NASCAR Cup PR

Ryan Newman does not want to just make the playoffs; His intentions are clear - to compete in the playoffs and ultimately achieve his goal of winning a championship.

DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford Mustang – “Over the last six or 12 months I’ve thought a lot about what my future looked like on the race track with my race team and my partners and me as a race car driver, and a lot of what my future looked like as a husband and a father and a leader of our household, and over the past couple of months it was really clear to me that it was time to take a step back and be home a little bit more, and it’s pretty simple as that."

William Byron on the night race at Bristol: “I try not to focus on it too much. It’s a really exciting race as a fan but as a driver it’s a stressful race. You really have to manage yourself and your car for all 500 laps. You can’t put yourself in a position to take yourself out of contention early on because it’s so hard to recover. You try to treat it like any other race but it’s a cool one to win if you can.”

“The night race at Bristol always has such an amazing atmosphere, but being the home track for our owner, it's just a big deal for us at FRM. Bob Jenkins puts his heart and soul into this sport and this team. I really like running strong at Bristol to get Bob and his employees all excited.

Roush Fenway Racing heads to Rocky Top this weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) makes its return trip to Bristol Motor Speedway for 500 laps under the lights Saturday night. An RFR Ford has visited victory lane 18 times at The Last Great Colosseum across NASCAR’s three major touring series.

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.