Official Release

Aric Almirola will compete in his first Sprint All-Star Race. The No. 43 Smithfield team secured a spot in the exhibition race with their win at the Coke Zero 400 last season at Daytona International Speedway.

Michael Waltrip Racing will hold its annual Fan Fest at its Cornelius, N.C. race shop on Wed. May 20, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Fans may tour the shop, get autographs from MWR drivers, shop in the team store, watch live pit practice, enjoy sponsor displays and check out muscle cars provided by RK Motors.

Cole Whitt | No. 35 Speed Stick Ford - "We want to go for it because it's an opportunity for us to shine with some of the bigger names not out there. But at the same time, we don't want to tear anything up."

Reed has two starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Iowa Speedway, both during his 2014 rookie season. At this race one year ago, Reed finished 16th after having to start in the back of the field because the team made a radiator change after qualifying. In the summer 2014 event at the .875-mile oval, Reed finished 15th after starting from the 11th position.

Chris Buescher makes his third NASCAR XFINITY Series start at Iowa Speedway on Sunday. In his two previous starts, which both came last season, Buescher’s best starting position was ninth (summer) and his best finishing position was 13th (spring).

Sunday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Iowa Speedway marks Bubba Wallace’s third NASCAR XFINITY Series start at the track. Wallace raced in both events in 2012. In the spring he started eighth and finished ninth, while in the summer he started second and led 36 laps before finishing seventh.

Elliott Sadler makes his ninth NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) start at Iowa Speedway this weekend in Newton, IA. In Sadler’s previous eight starts, he has one win in 2012, three pole awards, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes at Iowa. Sadler has also led 107 laps at Iowa in the NXS.

"We’re going to win one of these things; I keep saying it. We’re getting closer and closer and it feels good. We had to keep fighting as hard as we could and we came up just a little bit short. It’s still good momentum going into the Indy 500. It was hard to catch Will. I could close a little bit but I wasn’t able to gain."

Six former champions are among the drivers named to the entries filed for the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 24.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Austin Dillon finished 10th, 18th and 22nd, respectively, in the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway.