Pocono NXS Race Report

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report

Saturday, July 23, 2022

Race 19 of 33 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series

Location: Pocono Raceway - 2.5 Mile Paved

Format: 90 Laps - 225 Miles

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Finish: 34th

Long Pond, Pennsylvania - NASCAR Cup Series driver, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made his Big Machine Racing debut in the No. 48 Spiked Coolers Chevrolet this past weekend at the Pocono Raceway, located in the rolling hills of Long Pond, PA. The weekend began with tech inspection on Friday, July 22 - lightening in the area delayed the process but the Spiked Coolers Chevrolet was able to pass inspection on the first attempt once NASCAR resumed the process.

During practice, Stenhouse ran a fast lap time of 54.804 seconds, positioning him 11th fastest in practice. Qualifying took place immediately after practice Saturday morning. Ricky managed to qualify 10 for the day’s Explore The Pocono Mountains 225 with a qualifying lap time of 54.270 seconds.

During the race, Stenhouse told crew chief, Patrick Donahue that the car was “edgy” and just a bit “tight”. With adjustments made between stage 1 and stage 2, Ricky rejoined the field and took the stage 2 restart from p14. During the second stage of the 90 lap race, Stenhouse was heard on the radio saying the car was still “edgy.”

More adjustments were made before the start of the final stage but disaster struck early in the stage when Stenhouse made hard contact with the 26 of Ferrucci and the 27 of Burton. The caution resulted in a red flag - freezing the field while the track team worked to upright the car of Burton on the Start/Finish line.

Stenhouse was taken to the infield medical center - evaluated and released with no injuries.

Results:

Qualifying - 10th
Stage 1 - p13
Stage 2 - p12
Final - p34