3rd, MATT CRAFTON
4th, JOHNNY SAUTER
6th, ERIK JONES
7th, JEB BURTON
8th, JOE NEMECHEK
9th, JOHN WES TOWNLEY
11th, CHRIS FONTAINE
12th, GERMAN QUIROGA
17th, DANIEL SUAREZ
26th, TIMOTHY PETERS
27th, DARRELL WALLACE JR.
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Menards/Fishers Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
What did you think of the new qualifying format?
“I liked it — definitely a lot better than what they had when they were 10 or 15 minute segments especially when we’re going to do exactly what we did right there and all the fans and all the people on TV can actually enjoy it and don’t have to wait and go get a beer in between while we’re sitting out there on pit road.”
What do you expect with the drafting rules for tomorrow?
“Crazier yet because everybody is going to — instead of the push you’re going to get hit and you’re going to get hit entering the corner and you’re going to get hit exiting the corner and that’s actually worse to be hit exiting the corner and entering the corner. If you’re locked together you kind of somewhat became one and they weren’t quite as ugly to drive. I know being the one being pushed and all that wasn’t quite as exciting. It’s going to be chaos for sure.”
What was the difference from the first round speeds to the second round speeds?
“24 trucks on the track to 12 trucks on the track — just knocked a bigger hole in the air. That’s all it was — there was that big, huge pack up in front of me and (Johnny) Sauter and I think the 29 (Ryan Blaney) was behind me and it was just all about that big pack and we just got a huge tow on them. The last one there wasn’t nearly as big of a pack in front of us so we didn’t tow to them nearly as fast.”
What would it mean to be the first series repeat champion?
“It would be cool. It’s been just a little thought to be totally honest. All I’m worried about is race to race and going out to win races and at the end of the day if you win races and you run up front all the time then you’ll win championships. If it’s meant to be then it will be. I know that we have fast enough trucks to win the championship and do it back to back, but at the same time if it’s not meant to be it won’t be. This is one of the biggest hurdles that we’re going to have in the next five races to get through without a doubt. If I can get through this — then I would feel like if we left here with a top-five or top-10 finish to be able to go to the next four race tracks and those are definitely some of my favorite race tracks that we’re going to.”
Are Talladega and Martinsville the two hardest tracks to race back-to-back?
“Without a doubt. You wait until four to go here and then you wait for all heck to break loose and all of us run into each other and act like fools. Then at Martinsville it’s pretty much the same way. We race a lot smarter for the first three quarters of the race and then there at the end of the race everybody detaches their brain and starts running into each other. It’s the same thing we do here, it’s just a lot shorter track and you hit not quite as hard.”
Was there a plan for the qualifying rounds?
“The only time I ever organized anything was the very, very first one and they didn’t do what I wanted them to do. My teammate was the only one that lagged back with me on the very first one. Darrell (Wallace Jr.) was supposed to go back there with me, but he didn’t and he missed that round. The second round I just waited to back out and it just happened to be my teammate was the second to the last one so I was behind him and I knew he was smart enough to lag back. At that point I knew he would do the same thing once we got to the third round and that’s what we did.”
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 98 Nextant/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Starting Position: 4th
How was the new qualifying format?
“To be honest with you I didn’t really pay attention to the new qualifying format — I had no idea until we came out to pit road. I kind of gave up a little bit of faith in that qualifying program after Las Vegas when we got hosed over there. It wasn’t as exciting as I thought it could have been — it was more of a strategy play with who was leaving and when they do leave do they commit to the throttle or do they lift when they get to turn two and the guys behind them have a head of steam. You kind of know with a minute and a half left that everybody has got to go because they have to get back to the start finish line. I don’t know if it’s exciting or not — it’s just different.”
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 98 Nextant/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing (continued)
What is your approach to tomorrow’s race?
“Try to stay up front — that’s ultimately my goal. If I do get shuffled out then I’ll probably be more content to just hang out in the back. Right now my strategy is to just stay up front as far as I can. There’s a lot of guys that I don’t necessarily know have any experience at plate racing. We’ll just try to stay up front all day if we can.”
ERIK JONES, No. 51 ToyotaCare Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Starting Position: 6th
JEB BURTON, No. 13 Estes Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Starting Position: 7th
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 8 Bully Hill Vineyards Toyota Tundra, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 8th
JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 05 Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra, Athenian Motorsports
Starting Position: 9th
CHRIS FONTAINE, No. 84 Glenden Enterprises Toyota Tundra, Glenden Enterprises
Starting Position: 11th
GERMAN QUIROGA, No. 77 NET 10 Wireless Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Starting Position: 12th
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 35 Arris Toyota Tundra, Win Tron Racing
Starting Position: 17th
What was your first day at Talladega like?
“It was crazy. Definitely something very different. The practice was very easy and relaxed with the single truck run. Then in the drafting everyone was taking care of the trucks or something, but right now in the qualifying it looks like it was the last 10 laps of the race. Everyone was getting very crazy. The good thing is that the truck is complete and we have a decent truck for tomorrow. Really looking forward to it.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Starting Position: 26th
What happened during the qualifying session?
“Nothing, we just didn’t time it right. We’ve got ‘Old Faithful’ from Daytona and it pulled the outside line so I don’t see any reason why it won’t do it here tomorrow. Practiced really well and we didn’t really get in a big pack — just make sure all our ‘T’s’ are crossed and our ‘I’s’ are dotted. Can’t thank everybody enough on the Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra.”
How will you approach the race with the new rules of pushing other trucks?
“Obviously tomorrow the pushing is going to be at an all time high at the end of the race or throughout the whole deal — it’s just making sure you don’t do it to where they feel like you’ve locked on and pushed too far. There’s no concerns on that tomorrow. The main thing is that when the big one happens we need to be on the other end of it to where we can continue on to the checkered flag.”
DARRELL WALLACE JR., No. 54 ToyotaCare Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Starting Position: 27th
