Stenhouse's road to Daytona pole started in Tennessee
If you're from Tennessee and looking for a local hook in the NASCAR seasonopening Daytona 500, you don't have to look far.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 32, who was born in Memphis and began his career at Nashville Superspeedway, won the pole Sunday in his new Camaro.
It was just his second day driving the Chevrolet at Daytona International Speedway.
"It was just a lot of hands-on-deck. As soon as the offseason came, everybody started working hard, going to the wind tunnel, putting all our resources together," Stenhouse said. "My crew chief (Brian Pattie) had his ideas, and Mike Kelley, another guy that has been instrumental in my career, came over (to JTG Daugherty Racing) with me, and they were able to put their heads together and it all paid off."
It paid off to the tune of Stenhouse turning in a fast lap of 194.582 mph to win the pole for Sunday's race (1:30 p.m., Fox). Stenhouse edged out Alex Bowman, who reached 194.363 on the 2 1/2mile superspeedway.
Stenhouse, a two-time Xfinity Series
The CA'S sports columnist, Mark Giannotto, Tigers' football beat writer Evan Barnes and photographer Joe Rondone will discuss the book and season highlights.
You can buy books at the Novel champion who grew up in Olive Branch, Mississippi, was confident in his car before qualifying.
"In our very first run in practice I felt really good with the car; I felt like it was fast," Stenhouse said. "Then we did a few qualifying runs in our second practice, and I was like, 'OK, we have a shot at it.' I knew we had some good speed and if we did everything right that we would have a shot. It was still nerveracking after we ran (Sunday) and waited for the rest of the cars to go, but it was part of the experience and a lot of fun."
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 and on Twitter @Mikeorganwriter. event.
You can also buy the book online at http://memphis.champsbook.com.
Net proceeds from the books will benefit the University of Memphis Tiger Scholarship Fund.