Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 10th in the STP 500 at Martinsville after starting the afternoon 24th.
That was not entirely unexpected. Stenhouse earned a fourth two weeks ago on the similarly-flat Phoenix International Raceway. He finished second last August on the high-banked, short track of Bristol Motor Speedway and was 10th last July at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Fantasy owners will want to make a note to pay close attention to him on short tracks and flat tracks for the remainder of the year.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fifth in last July’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, which was the first time since 2014 that he cracked the top 15 on this track.
Stenhouse was one of the top values as a rookie with results of 12th and 11th in Daytona’s 2013 races. His seventh-place result in the 2014 Daytona 500 confirmed his value, but an accident early in the next race seemed to send him spiraling. Stenhouse is liable to fly under the radar this time around and should be considered by players looking to take a moderate risk.
BEST AT BRISTOL, DESPITE STRUGGLES
Despite suffering crash damage in three races during the past two years, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has the best three-year average finish at Bristol Motor Speedway with an 8.5.
ACCIDENTS
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. recorded six top-10s and failed to finish five times because of accidents in 2016.
