Facing elimination, Ty Dillon not yet ready to be overly aggressive

CHARLOTTE – For as badly as Ty Dillon is ready to break through the championship ceiling, don’t look for him to operate any differently at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the first Chase elimination race.

“I think with the situation we’re in with this round, just knowing the people that we’re racing to get to that next spot, I don’t think we’ll have to be overly aggressive or do anything out of the norm,” Dillon said Thursday. “I don’t think this is the time or situation for that. If we just execute a good race and don’t overexert ourselves, do stuff that we don’t normally do, we won’t have to worry about doing anything like.

“I think we can just race our way in with the speed that we’ve had all year compared to the guys we’re racing.”

But even as Dillon faces elimination from the first round, his championship or bust mentality is as strong as ever.

“That attitude’s never really changed for me,” Dillon said. “It’s been my attitude since I started racing – I want to win championships. That’s what you’re known for in the sport the most, winning races and winning championships.”

Although Dillon is winless this season, he does not need to win the Drive for the Cure 300 to advance. A runner-up effort last weekend at Dover International Speedway has Dillon three points out of a transfer spot.

“We’re getting better as a team,” Dillon said. “We’re growing in momentum, and as the year winds down and gets tougher and tougher, hopefully, we do, too.”

Ty, the youngest of the Dillon brothers, has watched Austin Dillon earn a championship in both the Camping World Truck and Xfinity Series. Ty, however, has had a much harder go of trying to win his first NASCAR title.

In contention for the Truck Series championship in 2013, Dillon crashed in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Last year, sitting second in Xfinity points, he blamed a blown tire in the fall Dover race for ending his title hopes.

Thursday, he admitted it’s hard not to think about his uphill battle.

“Winning a championship means the world to me,” Dillon said. “So being on the outside coming into a cutoff race you’re obviously thinking about it and thinking about the situation.”

Mobil 1 will remain with Stewart-Haas Racing after Tony Stewart’s retirement

ExxonMobil will stay with Tony Stewart‘s team after the three-time Sprint Cup champion’s career ends.

In a Friday announcement, the company extended its deal as a primary sponsor at Stewart-Haas Racing. Its Mobil 1 brand will appear as a primary sponsor at “various premier series races” on the cars of Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick, Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch. It also will remain an associate sponsor at all races with SHR drivers.

Mobil 1 has been a partial-season sponsor on Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet since the 2011 season and also has sponsored a few races for Harvick and Patrick this year.

Here’s a news release on the announcement:

ExxonMobil today announced it will be extending the Mobil 1TM brand’s sponsorship of Stewart-Haas Racing in a multiyear deal.

Beginning next year, Mobil 1, the “Official Motor Oil of NASCAR®,” will provide full primary sponsorships across SHR’s four NASCAR premier series drivers. Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 car, Danica Patrick’s No. 10, Clint Bowyer’s No. 14 and Kurt Busch’s No. 41 will see Mobil 1 full primaries at various NASCAR premier series races throughout the year. At the same time, the Mobil 1 brand will remain an associate sponsor for all SHR drivers at all other races.

“ExxonMobil and Mobil 1 lubricant technology have been integral to my success with SHR and my 2014 Championship, so I’m excited they’re coming back,” said Harvick. “I’m also honored to step in as the lead representative for the Mobil 1 brand both on and off the track.”

Tony Stewart, who has represented Mobil 1 since the brand joined SHR in 2011, is retiring as a NASCAR driver at the end of the 2016 season. He will remain a brand ambassador for Mobil 1 in his role as a team owner, as he co-owns SHR with industrialist Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation.

Additionally, the Mobil 1 brand will be an associate sponsor of SHR’s new NASCAR XFINITY Series™ for the 2017 season, where Cole Custer will run for rookie of the year.

The company has been providing lubricant technology support to the team since 2011, which helped Stewart and Harvick earn premier series championships for SHR in 2011 and 2014, respectively.

“With two championships already, our partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing has been pushing performance limits since day one. Finishing this year and going into 2017, we’re ready to add more wins and titles to the collection,” said Kai Decker, global motorsports manager at ExxonMobil. “Our engineers are continuously working to advance our lubricant technology and SHR plays a large role in how we test our engine lubricants – ensuring consumers and race fans are getting the best product available.”

After announcing the partnership in 2010, SHR and Mobil 1 engineers began working closely together to tackle racing challenges. The 2017 season continues a collaborative engineering relationship used to develop lubricant packages and push technology limits to new frontiers. This relationship helps the SHR team win races and ExxonMobil continue to improve the performance of Mobil 1 branded lubricants with improved power, fuel mileage, engine efficiency and reliability.

