NASCAR Cup Series

Furniture Row Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to the media during NASCAR’s Playoff Media Day: MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - How quickly were you able to get over, or have you gotten over what happened on Saturday? “About when I got to the airport to fly home.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU SEE THINGS? “I don’t really know position-wise exactly where we’ll be, but I think we’ve got a plan of what we need to do to get through the first round and then after that I think your plan might change race to race, and even in the first round it could change race to race. I think it depends on what happens to the cars around you and if you can capitalize on some of those mistakes. If they have mistakes, then that’s what you’ve got to do.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – HOW BIG OF A DEAL WOULD IT BE TO WIN A TITLE FOR FORD THIS YEAR? “I feel like that’s asking for a specific ROI, a valuation. Yeah, I think about winning the championship. I’m a little selfish because I really haven’t put that much thought into what it would mean for Ford, but now you kind of make me feel like I should be doing that. What would it mean to me, specifically? A second championship is I think critical in my own perspective of being a part of this sport. I’m a big believer that success isn’t measured by your ability to do something once, it’s measured by your ability to do something twice. We’ve had great opportunities to win a second championship, but we’ve kind of fallen a little short for a number or reasons, and we have that opportunity again this year, so that’s a great privilege and a great opportunity. Of course, we want to make the most of it and I think it would mean a tremendous amount to me personally to kind of validate the first championship.”

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.”