NASCAR Cup Series

February 18th, 2001 ... the final lap of the 43rd annual Daytona 500 .... the black No. 3 entered turn three in third position,...

"Phoenix is an awesome racetrack. I've won there in other divisions and really enjoy going out west and seeing friends and family. We'd struggled there in past years, but last year we ran really well there in both races. So that gives us confidence going back.

"I'm really excited to get into the Cup car. I'm looking at this as a great opportunity and an audition, too, to go to Phoenix and, first off, make the race and then, second, finish the best we can and learn as much as we can.

"The Phoenix weekend is kind of your first test. What's the new rules package going to bring? What's the new qualifying format going to bring? Phoenix has the ingredients to be wild for qualifying because it's a fairly new racetrack and sometimes cycles on your tires do make you go faster.

If it seems that Martin Truex Jr. has continually been in the media spotlight since the beginning of year, it’s because the Furniture Row Racing driver has indeed run the gamut of intriguing news -- from positive to amusing to not so amusing.

Marcos Ambrose will carry the colors of Mac Tools on the No. 9 Ford for the one and only time this weekend at the one-mile Phoenix International Speedway just outside the city of Phoenix. Ambrose will be making his 12th Sprint Cup start at the track.

This media tour is a great way to decompress off of something like that. I don't know how I would take it in just having nothing to do with myself. It's been fun being busy and talking about the win. It's an opportunity to celebrate my team and their effort, give everybody credit.

Aric Almirola will pilot the No. 43 Farmland Ford in his seventh start at Phoenix International Raceway this Sunday. Almirola and team look forward to seeing their off-season work prove fruitful in the 312-mile race. Almirola has 15 NASCAR National series starts under his belt at the Phoenix, Ariz., track, while Crew Chief Trent Owens has 14 Nationwide races from atop the pit box. They have scored a collective seven top-five, nine top-10 and 11 top-15 finishes at the track.

Brian Scott will pilot chassis No. 418 in this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Phoenix International Raceway. This is the same chassis Scott utilized in his Cup series debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway last fall.

Team owner Richard Childress has five victories at Phoenix International Raceway, ranking him third on the all-time car owner victories list at the Avondale, Ariz. facility.