page_title: Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series
section_title: Car No. 17 history
hierarchical_section_title: Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series / Cars / Car No. 17 history
caption_attribution_description: English: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drives the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford out of the garage at Texas Motor Speedway during practice for the 2013 NRA 500.
context_page_description: Founded in 1988, the NASCAR program is built around having multiple cars and providing engine, engineering and race car build services to other NASCAR teams fielding Ford branded vehicles. The multi-team aspect of the company allows for information and resources to be shared across the enterprise, improving the performance of all of the teams. Since the 2004 season, engines for the cars have been provided by Roush-Yates Engines, a partnership between Roush Fenway Racing and now-closed rival Yates Racing, with Doug Yates as head engine builder. Roush-Yates also provides engines, cars and parts to other Cup teams, including Wood Brothers Racing, Team Penske, and Front Row Motorsports.
  Between 1998 and 2000 and 2003–2009, Roush Racing operated five full-time Cup teams, more than any other organization including Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing, which have both operated as many as four full-time teams. Beginning in 2001, after years of operating in separate facilities, the teams were moved into a single shop in Concord, North Carolina to improve performance and communication.
context_section_description: Matt Kenseth (1999–2012)
  The team entered NASCAR's premier series at a part-time level as No. 60 in 1998. In 1999 the team was renumbered to No. 17 car, with Matt Kenseth as the driver, DeWalt Tools as the sponsor, and Robbie Reiser as crew chief. This was the same combination as was run on Reiser's own Busch Grand National team. Premiering at the summer Michigan race in 1999, Kenseth finished 14th. A fourth-place finish one month later at Dover proved Kenseth was ready for Cup.
  In 2000, Kenseth and the No. 17 started every race, won the Coca-Cola 600, and defeated favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. for Rookie of the Year honors. The 2001 season saw Kenseth finish 13th in points, winless and with only nine top ten finishes. However, the team saw marked improvement the next year, as Kenseth won a season high five races in 2002, ultimately reaching an eighth-place finish in points.
  While winning only once in 2003, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kenseth performed remarkably consistent to win the final Winston Cup Championship by 90 points, earning Jack Roush his first Cup championship. Some say that Kenseth winning the championship with only a single win and leading the points standings for 33 consecutive weeks is the reason NASCAR switched to the new Chase for the Cup points format.
  The team continued to perform in 2004, winning two races, making the Chase for the Nextel Cup, and finishing eighth in points. In 2005, Kenseth finished seventh in points after experiencing a disappointing beginning to the season. However, the second half of the year brought a resurgence of success for the car, as a win at Bristol Motor Speedway helped the team make its second consecutive Chase for the Nextel Cup. In 2006, Kenseth won four races, and finished second to Jimmie Johnson in the championship standings. Kenseth won the first two races of the 2009 season winning Jack Roush his first Daytona 500. Due to the slumping economy, however, Kenseth's longtime sponsor DeWalt informed Roush Fenway Racing on July 23, 2009 that they would no longer be sponsoring the No. 17 team for the 2010 season. Crown Royal announced they would move to the No. 17 in 2010 for 35 races as Valvoline sponsored the remaining 3.
  For 2011, Kenseth returned to victory lane at Texas, Dover and Charlotte. However, Crown Royal announced that they would not return to the No. 17 team, instead focusing their NASCAR efforts on the Brickyard 400 sponsorship. Despite this, Kenseth finished fourth in points.
  In 2012, Kenseth's primary sponsorship was split between Best Buy, Zest Soap, and Fifth Third Bank, although the team was still forced to run several races unsponsored. Kenseth started the year strong by winning the Gatorade Duel Qualifying Race and the 2012 Daytona 500, which was also Jack Roush's 300th victory in NASCAR and his second Daytona 500 victory. It was later announced that Kenseth was leaving Roush Fenway Racing after the season, even though he had no team he was going to. Kenseth made the Chase and won two of the ten Chase races (Talladega and Kansas), finishing seventh in the standings. Following the season, Kenseth joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013.
  Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2013–2019)
  In 2013, Kenseth was replaced by rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr.. Stenhouse inherited Kenseth's sponsorship, while adding primary support from Nationwide Insurance to cover the unfilled races. Stenhouse had shown promise, as he finished 12th at the 2013 Daytona 500. Through the first 17 points races, his highest finish had been 11th. He also finished second in the Sprint Showdown. Stenhouse's best finish of the entire season was a third-place finish at Talladega in October.
  In 2014, the team's Best Buy sponsorship was replaced by Cargill, while keeping Zest, Fifth-Third and Nationwide. Stenhouse struggled along with the rest of the Roush program. He spend a majority of the summer working with new crew chief Mike Kelley trying to improve the chemistry of the team. The No. 17 suffered through a dismal season, with Stenhouse recording two top tens, while failing to qualify once. The team finished 28th
caption: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in 2013.
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