NASCAR Cup Series

Despite being involved in a late-race crash that took Ryan Blaney and the Quick Lane Ford Fusion out of the top 10 in the Alabama 500 to an 18th-place finish, they were strong all day here at Talladega Superspeedway and leap-frogged from 11th to seventh in the NASCAR Playoff standings going into the Round 2 cutoff race next weekend at Kansas Speedway where only the top eight advance.

Martin Truex Jr.’s victory last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway loomed even larger after the Furniture Row Racing driver was involved in a race-ending accident Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. He was credited with a 23rd-place finish.

Denny Hamlin was the top-finishing Toyota with a sixth-place result in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Talladega Superspeedway. Camry driver Gray Gaulding also earned a top-10 finish with an eighth-place result at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – Finished 2nd - ON THE RACE. "I don't know that it was a good kind of crazy, but that's the problem we are in. Proud of the guys on this Caterpillar Chevrolet with RCR and ECR to do what we did. We tried to play it smart and in the end we were close, but not close enough. I got double-teamed with the No. 2 and the No. 22 (Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano). That was the difference."

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow afternoon after winning the pole for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Joey Logano led the way for the Ford Performance and Team Penske contingent in qualifying with the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion for Sunday afternoon’s Alabama 500, turning the third fastest lap time.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS – Pole Winner - WHAT’S IT LIKE TO GET A POLE ON YOUR FINAL ATTEMPT AT TALLADEGA? “We got a pole earlier this year at Daytona. We’ve been fighting our teammate, Chase (Elliott) and his group for poles at these tracks for a long time and it’s been a lot of fun to be honest with you, how these two teams have pushed and elevated each other."

BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – “That’s not bad. I wanted a little bit more. I want to be in the top-six, which is good. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good, so we’ll take that and move forward.”

Donnie Allison, two-time Talladega Superspeedway winner and original member of the famed Alabama Gang, will lead the field to green in Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s historic No. 2 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Sunday’s Alabama 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) playoff race. The blue and yellow, white numeral machine was driven by Dale Sr. during the 1979 and 1980 MENCS seasons and was presented to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. as a retirement gift from the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Talladega Superspeedway on Friday.

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media today at Talladega Superspeedway to discuss his final restrictor plate race, plans for next year beyond the TV booth, tracks he will miss, stage racing at a plate track and other topics including three very special gifts...