After rain postponed the Gander RV 400 to Monday afternoon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was charging forward before blowing a right front tire on his Little Hugs Fruit Barrel Ford forcing him to settle with a 33rd-place finish.
“Our Little Hug Fruit Barrels Ford started out really good.” Stenhouse said. “We worked our way inside the top 10 there in stage one before blowing a right front. It’s the story of our season. Hopefully we can turn around our luck next weekend at Kansas.”
After NASCAR returned to single car qualifying, the two-time Xfinity champion lined up in the 20th position after battling a tight machine during his qualifying laps. When the competition yellow was displayed on lap 40 for rain overnight, Stenhouse was scored in the 10th position.
Steadily running in the top-10, the Olive Branch, Miss. native reported that his Ford was gradually getting tighter throughout the run. After losing a few positions due to the tightness, the right front tire blew sending the Little Hugs Ford hard into the outside wall. After multiple pit-stops, Stenhouse returned to the track in the 25th position. Something was still amiss according to Stenhouse forcing him to take the first green checkered in the 30th position.
For the final two stages, Stenhouse rode out the final laps in his damaged machine taking the checkered flag in the 33rd position.
Stenhouse and the No. 17 team travel to Kansas Speedway next weekend. Race coverage can be seen on FS1 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
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