Texas: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. preview

No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing News and Notes Heading Into Texas:

* The Driver...Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will make his Texas NASCAR debut in the O'Reilly Auto Speedway 300 this Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.

* Building Momentum...Stenhouse finished a season-best ninth in Phoenix last week and improved four positions in the Nationwide Series driver point standings. He currently sits 28th after six races.

* New Crew Chief...Beginning this week, Mike Kelley will be atop the pit box for Stenhouse and the CitiFinancial team. Kelley, who has called the shots for Carl Edwards and David Ragan at Roush Fenway Racing, most recently held the position of competition director for Jack Roush's Nationwide Series efforts.

* The Organization...Roush Fenway Racing has four wins, 20 top fives and 33 top 10's in 53 Nationwide Series starts on at Texas Motor Speedway.J

* The Machine...The No. 6 Ford Fusion will once again carry the familiar colors of CitiFinancial this weekend in Texas. This will be the fourth of 18 races that CitiFinancial will be the primary sponsor. The team will use chassis #RK-378 in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300. This chassis was used two times in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition in 2009. David Ragan finished fourth in Texas (4/09) and Erik Darnell finished 18th in Kansas (10/09).

* Now Appearing...Stenhouse will be appearing at two CitiFinancial branches in Texas on Thursday, April 15, 2010. He'll be in Watauga, Texasat 12:00 p.m. local time followed by a trip to a Mansfield, TexasCitiFinancial branch at 1:00 p.m. local time.J

* On Air...The O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 can be seen live on Saturday, April 17, 2010 on ESPN2 with race coverage beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. The event can also be heard live on PRN affiliates beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.

* Getting in on time...The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing team sits 33rd in the NASCAR Nationwide Series owner point standings after six races and must qualify on time at Texas Motor Speedway.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:

"It's another track that we haven't raced on, but I was there twice last year (observing) and learned a lot from it. I feel pretty good about it. I've been on a fast mile and a half track before in Charlotte last year which is similar to Texas. The car that we are taking is fast and has done very well in Texas before so I'm looking forward to getting it on track and see what it does. I just want to make laps in practice and get used to the line and then worry about going fast. We have to qualify on time but these cars at Roush Fenway Racing have plenty of speed and our CitiFinancial Ford should be near the top of the speed chart."

Crew Chief Mike Kelley on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:

"The Texas Motor Speedway is fast. We haven't been able to pull off a win there as a company in a couple of years so we're due. We've really worked hard over the winter to get a new program together for the mile and a half tracks. Carl (Edwards) got to run it at Vegas and he had a shot at winning that race so we're looking forward to see what happens this weekend. Like I said, it's a fast race track and I think it'll lend itself to Ricky's driving style."

-source: rfr