NASCAR Cup Series

SPARTA, Ky. – Martin Truex Jr. didn’t need a dress rehearsal to put on a pole-winning performance at Kentucky Speedway on Friday. His lack of mock qualifying runs in practice did not affect the ultimate result – his first Busch Pole on the 1.5-mile track.

We are at a point in the season where it is time for the Chevy’s to step it up. If they don’t step up now, it might be hard to do it later in the season.

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - Where are you on another contract extension with Furniture Row Racing and are you certain you’ll be back with the team? “No. Am I – I don’t know. We’ve got some stuff to figure out for sure, but I don’t plan on anything different, so just give the team some time to figure things out and we’re all kind of trying to figure it out together, so hopefully we can make it happen.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Snickers Intense Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How difficult is Turn 3 following the repave? “Yeah, I mean, it’s just so much different here – Turn 3 – than any other mile-and-a-half we go to. Normally other places you get to and you start picking up a little bit of the banking before you get into the corner and here it’s so flat all the way down in there before you pick up the banking that, you know, it’s just has its own characteristics and it’s own challenges that are tough to deal with, you know?"

ERIK JONES, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Were you able to enjoy the win before you went to race at Slinger Super Speedway? “Yeah, it wasn’t much time, but it was a little bit. I mean, we got back and it was pretty late, but some of my buddies were waiting over at my house and had some celebrations ready for me, so that was fun."

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Kentucky Speedway and discussed his recently announced paint scheme for Pocono, his thoughts on running at Kentucky Speedway this weekend, blocking and many other topics. Full Transcript:

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 DEX Imaging Ford Fusion, came to the infield media center at Kentucky Speedway before Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice to talk about this weekend’s event.

Saturday night's race at Kentucky Speedway will mark the beginning of the second-half of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, and the CorvetteParts.net team could not ask for a better swing of momentum than with the finish they earned last weekend in Daytona Beach, Florida. This weekend, Matt DiBenedetto will work with Crew Chief Randy Cox to continue their 1.5-mile racetrack success and together they hope they can find speed in their primary sponsor's backyard.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be in action for a national series tripleheader at Kentucky Speedway. Check out the full schedule below, subject to change.

Kentucky. Lord, please not Kentucky. It is a track I have no affinity for, but I will be watching on Saturday night. It is all due to NBC. If you watch the broadcast, and still can not stand NASCAR, it is just not for you. If you do watch it and have any love of the sport, you will stick around. The boys and girls make it damn hard to skip forward, no matter how much you try.