CONCORD, N.C. – Before career win No. 1 at Talladega and career win No. 2 at Daytona, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing team made a statement of sorts by finishing 10th at Martinsville Speedway.
The victories earned Stenhouse a spot in this year’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, a first for the Olive Branch, Miss., native. They came at two of NASCAR's biggest and fastest venues.
MORE: NASCAR explores Roush Fenway Racing | Stenhouse Jr.'s plan to win over Dale Jr's fans But it was at Martinsville, the series' smallest layout at .526 mile, that the team first rose to the occasion.The Virginia track, which has been around longer than NASCAR, is perhaps his worst -- in nine career starts his average finish is 30.2. And when Stenhouse spun on lap 70 of the 500-lap race and lost a lap to the leaders, it appeared another not-so-memorable finish was likely.
But the team battled back, and Stenhouse even moved race leader Kyle Busch out of the racing groove at the close of Stage 2 to put himself back on the lead lap.
That, and the 10th-place finish, provided a lift to the team and to the RFR organization.
"I think it showed our whole company that if we have the opportunity to make something happen, we're going to," Stenhouse told NASCAR.com. "Staying on the lead lap there helped us get a top 10 finish at one of our worst tracks -- or at least my worst. … I think that never give up, try to persevere through anything that happens through the race, I think that's when we really noticed 'Hey, this is going to pay off.' "
Crew chief Brian Pattie called it "a turning point."
"It was a turning point for our company," he said. "When we showed up (at the shop) on Monday there were more people (with their) chest out, positive after that top-10 finish at Martinsville than when we finished fourth in the spring at Phoenix.
“I think it meant a lot to the company to show that we’re serious about what we’re trying to do and try to get in the playoffs.”
Stenhouse sits 12th in points as the MENCS heads to Dover this weekend for the final race of the Round of 16. Although tied with Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing) with 2,044 points, Stenhouse holds the upper hand thanks to a round-best result of 15th last weekend at New Hampshire. Dillon’s best finish in the opening round thus far has been 16th at Chicago.
Neither have sterling Dover records -- in fact both have only one top-10 result at the 1-mile concrete track of eighth place.
MORE: The first eliminator: Dover | Where does Stenhouse Jr. stack upMeanwhile Ryan Newman (RCR) lurks one point behind the pair in 14th; Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch sits 17 back and Brickyard 400 winner Kasey Kahne is 21 behind.
“Our mindset is the same going into Dover; you race your race, stay as far up, keep your track position as best you can throughout the whole race, and after that second stage is really when you have to start paying attention to the cars you’re racing,” Stenhouse said.
“Just be smart, obviously,” Pattie said. “The first (Dover) race we had a really good car, stayed out on the first caution, ended up being the second one. We go there, execute … we’ll be just fine.”
Beyond Dover is the Round of 12 with Talladega sandwiched between stops at Charlotte and Kansas. The team’s previous restrictor-plate success has many thinking if the No. 17 team can make it to the next round, it stands a very good chance of making the Round of Eight.
But Stenhouse isn’t taking anything for granted.
“I don’t think that’s a fair assessment,” he said of the Talladega outlook.
“I look at Talladega, we had a really fast car and definitely you feel confident going back … but everything has to play out. You have to catch the right cautions, the right breaks, miss the wrecks and be at the right place at the right time.
“It’s a little bit easier today to get out front, move around and try and keep your track position. But when it’s all said and done, you’ve got to be there; there are a lot of things that come into play. It’s not just ‘hey, I’ve got the fastest car, I’m going to go out and win this race.’ There are a lot of things that go into it.”
For now, the focus is on Dover, and Sunday’s Apache Warrior 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).
“But if we get to the second round,” he said, “I feel like we can advance, not just because of Talladega. I think if we put more consistent rounds together than what we’ve done so far we’ll have another shot at it.”