NASCAR Cup Series

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion, addressed the media this morning before NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Kentucky Speedway and talked about not only this weekend’s race, but his chances of making the Chase field for the second straight year.

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion, has one victory this season and is the defending winner of this weekend’s Quaker State 400. He visited the infield media center to talk about a variety of issues, including NASCAR’s new rules package that is debuting here at Kentucky Speedway.

“The biggest thing, to me, and what I like, is that maybe we could have a different type of package for each type of track. When you look historically, Indy had been a pretty challenging race; a tough place to pass. And then you look at when IndyCar goes there and it’s one of the best races they have.

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Ortho Ford Fusion, stopped by the Kentucky Speedway infield media center to talk about the new rules package for this weekend’s race and what the cancellation of testing means for Saturday’s race.

The thrills and the moments of dread of Daytona are behind us. Kentucky is next on the agenda, yet something tells me it arrives with not quite the same sense of anticipation. It still is racing, there is still a measure of danger attached to it, but it is not the same thing. Some think that is a good thing.

Long time readers of my columns know that I am not a fan of restrictor-plate racing. It’s not for the reasons that most think of after this week’s chaos at the end of the Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway last Monday morning (that’s another story, for another day).

Even with only one top-five in four starts at Kentucky Speedway, Carl Edwards admits that he is a fan of Kentucky Speedway and hopes that he can have a good run on Saturday night after crashing out of the past two events.

Ever wonder about those engineers atop the pit box next to the crew chiefs working away on their computers during the race? This week’s NASCAR Behind the Scenes focuses on one such engineer, Tom Gray, who works with Jeff Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports Team 24.

“We have the Minions Camry and this is pretty cool. We’re going to have a little bit of fun with it. For me, this weekend is special. This is the site of my first win in NASCAR – the Truck Series and it was huge. Then my win in 2005 in the Xfinity Series and now NASCAR is going the direction I’ve been wanting to go for a while with a less downforce package and I’m excited to see how it runs. Hopefully it will be a good weekend.”

New Kentucky-Specific Rules Package To Debut This Weekend; Four More Track-Specific Packages Scheduled