It was a tale of two days for Roush Fenway’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series teams this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

 

The Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 from Bristol Motor Speedway was not the best race in 2017 for Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Reed and Darrell Wallace Jr.

 

In qualifying early Saturday Morning, Reed qualified 24th and Wallace Jr. qualified 14th. However, both drivers had to start in the rear of the field. In pre-race technical inspection, NASCAR found an unapproved splitter mount on both the cars.

 

For Reed, the first stage of the race was his last. After dropping to the rear of the field to serve his penalty, he began to make strides towards the front. Due to a tight handling race car in the early stages, Reed was put a lapped down by the leaders. Reed never had the chance to make a pit stop to fix the issue.

 

Reed’s day ended on lap 79 of the 300 lap event. The right front tire blew sending Reed into the wall. Reed also suffered a sprain to his wrist as he did not let go of the steering wheel in time before contact was made. Reed and his team deemed the car as unrepairable to finish 38th

 

“It was a tough day altogether, starting in the back,” said Reed.  “The balance wasn’t very good and we went a lap down early.  We were trying to fight through it, but had a tire go down and that ended our day.  We’ll move on.  We’ll go to Richmond, which is one of my favorite tracks, and rebound.  The good thing about getting a win at Daytona is that buys you some insurance in case you have some days like this, so we’ll rebound.  I’m really proud of everyone on the Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang.  It’s a tough group mentally and physically, so we’ll persevere.”

 

After getting out of the car, Reed though his wrist was fractured. However, He went to social media to confirm it was just a sprain.

 

 

For Wallace Jr., his day ended with 40 laps remaining ending his streak of five consecutive sixth place finishes.

 

In the first stage, Wallace Jr. worked his way towards the top-15 after starting from the rear. He improved over 20 positions in the stage, but went a lap down to the leaders due to a long green flag run. Wallace finished 15th in the first stage.

 

The second stage saw Wallace Jr. fighting to get his lap back that he lost in the first stage. Wallace Jr. battled Matt Tifft for that free pass position through much of the second and third stage.  However, an accident on lap 259 that damaged the left rear of the car regulated Wallace Jr. to a 33rd place finish, tying his worst finish of the season at Daytona.

 

“It’s just an unfortunate day,” said Wallace. “I was just fighting hard for the lucky dog.  We were put in the back for some circumstances we’ve got to get straightened out, but we were trying to make the most of it. We were fast.  We were so fast there with our Leidos Mustang. It’s just unfortunate. We were clawing ourselves out of that lap-down spot and just ran out of time and ran out of luck.

 

The Food City 500 provided Roush Fenway’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers, Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., with the best luck of the weekend for the organization. Both drivers ran up front most of the day and ended up with top-11 finishes.

 

Bayne started in the 12th position due to qualifying being cancelled on Friday. Bayne maintained a top-20 position throughout much of the first stage. As the track rubbered up, Bayne began to experience a tight handling race car towards the end of the stage. Bayne finished the stage in the 15th position.

 

The second stage Bayne continued to work on his handling working his way up into the top-10. Bayne held off Stenhouse Jr. towards the conclusion to score two points by finishing in the ninth position.

 

The third stage saw Bayne going from tight conditions in the middle of the corners and loose on corner entry. Bayne was on and off in the top-10. Using the top lane, Bayne gained track position to finish in the 11th position to score his sixth top-15 finish of 2017.

 

Just like Bayne, Stenhouse Jr. ran up front throughout much of the race and scored a ninth place finish.

 

Stenhouse was almost going to a backup car after contact with the wall in the only practice session on Friday, but the team repaired the car to full glory for the race.

 

Stenhouse held onto a position in the top-20 throughout much of the first stage. while battling a loose car. Once the loose condition was treated, Stenhouse marched his way to the front of the field. Stenhouse worked his way towards the top-10 at the conclusion of the second stage.

 

Stenhouse used the high lane to work his way up to seventh, but ultimately ended up in the ninth position in the Food City 500.

Caleb Whisler
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