Stenhouse triumphs in Texas

Reigning NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. scored his second win of the 2012 campaign at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night to cut Elliott Sadler's advantage atop the standings to just four points.

Stenhouse pulled away from poleman and long-time race leader Paul Menard at a restart six laps from the flag. The Roush Fenway Racing man was then able to pull away comfortably to secure his team's fourth successive win at the Texan venue.

"I loved coming here, and we finally finished off a race," said Stenhouse after sealing the win. "I felt a lot better coming into this year, obviously, with the championship from last year, but one thing that I do enjoy about this is that we're running up front every week."



Menard took second spot in what was the Cup regular's first Nationwide appearence of 2012. Behind him fellow top-tier races Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin disputed the final spot on the rostrum, the latter ermging victorious at the flag. Behind them rookie senstaion Austin Dillon put in another impressive performance to seal fifth, the second highest placed Nationwide regular behind victor Stenhouse.

Patrick scored her best finish of the campaign

Meanwhile Danica Patrick scored her best finish of the campaign with P8 at the flag. The single-seater convert has endured a trying start to the season and admitted she was pleased to get a solid result on the board: "It's nice to have a good finish for the team, for GoDaddy, for everybody that works really hard," commented Patrick. "We've kind of had a tough going to the start of the year, so that was fun."

Championship leader Sadler could only finish 12th, cutting his advantage over Stenhouse to just four points. Dillon sits a superb third with Sam Hornish Jr. and Michael Annett completing the top-five. The series resumes action in two weeks time at Richmond International Raceway. Watch LIVE Nationwide Series action on Motors TV


James Weeks