NASCAR Cup Series

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Playoff Media Day. Full Transcript ARE YOU AWARE THAT IF YOU WIN THE TITLE THIS YEAR YOU WILL BE THE ONLY DRIVER TO HAVE EIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS IN CUP? (Laughs) “I heard something about that. You know, I do think about it occasionally but the format really doesn’t allow you to do so. Even last year. We had the summer slump, started the playoff and we do well with winning Charlotte and winning Martinsville."

Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. is ready to get back on track at Chicagoland Speedway this weekend for his first race with the No. 98 Biagi DenBeste Racing team. An ambassador for Nickelodeon, Wallace will drive the Nickelodeon Slime Ford donning iconic Nickelodeon characters from SpongeBob to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Wallace not only helped design the car that he will be driving but also helped design the NASCAR Monster Energy Series Tales of the Turtles 400 trophy. Wallace will use Turtle Power to his advantage in hopes of celebrating in Victory Lane by getting slimed after Saturday's race.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Kenseth was made available to the media during NASCAR’s Playoff Media Day: MATT KENSETH, No. 20 DEWALT Flexvolt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Has NASCAR taken ownership of the issues from Saturday night? “Which ones? Just the ambulance one? Oh, yeah, I don't know.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Playoff Media Day. Full Transcript: WHO IS THE FAVORITE GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “It's kind of hard to have a favorite really. It's only one race. Martin will be really good there. If both Kyle Busch and I make it there, I think we're both really good at that style of racetrack. Harvick obviously is really good. Jimmie. I mean, there's so many people that are good at Homestead, it's hard to pick a favorite. But I think if you had to pick a favorite to make it all the way there, it would be Martin.”

Chicagoland Speedway is not the home track for Michigan native Erik Jones but his confidence leading into Sunday’s Tales of the Turtles 400 is as if it were.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Playoff Media Day. Full Transcript: THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Talking to your crew chief tonight. What do you think about your crew chief Alan Gustafson, how you two are progressing and moving into the Playoffs?

KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion – WHAT’S THE IMPACT ON YOU FOR THE PLAYOFFS WITH ALL THE NEWS GOING ON AT SHR? IS IT A DISTRACTION? “I don’t think so. I think those are pretty much standard procedure things that are gonna happen. There’s going to be changes and it’s not just our organization that has changes. Things change and you have to be a part of those and work through those things because that’s really a part of business and it’s a part of sports. I think there’s obviously been a lot going on behind the scenes and you can just see the end result of it yesterday.”

The Playoff field is set. Seven Chevrolet SS drivers, Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, Kasey Kahne, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray will all be in contention for this season’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship title. The contest begins this weekend as all seven of these drivers will vie for the first win out of the gate and ensure themselves a position in the Round of 12, the next segment of the championship Playoffs. Newman is the only driver on that list to have a previous win at Chicagoland Speedway, but the other six hope to change that this weekend and take Chevy back to Victory Lane at the 1.5-mile track for the first time since 2011.

“I’m glad I’m in the playoffs this year and have an opportunity to see how far we can go. We just need to get the best results every week and make no mistakes and see where we end up. I think with everybody all-in, hopefully we can come out of nowhere and really make some noise throughout the next 10 races. We just need to do the best we possibly can, give a lot of effort and put a lot of time into it. If we do all of that I think we’ll get our best result and I’ll be happy with it.” Kasey Kahne on making the playoffs

Petty also confirmed that driver Aric Almirola would not return to the organization in 2018, but the team intends to continue racing, as it has since 1949.