Official Release

Sunday’s GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway will be an emotional one for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his loyal race fans.

Before traveling to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Ford, and members of his team helped pack 1,300 backpacks for hungry kids at Second Harvest Food Bank Metrolina.

ON RAISING MONEY FOR THE NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL BY SELLING SPACES TO FANS S THEY CAN HAVE THEIR NAMES ON THE NO. 88 CHEVY SS FOR THE RACE AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY: “Yeah, Nationwide put together a real cool program for the car we are going to race in Kentucky where they sold the hood off to the race fans to put their name on it and sold it out in 24 hours, so they found room for more names and sold that out in another 24 hours and raised $81,000 really quick."

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion, held a Q&A session with the media prior to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

When it comes to the world of stock car racing, Richard Petty rules the roost with 200 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victories, but in terms of sheer speed, well, the man who stands on the top of that mountain is Bill Elliott.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 HOOTERS CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed plate racing, his year to date so far, Bill Elliott’s 16 most popular driver awards, and much more.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 SHARE AN ICE COLD COKE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed being the point leader through the first quarter of the 2017 season, what he learned about restrictor plate racing at Daytona that he can apply to this weekend’s event at Talladega and many other topics.

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion, was a guest in the infield media center at Talladega Superspeedway, where he talked about his visit to New York City and other issues.

ERIK JONES, No. 77 ToyotaCare Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - After a hard weekend at Richmond, what's it like to come to Talladega with a chance to get yourself back on track? "Well, you know, you always want to have a good rebound after a bad weekend, especially like we had at Richmond.

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion, visited the infield media center at Talladega Superspeedway this morning and discussed a number of issues, including the penalty NASCAR assessed on Thursday that resulted in his win at Richmond being ruled encumbered.