NASCAR Cup Series

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 2nd - HOW WAS YOUR CAR IN PRACTICE THROUGH RACE RUNS? “Yeah, I thought it was much improved from where we have been. You’ve got to take the small victories every now and then in life and especially in the racing world. We are just trying to take those right now. A much better Friday than we have been having. This has been a ridiculous stretch of races for me and our team. We have just been struggling and kind of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. We have had fast cars at times, just hasn’t seemed to work out. I typically don’t qualify very good, so I’m happy we could have a good qualifying effort and hopefully, our car in race trim is one spot better.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - What does it mean to come and race close to home with the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown last night? “Last night was a great success. We had such a great turnout. They were able to put in temporary grandstands, and that was a good thing, anytime you can fill up a race track like that. Obviously great competition with myself and Kyle (Busch) and some of the other Late Model stars. Great battle all night and had a fun night. Raised some good money for charity, going to continue to want to build that event to be a big one for those guys going forward.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How do you feel going into the Toyota Owners 400 race weekend? “Well, we’ve got some practice sessions in there, so feel okay about it – not great, not exactly where we remember being here a few years ago when we had cars that were up front, leading laps and feeling pretty comfortable at being able to do that, you know? So just a little bit too much slipping and sliding for our liking, but we’ll see if ours is any less than anybody else out there that we can be one of the best cars for the race here on Saturday night.”

DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 8 SMOKEY MOUNTAIN HERBAL SNUFF CAMARO ZL1 met with media and discussed doing double duty his weekend for the first time with his Cup debut at Richmond Raceway coupled with his regular participation in the Xfinity Series, his challenges and expectations, support from his fans and family, and more. Full Transcript:

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion, has had a good week leading up to this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.  On Monday, he registered his best finish of the season with a fourth-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway, and on Tuesday it was announced that partners Fastenal, Fifth Third Bank and SunnyD have all renewed agreements through 2021.  Stenhouse spoke about all of that good news this morning before practice at Richmond Raceway.

The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Team Penske Ford will carry a special hashtag at this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.   The hashtag, #VoteForTheCaptain, is an effort to encourage NASCAR fans to vote for legendary team owner Roger Penske.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 met with media and discussed the race at Bristol last week and finishing second to Kyle Busch, the upcoming race next week in Talladega, his expectations for this weekend at Richmond, the championship picture at this point in the season, the newly-announced package for the All-Star race, intermediate track racking, and more. Full Transcript:

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series head to Richmond Raceway, while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off. Check out the tentative full schedule below, subject to change.

We truly are in a sweet spot in the NASCAR schedule. Last Sunday (and Monday) it was Bristol. This Saturday night they race at Richmond. We conclude April with the test that is Talladega. Action good enough to convince anyone who enjoys pure entertainment to become attracted to the sport.

The Perfect Pairing… Toyota and Richmond Raceway will enjoy their sixth-consecutive year of a partnership where the manufacturer sponsors both the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race with the Toyota Owners 400 and the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) with the ToyotaCare 250.