RICHMOND, Va. – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. utilized a gutsy pit strategy for track position after early contact with the wall to earn a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, his second top-five finish of the season.
While most of the field elected to pit during the final caution on Lap 377 for a two-car incident between Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch, Stenhouse and a gaggle of others including championship points leader Kyle Larson decided to stay out, putting Stenhouse alongside Larson on the front row for the Lap 382 restart.
The two were quickly devoured by cars on fresher tires, but Stenhouse was able to maintain track position and keep the Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Kevin Harvick at bay to record his best finish since a fourth at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway in March.
“I made it a lot of work for us there getting in the fence later in that first stage and really we were fighting back all day from there,” said Stenhouse. “Had a really good car on the long run, but we bent the splitter bar down. Was on the splitter for five or six laps, so restarts I was just trying to keep as best track position as I could, and once we got to lap 6 or 7, my car kind of came back around to me.
“It was a no-brainer there to stay out that last caution. I was glad it came out because I thought we missed the opportunity the run before to stay out. It worked out perfect. Our Fifth / Third Ford and the guys never gave up, worked hard and like Brad (Keselowski) said, this track is a lot of fun in the sun.”
Roush Fenway Racing has seen marginal improvement on their on-track performance from last year and while the speed and results have been gratifying for Stenhouse and teammate Trevor Bayne, Stenhouse mentioned their intermediate program still needs some attention.
“(I) think we’ve been a top‑15 car on the mile‑and‑a‑halfs,” Stenhouse added. “I think you could say we’ve been a 10th‑place car on the short tracks and gambled some and had some good finishes. I think today we were a top‑five car before I wrecked it. Long runs were top-five. But I like short tracks. The downforce, the less downforce we have, the more you can kind of play with the brakes, play with the gas and throttle and really kind of maneuver your car around a little bit more instead of it being stuck to the racetrack.”
Stenhouse doesn’t only credit his team for their recent upswing in results, but rather his ability to make adjustments from inside the car that proves to be beneficial when it counts.
“You know, I’ve been finding a lot of success in that even if the car is not perfect, being able to change my adjustments and what I’m doing in the car to get the best out of it. It’s getting that way on mile‑and‑a‑half’s for sure. Even the newer paved ones, but the old ones definitely is coming into factor, too. We’ve just got to keep building better cars and bringing
faster cars to the racetrack and putting the whole weekend together, not making mistakes.”
Heading to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway next weekend, Stenhouse is 15th in Cup points, up four positions from the same time last year.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email him at [email protected].
