Stenhouse Drives Zest Ford to a 15th-Place Finish at the ‘Tricky Triangle’

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In only his third career Sprint Cup start at Pocono Raceway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his Zest Ford Fusion to a 15th– place finish in Sunday’s Pocono 400; the highest finishing Roush Fenway Racing driver.

“We had to fight all day,” Stenhouse said. “The Zest Ford was really good at times. Balance wise I thought we were close, as close as we have been in a few weeks as far as getting the good balance. We got some good restarts there and I think we got a little too tight for the race today from practice but all in all we fixed my rear grip issue that I had in practice and just got a little too tight. There is still a lot of work to do but it was definitely a solid day for us and we will just try to carry that on into Michigan.”

After struggling in the knock out qualifying session, the two-time Nationwide champion started in the 28th-position. As the 160-lap race progressed and pit strategy came into play, the Olive Branch, Mississippi native steadily moved up through the field.

On the final restart with 12 laps remaining, the 2013 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year lined up in the 16th-position, but the outside lane stacked up after the No. 22 machine had an issue on the restart creating four and five wide going into turn one of the ‘Tricky Triangle’.

With ten laps remaining, Stenhouse had maneuvered his Ford into the 13th position but lost two spots in the closing laps to cars with fresher tires taking the checkered flag in the 15th position.

Next up for Stenhouse and the No. 17 team is the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 15. Race coverage begins at 1 p.m. on TNT. Coverage can also be heard on MRN and SIRIUS radio channel 90.

RFR PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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