Darlington: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. preview

* The Driver...Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will make his Darlington NASCAR debut in the Royal Purple 200 this Friday evening at Darlington Raceway.

* The Machine...The No. 6 Ford Fusion will once again be white this weekend, the fifth of 17 unsponsored races for the team. CitiFinancial is the primary sponsor for 18 races. The team will use chassis #RK-357 in the Royal Purple 200. In February, Stenhouse started seventh and finished 30th with this chassis in Las Vegas. This chassis was also used twice in 2009, Carl Edwards finished second in both Bristol races.

* Now Appearing...Stenhouse will be answering questions at the Darlington Ford Display from 1:30p.m. -- 1:45p.m. ET on Friday, May 7, 2010.

* Getting in on time...The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing team sits 32nd in the NASCAR Nationwide Series owner point standings after nine races and must qualify on time at Darlington Raceway. The top-30 teams are locked into the event.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on racing at Darlington Raceway:

"I watched the CitiFinancial team last year in Darlington when Matt (Kenseth) won so I feel like he can help me with the line. I will just need to learn what to do with the gas pedal and brake pedal there. I talked to Matt a little bit and I don't think he used too much brake getting into to turn one he just lifted off the gas. Turn three seems to be the trouble spot. I've got to remember not to overdrive turn three or else I will end up getting that Darlington stripe. I will be running a simulator this week to help me learn a few things going into Friday. Matt and Carl (Edwards) run well in Darlington so I plan on taking advantage of having them as teammates this weekend."

Crew Chief Mike Kelley on racing at Darlington Raceway:

"Last year we had a really fast car in Darlington. We had a rookie driver in the race (Erik Darnell) and had a shot at winning the race. We finished in the top-five and I feel like we have a good package for Darlington. We're going to get Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) a lot of seat time during practice by running a lot of laps. If Ricky picks up the line like he did at the end of the Richmond race, we should be pretty good this weekend. I'm excited to go there under the lights on Mother's Day weekend with all the guys on this No. 6 CitiFinancial team, so it should be fun."

-source: rfr