NASCAR Cup Series

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion, is the defending winner of this weekend’s Coke Zero 400. Stenhouse, who is 16th in the current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings, held a press conference this afternoon in the media center.

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL E15 CAMARO ZL1 met with media and discussed returning to Daytona in July after wining the 2018 Daytona 500, several fun interviews that have happened to him as a result of the win, the lack of more than six different winners thus far in MENCS competition, and more. Full Transcript:

Richard Childress Racing at Daytona International Speedway ... Dating back to 1976, Richard Childress Racing has won 11 poles and collected six points-paying victories at the most-storied race track on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit. RCR owns three Daytona 500 wins (Dale Earnhardt - 1998, Kevin Harvick - 2007, Austin Dillon - 2018), three Coke Zero 400 trophies (Earnhardt - 1990, 1993 and Harvick - 2010) and 14 qualifying races, including 10-consecutive victories with Earnhardt (1990 - 1999). In addition, RCR has earned the Advance Auto Parts Clash a total of eight times, with drivers Harvick (2009, 2010, 2013) and Earnhardt (1986, '88, '91, '93, and '95).

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 BODYARMOR Ford Fusion, is 10th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings and ranks third in laps led with 463 going into Saturday’s race. He answered questions from the media before today’s first practice session at Daytona International Speedway.

Daytona. Usually, I look forward to any race from that track. After Chicago’s race coverage on NBC, I am really looking forward to it. That was the best NASCAR television broadcast in years.

On the surface it would seem like all Paul Menard and the No. 21 Menards/Moen team need to do to be successful in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway is to pick up where they left off after the first two restrictor-plate races of the season.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be in action for a holiday weekend at Daytona International Speedway this week. Check out the full schedule below, subject to change.

Chevrolet leads all other manufacturers in wins at Daytona International Speedway. The Bowtie Brand has taken home 46 victories from the World Center of Speed, 24 being at the Daytona 500 and the other 22 occurring in the annual July event.

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT DAYTONA: Hendrick Motorsports has achieved 14 wins, 18 pole positions, 54 top-five results, 94 top-10s and 2,024 laps led at Daytona. The organization's 14 wins ranks second all-time at Daytona behind only Wood Brothers Racing with 15. The organization's 2,024 laps led are the most all-time at Daytona, nearly 300 more than Richard Childress Racing's 1,734. Hendrick Motorsports' most recent victory at Daytona was courtesy of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the July 2015 race.

This past weekend at Chicagoland saw the most thrilling last-lap battle for a win of the season. And now we head back to Daytona, where the history of the July Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race is worthy of its own highlight reel (Saturday, July 7 at 7 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).