NASCAR Cup Series

Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Ford team found good speed in race trim in Friday morning's practice session. In qualifying trim, the car was tight. The team made some adjustments before qualifying that evening. Unfortunately, the adjustments only helped the exit of Turn Four. The team qualified 29th for Sunday's race and will have two practice sessions on Saturday to dial in their Ford Fusion.

BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – “We missed it everywhere. We couldn’t find what we needed, but we seem to race really well here. I haven’t really qualified all that well here lately, but it’s been one of my best qualifying tracks, but not today.” THE TEMPERATURE WILL BE MUCH HOTTER ON SUNDAY. HOW DIFFERENT WILL IT BE? “It’s definitely not going to gain any grip over the weekend, but that’s part of how it goes and part of the challenge. I think the track will just get more and more difficult to drive and the crutch that is the grip strip will go away and hopefully that will suit us.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 2nd - DID YOU GET THE LAP YOU WERE LOOKING FOR? DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU COULD HAVE MADE UP SOME TIME? “I felt like maybe I got in the corner a little hot and got myself a little bit too loose and to the brakes too hard. But, I feel like overall my lap was pretty good. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) has been really fast recently, and especially in qualifying all year. So, for us to be second to him is not bad. We had the pole here earlier in the year and got encumbered, but we had to back it up with a front row start. It feels good. We’ll have a nice pit stall selection. Hopefully we can have another smooth day.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) and discussed making his final start as a full-time Cup Series competitor at NHMS, his take on post-race burn outs, traveling commercial and many other topics.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - What's it like to be back at New Hampshire Motor Speedway pursuing yet another lobster? “Yeah, it's obviously a great race track for us and we've performed really well here. I didn't think we had the best car here earlier this year, but we found a way to win and that was really important. Hopefully, we have a little bit better car, give ourselves a better chance to win, because we can't always count on our competitors to make mistakes and that's kind of what happened this time around, so we'll try to get the best car possible and see if we can't capitalize.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and discussed his current position in the Chase, the severity of penalty levied against the No. 24 team this past week, running the modified race and many other topics.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – Involved in an accident during the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway - WHAT HAPPENED? “I had a good first lap and entering Turn 3 for my second lap just got in there with a lot of speed anticipated it sticking, didn’t quite stick and then once I got out of the PJ1 there was just really no slowing down or directing it off the wall at that point. Came around and it got the fence. Definitely not the way we wanted to start. Frustrating, but we will take it and go figure it out”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion, is looking to bounce back this weekend after finishing 25th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway. Stenhouse, who is making is first Playoff appearance and is 14th in the standings, held a Q&A session this morning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to talk about his situation.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) and discussed his recent trip to Naples, Florida for Hurricane relief clean up, his thoughts on the “sticky stuff” that NHMS used in the spring race, where his team is thus far in the Playoffs and many other topics.

Steph Wood visited Ford Performance’s Racing School recently for her first official driving lesson on an actual road course. In this episode on AmericanMuscle’s HotLap, Steph pilots an S550 Mustang packed-full of Ford Performance goodies and discusses all of the intricacies to Ford’s racing program. From apexes to understeer, Steph gets the lowdown on how to run the corners to get the best line to ensure maximum traction and efficiency.