Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Aug. 12, 2012) - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wheeled his No. 6 Ford Ecoboost Mustang to a stout fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Zippo 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen. The finish was his career best at a road course, and moved him to within 13 points of the NNS points lead.
“That was fun,” Stenhouse said after the race with a smile. “The guys did an awesome job giving me a great Ford Ecoboost Mustang. (Fellow RFR driver) Billy Johnson was a huge help to me before the race coaching me about saving my brakes and watching out for some things to do.
“Ford sent me out to Miller Motorsports Park to do some road course testing, so it was really a big group effort,” added the 2011 NNS Champion. “A top-five for us at a road course is huge. We wanted finish ahead of the guys we are racing in the championship battle. We did what we wanted to do. We really we were trying to come out of here with minimal points lost, but we ended up gaining points, while getting a top-five on a road course.”
With ten laps remaining Stenhouse was slotted in the sixth-position and maneuvering his Ford through the field before the final yellow flag was displayed on lap 76 with his No. 6 Ford running in the fourth-position.
On the final green-white-checkered restart, the Olive Branch, Miss. native was on the heels of the leaders as they battled for the lead; ready to pounce if a mistake was made. The leaders cleared each other, and Stenhouse took the checkered flag of the 82-lap race in the fourth-position.
Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards went on the score the victory; RFR first win at Watkins Glen in the Nationwide Series.
His career best road course finish moved him up to second-place in the NASCAR Nationwide championship standings behind leader Elliott Sadler.
Unlike the Sprint Cup cars, the Nationwide cars are capable of running in the rain. It was raining when the Nationwide cars hit the track for Friday’s practice session which caused uncertainty for race trim. Despite the lack of practice, Stenhouse qualified his No. 6 Ford Ecoboost Mustang in the 10th-position for the Zippo 200.
The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing team heads to Montreal for the NAPA Auto Parts 200 next Saturday, August 18th. Race coverage begins at 2 p.m. EST on ESPN. The race can also be heard on MRN as well as Sirius channel 90.
