NASCAR Cup PR

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER ONE PRACTICE? “I’m already way ahead of where I was last year, knock on wood. Last year, I think I made two laps in the very first practice and wrecked and tore the whole back of the car off, and then never made another lap until qualifying. So I felt like practice went well. I got in a pretty good rhythm. We did not make a qualifying run, just trying to manage our tires for the rest of the weekend for those practices tomorrow, and so we’re already ahead of where we were last year, and I feel like for me it’s really about just getting in a rhythm and then staying in the rhythm throughout the weekend.

“We are a certain amount of points behind, but we can pick those up in the stages. Yet, at the end of the race, the most important part is still finishing strong. It’s a matter of getting away from bad luck that has been these last couple of races, with a fender rub and a yellow came out when a back marker hit the leader and we had just pitted. So, we got trapped two laps down. We’ll see how it plays out.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE RETIREMENT PLANS CAMARO ZL1, met with media to discuss race strategy for this cutoff round in the Playoffs, the value of stage points and qualifying well, and more. Full Transcript:

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang – WHAT’S IT LIKE COMING BACK HERE AS A WINNER? “Coming back here, it’s nice coming back to a place you’ve won at no matter how you do it. Honestly, I was kind of more excited to come back here to see the new chicane. I think that was pretty unique, a lot different from what we had last year.

When Corey LaJoie graciously decided to put the Samaritan's Feet organization on board his No. 32 Ford at Watkins Glen International last month, he had a goal of raising $20,000.

NASCAR is back in its own backyard this weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) hits the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the second time ever. The opening round of the NASCAR Playoffs also conclude on Sunday with Ryan Newman sitting ninth in points, 14 points to the good.

Richard Childress Racing's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series history at the Charlotte ROVAL... In three previous Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, Richard Childress Racing's best finish is 11th.

Five Chevrolet drivers qualified for the 10-race Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs that will determine the champion. Heading into Round 3, a look at their start/finish at Richmond Raceway and start/finish in the 2018 Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course race in the Playoffs:

Chase Elliott on the changes to the "roval" this year: “With the course changing from last year, I think it’s going to make us all slow down a bit more just from how it looks to me. I think we will have to slow down heading into the new chicane and treat it like a corner. We are just gonna get there and give it a shot and try to be solid.”

“Obviously, I'm excited to race at the ROVAL this weekend. I always enjoy going to a road course, but this one is certainly different from Watkins Glen and Sonoma in that there's very little room for error. If something happens or you make a mistake at Sonoma, you can go off course, but there's less opportunity to do that here. We had some good speed in this race last year, and I'm looking forward to putting on a good show in our No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford Mustang."