“We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with ExxonMobil for the 2017 race season and beyond,” Stewart said. “They’ve been an incredible partner. “The success we’ve achieved has been greatly helped by Mobil 1 lubricant technology and our engineers working hand in hand with their engineers.”

Including the 2016 season, the partnership with ExxonMobil has led to significant on-track success for SHR, compiling two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series titles, 34 race wins, 140 top-five finishes, 266 top-10 finishes and 28 poles.

Along with its association with SHR, Mobil 1 is entering its 15th year as the “Official Motor Oil of NASCAR.” Mobil 1 is used by more than 50 percent of the teams in NASCAR’s top-three series.

UNIFIRST,HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS STRIKE 8-YEAR SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT

CONCORD, N.C. -- UniFirst and 11-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions Hendrick Motorsports have reached an eight-year agreement that will make the workwear and textile service company a primary sponsor of the No. 5 Chevrolet SS driven by Kasey Kahne. The contract runs through the year 2023.

As the new Official Workwear Provider of Hendrick Motorsports, UniFirst will be a two-race primary sponsor in both 2016 and 2017, with the relationship increasing to three primary races annually from 2018-2023. In addition, UniFirst will be a full-season associate sponsor of the No. 5 team.

UniFirst will make its Sprint Cup Series primary sponsorship debut later this season with back-to-back races Oct. 23 at Talladega Superspeedway and Oct. 30 at Martinsville Speedway.

"UniFirst is excited to be a primary sponsor of Kasey and Hendrick Motorsports," said Adam Soreff, director of marketing and communications for UniFirst. "This partnership is a great opportunity for our company because Hendrick Motorsports is one of the premier -- and most highly respected -- teams in professional auto racing. UniFirst's broad customer base, which includes 300,000 business locations across North America, employs thousands of enthusiastic NASCAR fans, so this relationship is a natural fit. We're extremely proud to have the UniFirst brand represented in such a dynamic atmosphere."

UniFirst is one of North America's largest workwear and textile service companies, providing managed uniform, protective clothing, custom corporate image apparel, and ancillary facility services programs to businesses in virtually all industries. As part of the new relationship, UniFirst will supply work clothing and uniforms to Hendrick Motorsports and sister company Hendrick Automotive Group, which is the largest privately held retail automotive organization in the United States.

"When a sponsor feels strongly enough to commit for eight years, it sends a clear message," said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. "There's tremendous excitement about the opportunities our team and our sport present for UniFirst. They have a reputation for world-class service, the highest quality products and services, and having incredible people. We share a similar mindset and culture, and we're looking forward to working together across our entire organization."

Since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2012, Kahne, 36, has earned three Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berths and five race wins with the No. 5 team. The Enumclaw, Washington, native has 17 career victories, 27 pole positions and 166 top-10 finishes in NASCAR’s top division.

"UniFirst will be a great addition to our partners at Hendrick Motorsports," Kahne said. "They're a reliable company that we've worked with at Kasey Kahne Racing for a long time, so I was happy to hear they are coming on board. I'm looking forward to having them as part of the No. 5 team and working with them in the years to come."

RAIN WASHES OUT ON-TRACK ACTION AT CHARLOTTE

The effects of Hurricane Matthew reached far into North Carolina on Friday as rain from the storm forced the cancellation of on-track activity at Charlotte Motor Speedway, including the postponement of the NASCAR XFINITY Series race.

The Drive for the Cure 300 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC, which is the final race in the XFINITY Series Chase's Round of 12, has been rescheduled for 11 a.m. ET Sunday. TV coverage remains on NBCSN, with radio broadcast on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Two Sprint Cup Series practices were slated for Friday, and the NASCAR XFINITY Series was slated to have Coors Light Pole Qualifying as well. Those three events have been canceled.

The starting lineup for Sunday's rescheduled race will be determined by the XFINITY Series rule book, which sets the field by fastest-to-slowest practice speeds from both of Thursday's sessions. During final practice, Kyle Larson turned the fastest practice lap (185.198 mph) of the day and will start on the pole.

Erik Jones, who currently sits outside the top 8 cut-off line for advancement into the next round, will start second on Sunday.

As of 8 a.m. ET Friday, Matthew was a Category 3 hurricane (downgraded from a Category 4 storm on Thursday) with the hurricane expected to move over the east coast of Florida on Friday and over the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday. Hurricane warnings stretched from just north of Miami to southern South Carolina.

There's an 80 percent chance of rain throughout Friday afternoon, which increases to 90 percent in the evening. Rain started at the track Friday morning and didn't let up. According to the National Weather Service, heavy rain is expected early Saturday before dropping to a 20 percent chance late Saturday afternoon and into the evening.

Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the Bank of America 500, is still on for 7 p.m. ET (NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

*Contributing: NASCAR Wire Service

BUSCH,EDWARDS SEEK CHARLOTTE WIN AHEAD OF LOOMING 'DEGA

MORE: Live radar | Friday on-track action canceled due to weather

CONCORD, N.C. -- Kyle Busch has celebrated in Victory Lane at 21 different race tracks in the Sprint Cup Series, from superspeedways to short tracks to road courses.

But in his 13-year Sprint Cup Series career, two tracks have eluded the No. 18 driver: Pocono Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of Saturday's Bank of America 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

"It would certainly mean a lot," Busch said on reaching Charlotte's Victory Lane on Thursday at the 1.5-mile speedway. "We've been trying here for a long, long time and we've been close a few times and it just hasn't all quite worked out the way we would have wanted it to I guess at the end of some of the races. So certainly we feel as though there's no better opportunity to win a Charlotte race than in the Chase."

A win at Charlotte would do more than check a box off Busch's lengthy list of racing accomplishments: It would punch his ticket to the Round of 8 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

With wildcard Talladega looming at the end of the three-race round, that security is especially coveted.

"Somebody's going to leave here really happy and I hope it's me," Carl Edwards said Friday at Charlotte. "This round I believe is probably the toughest one just with Talladega out there and these mile-and-a-halves. It's so competitive right now. We saw it with the first round. You'd think that making the 12-out-of-16 would be easy. It's actually -- it was a pretty good battle there, so we hope to get a victory here."

One of the biggest competitors for the Joe Gibbs Racing duo? The JGR-affiliated car of Martin Truex Jr., who has won three of the last five Sprint Cup races. His three recent trips to Victory Lane equal the four-car JGR's total Sprint Cup wins in the last 10 races.

For Edwards, the No. 78 success foreshadows Joe Gibbs Racing's performances to come in the Chase.

"If we didn't know what engines and chassis and setups those guys had, it'd be really easy to say they've got something (that) they've got something special that we don't have," Edwards said.

"But knowing what they have and knowing what they're able to do with it, that's a motivator and I've been telling people this week I really believe you're going to see … the four JGR cars really step it up because Martin (Truex Jr.) is … that rabbit out there that we're all chasing and we know it can be done and I think in the end that's a gift to have somebody in your camp or close to you that can do that."

The four Joe Gibbs Racing cars also have access to the No. 78 team's notes from their dominant Coca-Cola 600 win, something Busch believes is an advantage with limited practice time due to inclement weather.

"They were really, really good," Busch said on the No. 78's winning Coca-Cola 600 run. "So we feel like we've got a good baseline to base ourselves off of."

"If we could get Cole (Pearn, crew chief for Truex Jr.) to tell us everything, that would help," Edwards said with a smile. "But I mean seriously those guys are so good that it gives us a lot of optimism, because there's no -- everybody's looking up, looking forward."

Atlanta Motor Speedway opens campgrounds to Hurricane Matthew evacuees

With Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 storm nearing the Florida coast and expected to move up the East Coast over the next two days, Atlanta Motor Speedway has opened its “Family Campgrounds” to evacuees for free.

Evacuees also will have access to the Hampton, Georgia, track’s camper bathhouse facility for hot showers and restrooms.

From an Atlanta Motor Speedway release:

Those interested in RV or tent camping at Atlanta Motor Speedway should enter the facility at Entrance “A” off Hwy 19/41 at Speedway Boulevard and take the first left at entrance N. The Family Campgrounds will be on the left. From I-75 and GA Highway 20, campers should see signs to AMS and follow Lower Woolsey Road to Speedway Boulevard. Turn right on Speedway Boulevard and follow to entrance N.

For on-site assistance or directions, visit the ticket office/gift store building. Atlanta Motor Speedway is located approximately 25 miles south of Atlanta on Hwy 19/41 and approximately eight miles west of I-75 off of GA Highway 20.

Here is a map of the area around AMS provided by the track.

Kyle Larson fastest in final Xfinity Series practice at Charlotte

Kyle Larson was fastest in final Xfinity Series practice Thursday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a lap of 185.198 mph.

Erik Jones, looking to avoid Chase elimination in the Charlotte cutoff race, was second at 184.995 mph with Joey Logano third (184.856 mph), Daniel Suarez (184.332 mph) fourth, and Brandon Jones (184.150 mph) fifth. Larson and Logano are two of five Sprint Cup Series drivers entered in Friday night’s Drive for the Cure 300.

Rounding out the top 10 were Blake Koch (183.830 mph), Justin Allgaier (183.592 mph), Ty Dillon (183.411 mph), Ryan Sieg (182.803 mph), and Austin Dillon (182.636 mph).

There was a brief red flag during the session when Brandon Hightower got loose and crashed off Turn 4.