SM Archive

Guests recently took advantage of a special opportunity to take a behind the scenes tour at Michigan International Speedway. They learned how NASCAR’s fastest track operates not only for a race, but also what happens all year long.

The stars of the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights will cap the 2013 season with the Championship Celebration Oct. 20 at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park in Universal City, Calif.

Ryan Newman is known for his talent of winning poles, and today in qualifying for the Sylvania 300, he did just that with a record-setting lap of 27.904 seconds/136.497 m.p.h. It is his second pole of the 2013 season, and the seventh time the driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS will lead the field to the green flag at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS). In 2002 and again in 2011, Newman started on the pole at NHMS and won the race.

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing - Starting Position: 5th - How was the qualifying lap?"I wish I could do it over again to, be honest with you. We were good in practice, but we weren't great. We needed to make some adjustments and the guys did just an awesome job on the race car."

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER - ON HIS NEW TRACK RECORD:"I've told you before that this track is the birthplace of track position and qualifying great with our Quicken Loans Chevrolet is extremely important obviously for where we are in the points and this time of year. It is really difficult to pass. Having a good pit selection; having all those things we've had so many times before... "

JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “That was faster than I thought it felt, that’s for sure. It didn’t feel great, but Todd’s given me a really fast car, so that made up for a lot of the handling there. We’ll see where it hangs in there, but going out this early is definitely a disadvantage when you come here to Loudon, so we’ll have to wait and see. There are a lot of cars left still, so we’ll ride it out and hopefully it’s in the top five or seven and go from there.”

MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Home Depot-Husky Tools Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How was winning last weekend's race at Chicagoland Speedway? "Last week was really great for us obviously. Couldn't have gotten started any better than what we did at Chicago. But that was last week. This week presents totally different challenges, totally different kind of race track, totally different style of racing -- and the things you need in your car and the things you need to do from behind the wheel. Just looking forward to here and hopefully get it started off decent today."

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Peanut Butter Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Do you feel good about your start to the Chase? "Certainly, it's a lot better to start off -- you know, wins, top-fives, top-10s than further on back. We know last week was a second-place, but as far as points are concerned and everything else it's not the time to look at any of that or worry about any of that. So, for ourselves, I don't know where I am and I don't want to know where I am. But I think it will all take care of itself when it comes down to crunch time and the better you can perform and do on Sundays, then it's going to take care of itself a lot easier."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed sponsorships, restarts, helping teammates on the track, and more.

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET/GILLETTE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and discussed going to IndyCar for Team Penske in 2014, finishing the season strong for his Earnhardt Ganassi team and other topics