NASCAR Cup Series

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 2nd - NOT QUITE ENOUGH, BUT PRETTY GOOD SPEED FOR YOU IN THIS QUALIFYING SESSION: “Yeah, I’m pretty happy. Great lap by (Ricky) Stenhouse and the Roush guys they did a really good job today. Thrilled with our car, good speed and it would have been nice to get a pole. Probably could have sat down and talked to Rick (Hendrick) about running the Clash or something, but let’s see if we can’t try to get another one later on this year.”

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Chase Elliott is on track to best his stellar rookie campaign from last season at the one-quarter mark of the season.

Sunday’s GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway will be an emotional one for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his loyal race fans.

Before traveling to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Ford, and members of his team helped pack 1,300 backpacks for hungry kids at Second Harvest Food Bank Metrolina.

ON RAISING MONEY FOR THE NATIONWIDE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL BY SELLING SPACES TO FANS S THEY CAN HAVE THEIR NAMES ON THE NO. 88 CHEVY SS FOR THE RACE AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY: “Yeah, Nationwide put together a real cool program for the car we are going to race in Kentucky where they sold the hood off to the race fans to put their name on it and sold it out in 24 hours, so they found room for more names and sold that out in another 24 hours and raised $81,000 really quick."

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Clint Bowyer topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion, held a Q&A session with the media prior to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.

When it comes to the world of stock car racing, Richard Petty rules the roost with 200 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victories, but in terms of sheer speed, well, the man who stands on the top of that mountain is Bill Elliott.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 HOOTERS CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed plate racing, his year to date so far, Bill Elliott’s 16 most popular driver awards, and much more.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 SHARE AN ICE COLD COKE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed being the point leader through the first quarter of the 2017 season, what he learned about restrictor plate racing at Daytona that he can apply to this weekend’s event at Talladega and many other topics.