NASCAR Cup PR

After an emotional week, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his Sunny D Ford to a 17th-place finish in the second annual Roval race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Roush Fenway Racing announced earlier this week that Chris Buescher would be rejoining the organization to drive the team’s No. 17 Ford Mustang in 2020. Owner Jack Roush, president Steve Newmark and Buescher held a press conference today at Charlotte Motor Speedway to talk about the situation.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to media at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course:

Behind the wheel of his No. 24 UniFirst Camaro ZL1, William Byron took the top position in qualifying for the Bank of America Roval 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, with a fast lap of 80.932 seconds, 103.198 mph. The feat was Byron’s fifth pole in 65 MENCS races, his 13th top-10 start in 2019, and his first career pole at the 17-turn, 2.28-mile road course known as the Roval.

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Sunny D Ford Mustang – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT CAME DOWN THIS WEEK? “A lot came down. It was unfortunate, for sure. Definitely tough timing for myself and my group to try to find another option, but, all in all, I’ve got to look back on the 11 years that I had with Jack and winning races and championships and getting my first Cup win and being competitive – not as consistent as what we wanted, but the end of it all I’m very thankful that Jack took a chance on a dirt racer from Mississippi to come drive his car. "

Martin Truex Jr. was the top Toyota qualifier in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Friday evening.

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 UNIFIRT CAMARO ZL1 – Pole Winner - SO YOU MESSED-UP THE LAST CHICANE? “Yeah, we’re going to have to fix a quarter-panel. I kind of missed that one, but I was trying to get all I could. I knew I was a little bit weak under the brakes the first couple of runs in Q-trim today, so I tried to fix it and maybe fixed it a little bit too good."

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course:

“It’s been OK. I’m just trying to get back in the rhythm here, it’s really hard. I feel like a lot of road courses have a flow to it and this place does not flow very well at all. So, you kind of have to create your own flow in my mind, that’s what I keep telling myself. It’s just kind of awkward. There’s awkward turns, awkward braking zones, and things that are just very uncharacteristic of typical road racing. I’m just trying to find a groove. I never really found it very well in that first practice, which is unfortunate. We were way off the pace in our qualifying run. I have some work to do. We see where we were slow, which unfortunately was a lot of areas. So, we have some work to do and hopefully we can hit it a little closer in qualifying.”

ON THE FIRST PRACTICE SESSION TODAY AT THE ROVAL “I’ve been surprised at the carnage we’ve already seen. I thought there would be less of it with the one year of experience that we have, but it shows how grip-limited this track is. It’s really awkwardly bumpy, which upsets the cars. Yeah, it’s been a handful for everybody. And then, the bus stop, I think is good. You have to slow down, and stuff, so it’s been a fun little change over there.”