Official Release

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 4 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports This is your second time in the Playoffs, how do you set expectations for the weeks ahead? “Well last year I felt like we were able to really capitalize on consistency. We got a win in the middle part of the year at Gateway last year, but overall we just weren’t able to consistently compete for wins, but we were able to knock down those top-fives, those top-eights and that’s essentially what got us all the way to Homestead. This year it’s been a little bit different progress. We’ve been able to compete for wins a lot more often and win a lot more races and hopefully we can continue that and win our way to Homestead.”

Chicagoland Recap: Denny Hamlin notched his 12th top-five finish of the 2017 season after finishing fourth in Sunday’s NASCAR Playoffs kick-off race at Chicagoland Speedway, capitalizing on a well-balanced #11 FedEx Office Toyota and efficient green-flag pit stops from his #11 FedEx crew to maintain his position at the front of the field throughout the entire duration of the 267-lap event.

Ryan Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing team roll into New Hampshire this week for the second race of the NASCAR Playoffs 10th in the championship standings after an 11th-place result at Chicagoland Speedway.

Erik Jones and the No. 77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota team look to Sunday’s ISM Connect 300 to make up for an early exit the last time they were at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Richard Childress Racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ... Richard Childress has four victories as a team owner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with Robby Gordon (2001), Kevin Harvick (2006) and Clint Bowyer (2007 and 2010). In 121 starts at the 1.058-mile oval, Childress also has two pole awards, 16 top-five and 40 top-10 finishes with 10 different drivers including Dave Blaney, Jeff Burton, Bowyer, Austin Dillon, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Green, Gordon, Harvick, Ryan Newman, Steve Park and Mike Skinner.

In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS), for the 12th consecutive season, Chevrolet has placed more drivers in the 10-race run for the championship than any other brand, and currently has seven contenders for the 2017 crown.

After automatically advancing to the Round of 12 as a result of winning the playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway, Martin Truex Jr.’s mindset for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway remains the same.

Stenhouse Jr. has nine Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with an average starting position of 22.3 and average finishing position of 20.4.

Bayne makes his sixth career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon. Bayne recorded a best finish of 16th in the Sept. 2015 event at the New England track.

Today was NASCAR Playoff Media Day in Charlotte, NC, with Ford contenders Ryan Reed of Roush Fenway Racing and Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing participating.  Here are transcripts from their interviews earlier this afternoon.