NASCAR Cup PR

Thursday’s UNOH 200 (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the start of the 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Playoffs and eight drivers – Brett Moffitt, Grant Enfinger, Stewart Friesen, Austin Hill, Ross Chastain, Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter and Tyler Ankrum – will battle it out over the next seven races for the series title.

Paul Menard and the No. 21 Menards/Knauf Insulation team head to Bristol Motor Speedway hoping for a repeat – or better – of their run at the Tennessee track back in April.

Richard Childress Racing's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series history at Bristol Motor Speedway ... In 173 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, Richard Childress Racing boasts nine wins - seven with Dale Earnhardt, one with Kevin Harvick and one with Jeff Burton - three pole awards, 34 top-five and 69 top-10 finishes.  The Welcome, N.C.-based organization has led 3,680 laps at the "World's Fastest Half-Mile."

Newman will make his 36th Cup start at Bristol Saturday night. In 35 prior events, Newman has 19 top-10 finishes with two top-fives and an average finish of 15.5.

DIBENEDETTO BY THE NUMBERS: In nine Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career starts at Bristol, Matt DiBenedetto has an average start of 28.0, an average finish of 19.7, and he’s completed 4,488 of 4,511 (99.5 percent) career laps at the half-mile high-banked track, making it one of his best tracks on the circuit.

Bristol (Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race) Preview: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads next to the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” for 500 laps of action at Bristol Motor Speedway for a Saturday night race on August 17. With five top-five finishes, including a win, in the past five races, Hamlin and team will be looking to continue their momentum as playoff racing approaches in the coming weeks.

Penske Truck Leasing (PTL), a leading transportation services company, will be the primary sponsor of the No. 22 Penske Truck Rental Dallara/Chevrolet driven by 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud of Team Penske for the IndyCar Series race weekend at Pocono Raceway, August 17-18.

Stenhouse has 13 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, with an average starting position of 19.6 and average finishing position of 13.0.

Bristol Motor Speedway will be host to all three NASCAR national series this week, beginning with the Gander Outdoor Truck Series Playoff opener on Thursday night. That’s followed by the NASCAR XFINITY Series race on Friday and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event Saturday night. Here’s a look at each series going into this week’s competition.

"It was a battle all weekend at Michigan International Speedway, but this Richard Childress Racing team never gave up. We started far back in the field in our Chevy Accessories Camaro ZL1 but opted for two-tire pit stops during the early part of the race in order to get track position. That strategy worked because we were able to race our way into the top-10. There was a one-lap shootout to end Stage 2 and things got wild when we got spun through the grass at 200 mph."