NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR announced today it has reached a multi-year agreement to renew its official partnership with Safety-Kleen, and is among several companies renewing their commitment to NASCAR in 2014. The company will continue as the Official Environmental Services Supplier of NASCAR.

It started with a tweet from Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) to Robert Griffin III (@RGIII), followed by some chiming in from Richmond International Raceway President Dennis Bickmeier (@RIRprez) and RIR (@RIRinsider). What began as a Twitter conversation about a month ago has resulted in Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III driving the Official Pace Car to start this Saturday’s TOYOTA OWNERS 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

After a thrilling start to the season full of action at every turn, the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series had some time to kick back and relax. Beyond just the drivers, it marks an even more important break for the crew members as they’ve been hard at work since the winter trying to get their packages set for the season.

“Every weekend is a new weekend for us,” Allmendinger said. “I feel like it is a chance for us to continue to grow. For my guys, they have been busting their butts all season long. Forming the RCR (Richard Childress Racing) alliance and the switchover to Chevy (Chevrolet) was done relatively late last year.

In 22 previous starts at Richmond International Raceway (RIR), McMurray has led 25 laps, earning four top-10 and one top-five finishes. He has an average starting and finishing position of 23.0 and 22.4, respectively. McMurray’s best start of second came in the fall of 2011 and his best finish of fourth came in the last race at RIR in Sept. 2013.

"I'm looking forward to Richmond [International Raceway]. It's a night race and puts on a good show for the fans. We are coming back after a weekend off, so hopefully everyone is rejuvenated and ready to go for this long stretch of races. We've been making gains every week, and I've really taken to the short tracks in the Sprint Cup car.

“The same principles apply everywhere, but Richmond is unique in the fact that (turns) one and two are drastically different from three and four. There’s no really perfect setup. You can’t just focus on that first corner or just the handling in one and two because about the time you get your car turning really good down there then it’s too loose down in three and four.

“Our No. 17 team is ready to get back to the race track after a weekend off. Richmond is typical short track racing which is always a lot of fun. It is important to have a car that turns in the center with good drive off. We had our best finish of the year at Bristol, another short track, so hopefully we can get another top-five finish this weekend in our Nationwide Insurance Ford."

“I like Richmond, I think it is a great track for racing and for the fans in general. It’s kind of an in-between track. Fans get to experience the thrill of speed while also getting the feel of side-by-side racing. Unlike most short tracks you get a lot of side-by-side racing in the corners at Richmond.

“Richmond is always a fun race track. It drives like a mile-and-a-half, like a superspeedway, but yet it’s got little short corners. There’s big, long, fast straightway and little tight corners, lots of technique to getting around Richmond.