NASCAR Cup PR

Ryan Newman opened the NASCAR Playoffs with a strong top-10 run Sunday evening at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, crossing the line 10th in his Oscar Mayer Ford.

Paul Menard and the No. 21 Menards/Monster Ford Mustang started strong in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But the march forward from their 21st starting position lasted only a handful of laps before Menard began falling back.

After a strong start powering his SunnyD Ford up to the third position after starting 12th in the first five laps, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was running in the sixth-position before having to make an unscheduled pit-stop for a cut tire. After fighting back and getting back on the lead lap, Stenhouse was assessed a pit-road speeding penalty forcing him to settle with a 26th-place finish in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Brad Keselowski overcame a rough start to post a third-place finish in the South Point 400 Sunday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Keselowski struggled mightily early in the 267-lap event but rallied in the second half of the event to score his 10th top-five finish of the 2019 season.

"Man, I wish this race was during the day. Our Bass Pro Shops Chevy was so good while the sun was out. I was a little tight off turn 4 when Stage 1 ended, but didn't really need any adjustments. As the sun set, I lost stability and struggled in traffic. We used the stage break to make additional changes trying to free up my Camaro ZL1 as it still lacked forward drive."

Martin Truex Jr. won his series-leading fifth victory of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this evening.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA FILTERS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th “It was a solid top-five. I feel like we finally got our car going pretty good the last two or three runs, which was good, and a good time to do it. We just got some damage on the restart and he had to come down to pit road and fix it. We just couldn’t take a chance on cutting a tire. I felt like we were closer today than we have been the past few weeks, so that was nice. Hopefully, we can have cars like that for the next nine weeks.

(P) KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang - FINISHED 2nd - “It was good. We had two solid stages and with the way that practice went for us, that was a miracle. To be in contention with a chance to win the race with 25 laps to go says a lot about the guys working on this 4 car and everybody did a great job of making something out of what wasn’t very bright for us on Friday.”

(P) Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Toco Warranty Ford Mustang - Qualified 1st - IT IS YOUR FIRST POLE IN 12 YEARS: “It beats the hell out of me, guys. I am as shocked as you are. It is tons of fun. Obviously bragging rights for the guys first and foremost and I am extremely proud of the effort. Hey, we sit on the pole but look, my gosh, 1-2-3-4 for Stewart-Haas Racing and I think that shows a lot about our hard work, dedication and focus on the qualifying lap."

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 5th “I think with qualifying, we’ve been doing a really good job at the 1.5-mile tracks. Making sure we are wide open, but also to be able to have the right downforce levels for the car for the race. It’s going to be a slick one tomorrow and that’s really where the focus is with the impound. We are making sure the race setup is dialed in.”