The latest auto news, reviews, prices, product and vehicle releases. Sep
17th
Stay connected Subscribe to our RSS feed
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. roared back from a pit stop mistake to take the Nationwide Series win and the series point lead in Chicago.
While rookie, Austin Dillon, and then Kyle Busch seemed to have the competition covered Stenhouse appeared to be shot out of cannon on the final stint with 29 laps to go.
As the new points' leader explained he “seemed to really hit it that last run. I cost us a lot of spots there when I stalled it on pit road so we had to drive back up through the field and then that last restart I felt like we would catch Kyle (Busch) but thought it would take a little longer. He jumped out a little quicker in the runs before and then kind of fell off there towards the end but we were able to catch him pretty quick and take our Mustang to victory lane.”
Busch, who owned his car, led 50-laps at the 1.5 mile speedway said “we had a good car. It ran well through the race. The six (Stenhouse) comes out of nowhere at the end. They had a fast race car. We had a solid run. Hopefully we can build on that. “
Dillon, trying clinging to the championship hunt championship hunt finished third is now 37 points behind Stenhouse, while his teammate, Elliott Sadler who came to Chicago with a one-point lead is now second 9 points behind after finishing ninth.
Sadler, who has not been renewed by his Richard Childress Racing team was mystified by a radio call to Dillon his teammate after they battled on that last stint.
"I don't know what that means, 'Do not help the 2 (Sadler) ,'" he said when told of the exchange between Stockman (Dillon's crew chief and Dillon)) "We share really good notes, and we always have, so I don't know."
In the end Stenhouse wants to graduate to Sprint Cup with another Nationwide title. "The last four races, I think, we've finished second, first, second and first, so I think we've got good momentum," Stenhouse said. "But in this business, in this sport, anything can change at any time. You've got to keep your guard up, and you've got to keep not making mistakes.”
It was Stenhouse's seventh career win and fifth this year.
While rookie, Austin Dillon, and then Kyle Busch seemed to have the competition covered Stenhouse appeared to be shot out of cannon on the final stint with 29 laps to go.
As the new points' leader explained he “seemed to really hit it that last run. I cost us a lot of spots there when I stalled it on pit road so we had to drive back up through the field and then that last restart I felt like we would catch Kyle (Busch) but thought it would take a little longer. He jumped out a little quicker in the runs before and then kind of fell off there towards the end but we were able to catch him pretty quick and take our Mustang to victory lane.”
 |
| Photo: NASCAR |
Busch, who owned his car, led 50-laps at the 1.5 mile speedway said “we had a good car. It ran well through the race. The six (Stenhouse) comes out of nowhere at the end. They had a fast race car. We had a solid run. Hopefully we can build on that. “
Dillon, trying clinging to the championship hunt championship hunt finished third is now 37 points behind Stenhouse, while his teammate, Elliott Sadler who came to Chicago with a one-point lead is now second 9 points behind after finishing ninth.
Sadler, who has not been renewed by his Richard Childress Racing team was mystified by a radio call to Dillon his teammate after they battled on that last stint.
"I don't know what that means, 'Do not help the 2 (Sadler) ,'" he said when told of the exchange between Stockman (Dillon's crew chief and Dillon)) "We share really good notes, and we always have, so I don't know."
 |
| Photo: NASCAR |
In the end Stenhouse wants to graduate to Sprint Cup with another Nationwide title. "The last four races, I think, we've finished second, first, second and first, so I think we've got good momentum," Stenhouse said. "But in this business, in this sport, anything can change at any time. You've got to keep your guard up, and you've got to keep not making mistakes.”
It was Stenhouse's seventh career win and fifth this year.