NASCAR Cup PR

HOW MUCH IS THE TRACK GOING TO CHANGE DURING THE COURSE OF THE WEEKEND? “I don’t know if it was a different mixture or what, with the grip. The grip compound feels so much different than it did last year or the year before. It’s weird, to be honest. So, I don’t know. It definitely doesn’t feel nearly as gripped-up as it has in the past. But that could also be my car.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang – DO YOU HAVE A PLAN FOR MAKING THE PLAYOFFS IF YOU DON’T WIN A RACE? “Short of winning, yeah. We’ve been trying to get stage points as much as we can and we’ve been doing that the last few weeks. We had a strong car last week and cautions and pit strategy didn’t exactly work out the way that we wanted it to, but I think we were in sixth or seventh position coming to the white and, I don’t know, a couple cars got together underneath us and moved us outside the VHT and we ended up finishing 12th there, but I felt like we had a top 10 car and got to lead some laps and just build confidence that the mile-and-a-half program is where it needs to be."

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1 Media Breakout Session Highlights: ON THE FOLKS THAT BROADCAST THE RACES “When I think of listening to races, I just think of the picture that you guys create in someone’s head when you’re riding down the road listening to the races, is second to none. It’s been awesome to grow up around that and have the broadcasters paint the picture of what’s going on.”

“In practice in my first run I felt pretty close to good. Then in the last two runs I made, the car was just too out of the track too much. So, hopefully we will make the right adjustments on it during this little break and be good here shortly for qualifying. I don’t know if the track changed a whole bunch for us there or if the cycled tires or what. But the balance changed from round one to two.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 AAA Ford Mustang – WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO COME BACK HERE AS A CHAMPION?  WHAT HAS THE REACTION BEEN LIKE?  “It’s actually been, I didn’t really think about it before I got here much because you’re kind of thinking about how do you win here, but I went out this morning for the champions breakfast that Speedway Children’s Charities does every year and to see some of the support there, and I guess that’s when it kind of hit me."

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1, met with media and discussed his contributions to various race teams, the importance of family and racing with his brother, Kyle Busch, a few of the boxes he’s like to check during his racing career, and more. Full Transcript:

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Beer/National Forest Foundation Ford Mustang – HOW DID IT ALL COME TOGETHER FOR YOU HERE AT THIS TRACK?  “It’s just like anything else, I could probably tell you the ones that we lost and felt like we should have won, and last year our car came around at the end of the race.  We had a decent car all weekend, but we capitalized on some mistakes and a good car at the end of the race, so we’ve had a good car here a number of times, just last year it finally all came together.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Mustang – WHEN DO YOU START THINKING ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS? “I think for me personally, I can only answer for myself, I start thinking about the Playoffs the second you get your first win and you’re locked in. And for there it’s kind of ‘how can I have the most amount of points, bonus points, whatever it might be, to enter those Playoffs.’ That’s why it’s such a big advantage early in the season because you can really focus your eyes on the big prize.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 3rd DID YOU GET EVERYTHING YOU COULD OUT OF YOUR RACE CAR? “I don’t know. I’m happy that we got third, but I’m disappointed because I’m like where was the lap time? Where did I lose it? But, thanks to the guys and the engineering group to take our car from where we were in practice and to give us a shot at the pole. That’s that team chemistry and that feel that we’re getting for one another. I don’t know. I’m going to call that one all-driver. It’s so tight for the top four guys. That’s what this Monster Energy Cup is all about. You’ve got to be perfect and we were off just a bit there I guess.”

“We were a little off to start with. We were trying something, and it didn’t quite work out the way we wanted it to, but I feel like we can get it right before qualifying. We can make a little change here and make a good, solid qualifying run and we will go out there and race them.”