Polesitter, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion won his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. In partnership with Ford Performance, Roush Yates Engines provided the Ford FR9 EFI horsepower that propelled the No. 17 to victory lane in the GEICO 500.
“What an incredible weekend of racing, the Ford GT cars ran in Belgium and Texas, while our NASCAR teams swept Talladega,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Congratulations Ricky and Jack on this milestone win and to Aric, Fred Biagi and Bill DenBeste on winning the Xfinity race. To win both restrictor plate races this year, Daytona and Talladega with Ford Performance is an incredible achievement for our team. And I have to thank the fans. It was great to see the grandstands full of NASCAR fans.”
The weekend started off fast with qualifying, showcasing the ‘Ford Power’ with Stenhouse Jr. winning the first pole of the season for Roush Fenway Racing, recording a lap speed of 191.547 and fifth season pole for Ford Performance. A total of three Ford Fusions qualified in the Top-5; No. 2 Brad Keselowski in P3 and No. 6 Trevor Bayne in P5.
After winning the pole Stenhouse said, “It’ll be nice to lead the field to green here. The Fifth Third guys worked really, really hard on these cars. Like I said earlier, Jimmy Fennig has done a great job on these speedway cars. This is cool. Doug Yates builds awesome horsepower. With his dad, Robert, not doing as well as we would like, it would be cool to dedicate this one to him and all the hard work that the engine shop does. Man, it’s a cool way to start the weekend.”
Stenhouse Jr. led the pack of 40 cars across the start/finish line to start the race for the first time this season and leveraged the horsepower of the Ford FR9 EFI engine to lead the first laps of the race.
The Ford Fusions ran up front for the majority of the day, as Keselowski took the first stage win, with six different Fords leading throughout the race.
The No. 17 survived the notorious Talladega ‘Big One’ making it through a 18 car wreck. Stenhouse Jr. went onto to position himself perfectly, in second position, running bumper to bumper with Jimmy Johnson, as the final caution came out.
It all came down to a high pressure overtime shootout drag race. Starting on the inside of Kyle Busch, Stenhouse Jr. got a great restart with a push from Johnson and on a last lap pass took the lead and checkered flag, winning by .095 seconds over Jamie McMurray.
When asked about his first win in victory lane Stenhouse Jr. said, “It’s been a long time coming. We’ve run really well here at Talladega. This is the closest race track to home. I got a lot of cheers riding around here today and the fans were awesome. We had a lot packed in here at Talladega and it felt old-school. Man, to finally get that win for Jack and everyone on our team is really special.”
The win in Talladega marked Roush Fenway Racing’s 136th win and fifth win at the Superspeedway. This weekend also marked Roush Yates Engines 295th overall win since 2004.
No manufacturer has dominated the restrictor-plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega in recent years more than Ford, which has won 14 of the last 26 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series events at these two facilities. In fact, Ford has won at least two of the four races in each of the past three seasons and with Stenhouse’s win it makes it four in a row for Ford Performance at Talladega (Logano 2015 Fall, Keselowski 2016 Spring and Logano 2016 Fall).
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing
4th – Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports
6th – Kurt Busch | Stewart Haas Racing
7th – Brad Keselowski | Team Penske
10th – David Ragan | Frontrow Motorspor
David Martin-JaniakMotorsports has always been a passion for me, I've raced in Karting and now I have my own Motorsports news website, so i can help other racers convey their passion to the world!
