Hendrick Motorsports has named Darian Grubb crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet SS team and driver Kasey Kahne for the remaining nine playoff races of the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series season. He will be atop the pit box for Sunday’s event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The Tales of the Turtles 400 proved to be a learning experience for all the wrong reasons for Erik Jones and the No. 77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota team that earned a 33rd-place finish Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.
Quote: “We can be happy with sixth (place finish). We scored a bunch of stage points and had a solid day up front with the Miller Lite Ford Fusion. One more of these races either Loudon or Dover and we should be good to advance to the next round. I think we can pull that off. We are still looking for a little speed but execution today was really, really strong. Great day on pit road, great restarts. All that stuff was what you look for, we just need to marry that up with some speed and we can win any of these races.”
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.
The 2023 Cup Series champion from High Point, North Carolina, led a race-high 171 of 263 over-scheduled laps and capped off a dominant run from pole position by sweeping all stages and surviving an overtime attempt for his second Cup victory of 2026 at EchoPark Speedway.
Bobby Gossett (No. 44 BSI Racing) might have thought lady luck was not on his side at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Saturday when his provisional pole time was disallowed, but she made herself known in the race.
Daniel Hemric continued his consistent road course handiwork with a sixth-place finish on Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park and substantially increased his cushion on the provisional Chase cutline.
Christian Eckes notched a gritty fifth-place finish on Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park to advance to fourth in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) standings.
