Rough Day For Stenhouse, Jr. at Iowa Speedway After Recording First Career Pole
August 2, 20091:07 PM
Newton, Iowa (August 2, 2009) – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and the No. 16 3M team headed to Iowa Speedway for the track’s inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series event feeling one step ahead of the field. Saturday marked the fourth race for Stenhouse, Jr. on the .875-mile oval, giving him more laps on the speedway than most of his competitors. Stenhouse, Jr. proved he knew his way around the track after winning the pole for the race with a fast lap time of 23.31 seconds. After struggling with a tight car for much of the race, Stenhouse, Jr. worked his way to the front and looked poised for a top-10 when left front damage and a flat right front tire relegated the 3M Ford Fusion to the end of the pack and a 22nd place finish.
Stenhouse, Jr. led the first seven laps of the race before losing ground, complaining that the car was “tight rolling the center and getting back to the gas.” The 3M Ford Fusion was seventh when crew chief Eddie Pardue called Stenhouse, Jr. in under caution for the first pit stop of the afternoon. The 3M crew gave Stenhouse, Jr. four fresh tires, track bar and air pressure adjustments and sent him back on the track in 10th place.
The next 30 laps went green and Stenhouse, Jr. fought to hold position, wrestling with a car that was “still really tight.” Needing to try a different set of adjustments, Pardue decided on four tires and a wedge adjustment for the next stop which came under caution on lap 76. The change didn’t help the 3M Ford Fusion and Stenhouse, Jr. dropped back through the field. Fighting with Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards for 13th place on lap 119, Stenhouse, Jr. got too high and scraped the wall coming off of turn four. The body damage made an already tight 3M Ford Fusion even tighter and Stenhouse, Jr. quickly fell to the end of the lead lap.
A much-needed caution came out on lap 144 and the 3M crew went to work assessing the damage. After spending two straight caution periods on pit road fixing the body, Stenhouse, Jr. said the team had made the car “much better.” With the laps winding down, the 3M Ford Fusion came alive. Stenhouse, Jr. raced his way up to 14th and set his sights on the top 10. When the caution came out on lap 211, Pardue called for two tires to gain track position. Stenhouse, Jr. restarted 10th with just 31 laps left. The 3M Ford Fusion was up to sixth when a handful of cars wrecked on lap 235. Stenhouse, Jr. was on the outskirts of the pileup and suffered left front damage. With the fender rubbing the wheel, Pardue brought Stenhouse, Jr. in for left side tires. He restarted 15th with 10 laps to go, but had the right front tire cut down just after going back to green. The 3M Ford Fusion limped around to pit road for right side tires, losing two laps to the leaders in the process. When the checkered flag fell, Stenhouse, Jr. was shown in 22nd place.
“I can’t begin to explain how frustrating that was,” said Stenhouse, Jr. “The 3M Ford Fusion was super tight all day but started to really come around at the end and I thought we’d definitely finish in the top 10. It was getting pretty crazy out there with 20 or 30 to go and unfortunately we got caught up in some of it. It was pretty cool to win the pole for the first race here, I just wish we could’ve followed it up with a good finish.”
The No. 16 team remains eighth in Owner Points, 690 points behind the leader.
About Roush Fenway Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR’s largest team operating nine motorsports teams. Five in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with drivers Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan; three in the Nationwide Series with Kenseth, Biffle, Edwards, Ragan, Erik Darnell, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Colin Braun; and one in the Camping World Truck Series with Braun. For more information on any of the Roush Fenway Racing teams, log onto www.RoushFenway.com. For sponsorship inquiries please contact Robin Johnson at 704.720.4645.
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