Official Release

Ryan Blaney and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team were able to bounce back from early misfortune in Sunday’s playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway and come home with an 11th-place finish that keeps them in the top 10 in points heading into the second playoff race at New Hampshire next Sunday.

After losing heartbreakers the past two weekends in the closing laps in Darlington, S.C. and Richmond, Va., the Furniture Row Racing driver roared back Sunday in NASCAR’s playoff opener with a dominating victory in the Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. finished earned his fifth win of the season in Sunday afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Chicagoland Speedway – the first race of the 10-race Playoff for the championship.

In the first race of the 2017 NASCAR Playoffs, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his Fastenal Ford to a 25th-place finish after making contact early on costing him two laps to the leaders in Sunday’s Tale of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland.

Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford Fusion, battled a loose-handling condition on the entry of the corner and a tight-handling condition on the exit of the corner throughout Sunday afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) event at Chicagoland Speedway, ultimately leading to a 22nd-place finish. Bayne, who overcame damaged sustained from contact with the outside retaining wall, improved four positions from the drop of the green flag and was one of the fastest cars on the track in the closing laps.

Austin Dillon Earns 16th-Place Finish at Chicagoland Speedway Despite Pit Road Speeding Penalty in the Dow Univar Chevrolet "We had a really good Dow Univar Chevrolet, truthfully. It was a top five car but we got behind.  It's just frustrating. I put ourselves in a hole speeding on pit road and just trying to get too much. You talk about not making mistakes, and we made one."

Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Ford team started the Tales of the Turtles 400 from the 21st spot. Tight in the middle of the corners, Almirola complimented how the Fusion handled on the entry of the corners early in the race. The field began green-flag pit stops on Lap 38 with Almirola in the 20th spot and radioing that the car was getting loose as the run went on.

Ryan Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing team started 12th and finished 11th at the Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway this afternoon but there was plenty of NASCAR Playoff excitement between the green and checkered flags.

Chase Elliott piloted the No. 24 NAPA Brakes Chevrolet SS to a second-place finish in the 2017 Playoff opener Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) Tale of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Elliott and his team had a strong day leading twice for 42 circuits around the 1.5-mile venue. Elliott also won Stage 2, which marked his third Stage win of the season thus far earning valuable championship points.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA BRAKES CHEVROLET SS – Finished 2nd - DESCRIBE YOUR RUN: “Yeah, just a huge step in the right direction. Days like this are the days we are going to have to have. There is no way around that. I thought we had a solid day overall. Our car drove good, it had pace, our pit stops were good. I didn’t have anything for Martin (Truex, Jr.). I thought we made the most of our day without some luck I wasn’t going to get around him unless we had a late-race restart or something. I had a solid day and frankly, it is a lot better than we have been doing and we’ve got to have days like this to keep moving forward.”