NASCAR O'Reilly Series

On the heels of the announcement in Chicagoland proclaiming that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would pilot the historic No. 17 Ford Fusion next year in the Sprint Cup Series, the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide champion will make his second Sprint Cup start of the 2012 season at Dover International Speedway this weekend. Earlier this season the Olive Branch, Miss. native made his debut in the famed Daytona 500 finishing 21st. He finished 11th in his Sprint Cup debut in 2011 in the Coca-Cola 600.

TOYOTA TIDBITS ALL HAMLIN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: Prior to the weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Camry driver Denny Hamlin predicted he would win the event and Hamlin proved to be correct as he cruised to victory lane in the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 11 FedEx Freight Camry. Although he started 32th on the grid, Hamlin moved into the lead on lap 94 (of 300) at the one-mile oval. He crossed the finish line more than 2.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Jimmie Johnson. The Chesterfield, Virginia-native led the field four times for a race-high 193 laps to earn the 100th NSCS win for JGR and the 48th victory for Toyota.

Michael Annett on Going to Dover: “I enjoy visiting ‘Miles the Monster.’ Dover is a fun little short track and it’s fast. I like short-track racing and Dover fits my driving style. The short tracks always make for exciting racing with a lot of beating and banging. We are going to have to focus on keeping all the fenders on our Pilot Flying J Ford and coming home with a good finish.

The No. 38 Great Clips Chevy will have a little bit of a different look this weekend at Dover International Speedway. The car will feature a textured jersey look to represent the different sports uniforms that EA SPORTS® uses on their sports games. Great Clips and EA SPORTS® have a long-standing relationship and have partnered in the past with the Ultimate Gaming Makeover Sweepstakes and also giving away special offers for EA SPORTS® games during select times of the year to Great Clips customers. Great Clips and EA SPORTS® are continuing their partnership, including involvement with the No. 38 Great Clips team.

DODGE QUOTES: “I think we’ve got the same tire at Dover this weekend that we had earlier this year. I feel like we’ve got an idea of where we need to be. We need to be a lot better than what we were there in the spring. We definitely weren’t as bad as where we ended up but we need to be better for sure. That’s one of the places that we had a tough go of it where some of our competitors in the championship had a little bit better run. I feel like we’re going to have our work cut out for us there but we’re up for a challenge. If you’ve got a good car, you’re going to be able to pass people and be able to force ‘em to make mistakes.” --Sam Hornish Jr.

NASCAR team owner Richard Childress has a lot of fond memories of Charlotte Motor Speedway, and he and his stable of drivers are looking forward to making new memories when NASCAR returns to the legendary 1.5-mile superspeedway for the Bank of America 500 week, Oct. 10-13.

Stenhouse, Jr. on racing at Dover International Speedway: “Dover is one track that really suits my driving style. The track is fast but also very challenging. The turns are unique because of the way you drive up out of them. I am running double-duty this weekend so that is going to be a lot of fun. Rancher’s Reserve/Safeway will be on our No. 6 Ford for both races. The championship battle is very tight so we need a strong finish at Dover this weekend.”

With the Fall season officially started on the calendar, that’s the one thing the No. 01 Chevrolet team of Mike Wallace doesn’t want to do in the Driver’s Standings on the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule.

Truex Looks to Slay The Monster... Truex will step back behind the wheel of the No. 99 SeaWatch International/Grime Boss Camry this weekend at Dover International Speedway for the running of the OneMain Financial 200. In his last visit to the Monster Mile, Truex had what seemed to be a perfect weekend on tap.

WELCOME BACK SPORT CLIPS: Sport Clips, a national sport-themed hair-care franchise for men and boys founded in 1993 with nearly 1,000 stores nationwide, will make its final appearance of 2012 with the Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide Series program on Saturday afternoon with Joey Logano and the No. 18 Toyota. Sport Clips, who has a rich history with Joe Gibbs Racing, has sponsored Logano’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin in five Nationwide Series races this season – Texas, Darlington, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Richmond. In those three races, Hamlin has brought home finishes of fourth, second, second, fourth and fourth respectively. In Logano’s one other Sport Clips race this season, he brought the No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota home to a fifth-place finish at Daytona in the summer event at the track. Sport Clips also sponsored Hamlin in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events at Darlington, where he finished second, and Atlanta, where he picked up his fourth Sprint Cup win of the season. Sport Clips also sponsored up-and-coming JGR driver Drew Herring at Kentucky Speedway last weekend, where Herring finished fourth.