Top Dog: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
“They’ll watch the game, and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magical waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.” – Field of Dreams
By now, you may be overloaded with the references to the iconic movie, but after nearly two decades, Paul Schlaak and Rusty Wallace finally saw their Field of Dreams moment come true.
For the first time, the NASCAR Cup Series raced through the cornfields to Iowa Speedway for the inaugural Iowa Corn 350 (June 16). And in the land where dreams come true, the race did not disappoint.
Among all of the drivers anticipating the first Cup race in The Hawkeye State, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had to be one of the most elated. The 36-year-old scored three wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series during his budding career, including a wild “push” to the win by Carl Edwards after Stenhouse’s motor expired just yards from the start/finish line.
Now, in the midst of a frustrating season, Stenhouse’s good memories at Iowa continued following a fifth-place finish.
The challenge started from the green flag, as Stenhouse started 35th. Fifty laps in, he cracked the top 20.
Stenhouse slid to 22nd at the end of stage one with a tight-handling car, falling outside the top 30 following pit stops due to varying strategies throughout the field.
After a nearly 100-lap green flag run during stage two, Stenhouse powered from 34th all the way to eighth, grabbing a couple more spots when the caution flew on the tail end of green flag pit stops.
Crew chief Mike Kelley left Stenhouse out under the yellow to assume the lead, albeit with much older tires. That nearly proved disastrous on the restart, as William Byron slid into Stenhouse in turn 4 and nearly sparked an accident. Yet Stenhouse’s sprint car prowess came in handy, and he survived to finish the second stage in 13th.
Stenhouse ran just outside the top 10 to open the final stint. A couple of cautions shuffled things up, and a caution for Chris Buescher on lap 260 allowed Kelley to crack the strategy whip again. The No. 47 team took two tires, propelling Stenhouse to third for the final restart with 84 laps to go, which featured another close call.
As race winner Ryan Blaney proved, the two tires held up as the track’s temperature cooled, allowing Stenhouse to also maintain his…
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