Official Release

The NASCAR Cup Series continues its Playoff run, while the NASCAR Xfinity Series starts its post season, at Richmond Raceway. In the northeast, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East has its second-to-last race of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

YANMAR America, a leader in high-performance diesel- powered equipment, along with generator builder Martin Generators, will team up with Front Row Motorsports (FRM) and Matt Tifft for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Ariz later this season. The pair will serve as primary sponsors for Tifft's No. 36 Ford Mustang on November 10.

Newman will make his 36th Cup start at Richmond Saturday night. In 35 prior races, Newman has an average finish of 12.5, the best average finish for him on any active track on the circuit. He has finished top-10 in 54 percent (19-of-35) of the events at the 3/4-mile track, with seven top-fives and one win (2003).

“The playoffs are finally here, and we can’t wait to turn up the wick and go get them this weekend at Richmond. After we won at Daytona, we knew we were in, and we have been working all season long to get to this weekend. The key for us and the No. 1 Pilot Flying J team is to be fast, be solid and advance to the Round of 8. That starts Friday night. We’ve had fast cars and a lot of good strategy, so we’re going to step it up and focus on advancing. That’s all that matters now.” – Michael Annett

"We are headed to Richmond Raceway this weekend. It’s a special one, because we are starting the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, which means we have this awesome red banner up here, red splitter, and red spoiler. So, if you see us on TV, check out all the red cars, because that’s our competition this week! Richmond is a short track. We haven’t been to a short track in a minute, so I am excited to go back there under the lights, race, and get multiple grooves of racing going while beating and banging. Good, old short track racing in Virginia, and we are excited to kick off the Xfinity Series Playoffs this weekend in Richmond."

Stenhouse has 13 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Richmond with an average starting position of 15.1 and average finishing position of 19.5.

After good runs in the past three Monster Energy Cup Series races, Paul Menard and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team head to Richmond Raceway, where they posted a top-10 finish back in April.

Friday's race in Richmond marks the first race in the Round of 12 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. Nemechek is currently scored 12th with 2,000 points. This is both Nemechek and GMS Racing's first NXS Playoff berth.

DIBENEDETTO BY THE NUMBERS: In nine Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career starts at Richmond, Matt DiBenedetto has an average start of 29.1, an average finish of 30.3 and he’s completed 3,526 of 3,613 (97.6 percent) career laps at the 0.75-mile Virginia track.

The NASCAR Playoffs hit full stride this weekend at Richmond Raceway as the NASCAR XFINITY Series kicks off its seven-race postseason on Friday night. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series conducts its second of 10 Playoff events on Saturday.