NASCAR Cup PR

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."

MARK RUSHBROOK, global director, Ford Performance - HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS FOR FORD IN YOUR BACKYARD? “This is our home track and in the backyard of Ford Motor Company and it is really important for us to perform well in front of our employees, executives and all their families. It is a big deal."

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 3rd COMING BACK FROM A SPEEDING PENALTY TO FINISH 3rd IS NOT A BAD DAY AT ALL, IS IT? “No, I guess if you’re going to get a speeding penalty, the first run of the race is the time to do it. But yeah, I was surprised when they said I was speeding because I hadn’t hit a read light at all until after leaving my pit stall."

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang - Finished 1st - Another win, congratulations: "Yeah, it was, like you say, a day of a little bit of adversity that we were able to overcome. But we just had a really fast car all weekend."

“I think the track was in really good shape. I don't know if there was anything that really favored up, mostly it was just the team doing a great job with the preparation and executing a flawless lap driving the car. Most of the credit goes to my team for sure.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 3rd “For us to qualify third is really good. We started the day here kind of 1th to 13th, so to make that improvement is really good for us. I feel great about it, honestly. I feel like the guys have worked super hard and we just need a good weekend. I think if we start up front we’ll have a really good shot at it.”