final 16 laps of stage one forcing Stenhouse to settle with 21st position when the green-checkered flag waved.
With a caution free stage two, the two-time Xfinity champion received a pit-road speeding penalty during a scheduled green flag pit-stop causing him to lose two laps to the leaders. When the green checkered waved at the end of stage two, the Fastenal Ford was scored in the 22nd position.
In the final stage, crew chief Brian Pattie kept the Fastenal Ford out on the track as long as he could before the final pit-stop in hopes of a quick caution. Unfortunately, the final stage went caution free forcing Stenhouse to settle with a 20th –place finish.
