After maneuvering his machine through the multi-car pile-up late in the race, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his Fifth Third Ford Fusion to an 18th– place finish in Sunday’s GoBowling.com 400.
“Our Fifth Third Bank Ford was decent at the start of the race,” Stenhouse said. “We just had something off with our right front. We will keep working and improving our cars. We have five races left to try to get in the Chase.”
After leading the Roush Fenway Racing qualifying efforts with his advancement into the second round of knock out qualifying, the two-time Nationwide champion lined up in the 23rd position and steadily worked his way up to 16th place by lap 16 after a couple of early race cautions.
After battling an ill-handling machine that put the 2013 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year one lap down, Stenhouse Jr. was battling for the lucky dog position when a 13- car accident occurred in front of his Ford. Since the car he was battling was involved in the accident, the Olive Branch, Mississippi native was not awarded the lucky dog position to get his lap back.
When the final green flag waved with three laps remaining, Stenhouse battled his way up to be the first car a lap down in hopes of another caution. The race stayed green and Stenhouse Jr. took the checkered flag in the 18th position.
RFR PR