Ricky Stenhouse Jr Wins at Daytona International Speedway in the Coke Zero 400
- Jul 5, 2017
"I kept my Talladega car and told them to build a new one," said Stenhouse, who locked himself into the postseason playoff with his second victory of the season. "They built a Fifth Third Ford that was really fast...”
Stenhouse won the race during the overtime, after a wreck involving Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, and Erik Jones causing a caution and a restart on Lap 162. After coming out to a two car length lead, David Ragan was passed by Stenhouse and eventually finished in 6th. Stenhouse led four times for total of 17 times and gained 5 playoff points and 40 points.
“Well, I feel like for me, we've had good finishes at speedways,” Stenhouse said. “I feel like we lucked into a few of them, but now that we're paying a lot of attention to every single part of our company, making sure that the speedway cars are good, the short tracks, the mile-and-a-halfs, we're really focused in on every aspect of the sport and trying to make sure that we're not leaving any stone unturned.”
Clint Bowyer finished in second place for the second straight race, coming from his second place finish at Sonoma a week ago. Bowyer led once for 4 laps.
Paul Menard finished in third and his first finish in the top-5 this season. He did not lead during the race.
This was Dale Earnhardt Jr’s last race at Daytona International Speedway, a place where he has won 14 times. Earnhardt was the polesitter for the race and had the highest scored lapped car of the race.
Kyle Larson continues to lead the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings with 667 points and 13 playoff points. Martin Truex Jr is in second place with 649 points and 21 playoff points. Kyle Busch is in third place with 559 points and 4 playoff points.
The next race will be the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. | |||
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