NASCAR Cup Series

Denny Hamlin captured the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Award Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a qualifying speed of 191.598 mph. It was his first pole this season, his second at Charlotte and his 25th career pole.

MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 78 Auto Owner’s Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - How are the Playoffs shaping up and how are you and the team approaching the next few races? “Definitely looking forward to the second round. This is the one that got us last year, so I think everybody is looking at Talladega and looking at that with a little bit of nerves. IN general, feel good about our team and where we’re at, what we’re doing. We’ll just try to take it one race at a time and hopefully kick it off strong here at Charlotte. So far today has been a bit eventful for a lot of teams. Fortunately, we had a pretty fairly smooth practice. Looking forward to qualifying tonight and see what we can do. Hopefully have a great weekend here.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion, came to the infield media center after Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice on Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway to discuss advancing to the Round of 12.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media and discussed, his gift from Charlotte Motor Speedway, his high school sports career, this thoughts on the sticky stuff applied to the surface of Charlotte Motor Speedway, his thoughts on the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 race cars unveiled by Hendrick Motorsports last night and many other topics.

In honor of local hero Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s considerable contributions to the NASCAR community throughout his iconic career, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Speedway Children’s Charities have established the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Concussion Research Fund at Carolinas Healthcare System’s Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway and discussed what he and his team need to do in order to progress to the Round of 8, thoughts on this weekend’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the threat of rain and many other topics.

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Hit the outside retaining wall coming off of Turn 4. The resulting damage led to the team pulling out a back-up car. WHAT HAPPENED? “I don’t know. I got into this black stuff and it just took off into the fence. I think the car was pretty good, but had to pull a back-up out. It should be fine though. It’s a good thing that it happened early and we will get to practice tomorrow and get to work on it.”

Ryan Blaney (No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center Ford Fusion) met with the media today prior to first practice for this weekend’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Veteran NASCAR driver and Las Vegas-native Brendan Gaughan will carry a special paint scheme this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway honoring the victims of the recent tragedy at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip. The hood of the No. 62 South Point Chevrolet Camaro will feature the iconic "Las Vegas" script and #VegasStrong in gold and black block lettering.

NASCAR and The Weather Company, an IBM Business (NYSE: IBM), announced today a multi-year agreement that will optimize the weather-related decision process for NASCAR as itincorporates hyper-local weather data and forecasts into their races to improve race-day operations and fan engagement. As part of the agreement, The Weather Company, via The Weather Channel brand, becomes the Official Weather Partner of NASCAR.