05/11/2015
Stenhouse Jr. Finishes 24th At Kansas Speedway Despite Late Race Accident
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (May 10, 2015) – After battling back from one lap down, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was running in the top-20 before making contact with the outside wall with 12 laps remaining forcing Stenhouse to settle for a 24th-place finish in Saturday night’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway.
”I’m not sure what happened to our right front,” Stenhouse said. “After our contact with the No. 15 machine, something was amiss in the right front and caused our Zest Ford to be really tight. I definitely think we had a top-15 car tonight. We will go to Charlotte next weekend and hopefully race our way into the All-Star race.”
With rain threatening, the Olive Branch, Miss. native lined up in the 20th position for the 400 –mile race but fell a few positions in the early laps due to an ill-handling machine before the rain came, red flagging the race for over two hours.
With less than 100 laps remaining, the two-time NASCAR XFINITY champion made contact with the No. 15 machine causing right front damage to his Zest Ford. Despite the damage that caused his machine to be extremely tight, Stenhouse battled to earn the lucky dog position on lap 207 to get back on the lead lap.
The Roush Fenway Racing (RFR) driver was running in the 19th position when his Zest Ford suddenly shot into the outside wall as he was entering turn two bringing out a caution with 12 laps remaining.
Despite the damage to the right side of his machine, Stenhouse was able to gain two positions in the final six laps to take the checkered flag in the 24th position.
Stenhouse and the No. 17 team travel to Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend in which they will race Friday night in the Sprint Showdown in hopes to advance into the Sprint All-Star on Saturday night.
