By: Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s bad luck continued at Kansas Speedway in Thursday evenings Super Start Batteries 400.
Due to the random draw of qualifying, Stenhouse Jr’s No. 47 Kroger Camaro rolled off the grid in the 25th position. His biggest complaint early on was being too tight in the front and too loose in the rear before falling back to 21st in the running order.
Then the bad luck would come into play for the fourth straight race.
.@StenhouseJr reporting an issue in the cockpit of his @kroger Chevrolet. Heading to pit road to assess issue. #NASCAR
— JTG Daugherty Racing (@JTGRacing) July 24, 2020
Stenhouse brought his No. 47 down pit road on lap 60 — with a fire inside the cockpit, ending his night early.
“I could see the fire,” said Stenhouse. “It was right beside me and then all up under the dash and by my left foot. The fuel pressure quit at first and then the whole screen went black after that. I don’t know exactly what caused that or what can cause it, but a bummer of a day for sure.”
Kansas would continue Stenhouse’s bad luck of finishing 29th or worse in the last four events which includes a 40th place finish tonight. The Mississippi native hasn’t finished in the top-15 since Pocono Raceway and his last top-five came when he finished second at Talladega at the end of June.
It’s been a disappointing stretch for Stenhouse who says he likes Kansas and he felt they could walk away with a top-10 with the right adjustments throughout the race.
“Man, at the start of the race our Kroger Camaro was really good,” stated Stenhouse. “We’ve had some really bad weeks as far as results go and drove up into 14th there on the first start. We lost the balance there a little bit, but it felt like we were still pretty close and then I don’t know. A fire started in the cockpit. Something electrical under the dash. So, it’s a bummer to end the day like that for our Kroger team. I felt like we had a really good shot at a top 10 if we kept dialing our car in. I really like Kansas. I’m glad we’ve got kind of an off-week now before New Hampshire so we can regroup.”
Next up on the schedule, the series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 2. In 12 previous starts at track, Stenhouse has two top-10 finishes. His best finish of 9th came in the July 2014 race.