NASCAR Cup Series

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Is a win at a premium right now? “I think wins are always important and I think the biggest thing now is that each round kind of has their own wildcard race if you look at it – you’ve got the Roval in the first round, Talladega in the second round and then Martinsville kind of turned into a crazy race in the third round. It’s all just going to be about trying to maintain and have a good day. If you can get top-five finishes, great, that’s going to propel us through with the amount of points we have and the point cushion we have, but wins are the ultimate. If you can get those then you’re automatically in and that’s what we all strive for.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - What could you have done differently at Indianapolis? “Nothing. There was nothing that I could have done differently. What I did to lose the lead and there was just too much grip (Brad) Keselowski ran faster than us before the caution even came out. I wasn’t going to get there but that restart allowed him to be right on us. "

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - Do alliances work and is there a timeframe on how long they can be successful? “I don’t think in either situation, whether it was their (Stewart Haas Racing and Hendrick Motorsports) or ours, I don’t think that had anything really to do with how both of them changed – you get what I’m saying?"

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Playoff media day. Select Quotes: HOW DO YOU ATTACK RICHMOND? “Well, you know I always felt like Richmond was one of my worst places, but this year we had a really good run earlier this year there and we got our car pretty good at the test just a couple of weeks ago, so I’m pumped to get back to go to Richmond. Like you said, you can always get to somebody at Richmond, so payback is usual one of those places you circle Richmond is one of them. We will be aggressive when we get there.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Ford Fusion -- QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “It is really important to get started on the right foot here. I don't really care about the underdog thing. That has been my whole life. That is what everyone labels this team as, which is fine with us. We will do our own thing. I don't think it gives us any extra motivation. The motivation is there. We don't really want to be the life of the party, we just want to do our jobs and do the best we can. Whatever happens, happens.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media during Playoff Media Day. Select Quotes: YOU DRIVE FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND SO DOES JIMMIE JOHNSON. FOR WHATEVER REASON, HE DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME RESULTS AS YOU HAVE HAD THIS YEAR. WHY IS THAT? “As a whole, we’ve just been trying to get better as a team. We’ve been lucky and have had a couple of good runs. I don’t know. As we progress and get better, we’re all going to get better. We just keep pushing in that direction and see where we stack up.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR/CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Playoff Media Day. Select Quotes: I BELIEVE YOU ARE THE ONLY DRIVER GETTING MARRIED DURING THE PLAYOFFS UNLESS SOMEONE ELOPES HERE IN VEGAS. USUALLY THAT IS AN OFFSEASON THING, BUT YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PLAYOFFS? “Yeah, Kaitlyn wants a warm wedding, and I race during the off-season so I didn’t want to mess up my offseason plans. It happened to work out that we can do it right before the ROVAL there. So, it’s coming fast and I am ready to get it done.”

All 7 Ford NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers participated in the annual playoff media day in Las Vegas Thursday afternoon. Below is a sampling of the drivers comments during the open interview portion of the festivities.

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE/AXALTA CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media during Playoff Media Day. Select Quotes: WHERE DID THIS WHOLE ROOKIE THING COME FROM? DID EVERYONE FORGET ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY RUN CUP BEFORE? “No, it’s just been a joke on Twitter all season. So, I’m just committing to it. I think it’s pays if you win Rookie of the Year, so I’m trying to beat William (Byron) for that. I think we are ahead of him in it right now. But, not, it’s just been a joke. Some people on Twitter really don’t get it and it’s really funny, but I actually got asked today what it’s like to be the first rookie to ever make the Playoffs. As a serious question, which I don’t know where that came from. That is… other rookies have made the Playoffs to begin with and I’m not a rookie. Somebody was reading Twitter and took it to be fact way too much.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Playoff Media Day. Select quotes: OBVIOUSLY, YOU WANT TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. IF YOU DON’T, HOW WILL YOU VIEW THE 2018 SEASON? “It would be a disappointing year if we didn’t win a race. I’ve set a high bar to win since my rookie year, so winning a race seems like something we should be able to do. If that doesn’t happen, I’d certainly be disappointed. I do know that we have not left anything on the table and poured everything we can into it. Not that it would be satisfying on every level, but making sure we acknowledge the effort that went into it and not beat ourselves too hard on it. But I certainly hope that doesn’t happen.”