NASCAR Cup Series

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.

Martin Truex Jr. knows all about winning and losing in the closing laps of a race. He’s been on both sides, including on the winning side in last year’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Danica Patrick, the only female driver to win the Daytona 500 pole and one of the most popular figures in NASCAR, will not return to compete for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2018.

Roush Fenway Racing heads to the land of deep dish pizza, Al Capone’s tax evasion, every John Hughes movie and “Da Bears!” this weekend as the Monster Energy Cup Series (MENCS) returns to Chicagoland Speedway, excellent!

"Losing a sponsor of this magnitude in September is a significant set-back to Richard Petty Motorsports, but Andy (Murstein) and I are committed to moving forward with the No. 43 team. We have a lot of great partners who have expressed their continued support, and our fans will rally around the No. 43. We've been around since 1949, and we'll be around a lot longer."