3rd, MATT KENSETH
6th, CLINT BOWYER
7th, KYLE BUSCH
8th, DENNY HAMLIN
13th, BRIAN VICKERS
34h, JJ YELEY
41st, ALEX BOWMAN
42nd, COLE WHITT
43rd, BRETT MOFFITT
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
How strong is your race car for Sunday?
“We just worked on qualifying today so we’ll get into race practice a little bit tomorrow. Then we’ll have a little better idea about Sunday. Today went well — we had good speed the first lap on the track. I thought qualifying went pretty good.”
Is your team doing anything differently to help Denny Hamlin this weekend?
“It doesn’t really change. We try to help each other as teammates as much as we can all year throughout practice, meetings, information sharing and all that kind of stuff. I don’t think it really changes. We all want to win when the green flag drops on Sunday. We all want to get to the front and win the race — so hopefully all three of our cars will run up front and one of us will be able to get it.”
How do you feel about Denny Hamlin’s chances at winning the championship?
“Denny’s (Hamlin) really, really good. As an organization we’ve been a little behind this year — I feel like the three of us have been. Denny won the race here last year. We’ve all been qualifying better lately and we’ve been showing more speed. We all qualified good here again. I don’t know if you can handicap one against the other three necessarily, but he’s got as good of a shot as anybody.”
If you can’t pick your teammate — who is your pick to win the championship?
“If you look at pure performance, the 4 (Kevin Harvick) car and the 22 (Joey Logano), but anything can happen. Ryan (Newman) has been running really good lately and he’s a heck of a race car driver. He could make it happen and Denny (Hamlin) is as good as you can get as well. I think it’s hard to handicap. You can look at the season obviously and who has led the most laps and who has been up front the most and all that stuff and handicap it like that, but it’s a 400 mile race, it’s a different weekend, there’s a lot of pressure on everybody — so I think it’s going to be fun to watch. I wish I was a part of it, but it’s going to be fun to watch.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 6th
How solid of a starting spot is sixth for Sunday’s race?
“To round off a crummy year, it feels good to get down here and have a solid starting spot up front with our 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry and with these boys. This has been a good track for us. We’ve gotten close here a couple times and I could see myself pulling out of victory lane with that boat and launching it in the lake for my celebratory party. That would be awesome.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 7th
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 8th
How was your last qualifying lap?
“I think one of the benefits of having a good car on the long run is you’re able to do what we were able to do. I’m proud of the whole FedEx Express team. To have an extra cycle on our tires and be that close — that’s very encouraging. It’s been a great day so far and very encouraged by what I’ve seen so far. The car is feeling really good, so we’ll see what we’ve got.”
How was your day?
“Our day went really well. We don’t have that all-out speed that we haven’t had all year, but we’ve got good long run speed on this track really. It’s good for you when you have a car that’s like that on this type of race track. Very encouraged by what we’ve seen so far. We’ll figure it out on Saturday.”
What are your expectations for Sunday?
“Our expectations are to win the race. I think we’re fully capable of doing that. After some practice tomorrow we’ll have a little bit better idea.”
JOE GIBBS, team owner, Joe Gibbs Racing
How is the pressure you’ve experienced as a Super Bowl winning coach to what you feel as a NASCAR team owner this weekend?
“I think the pressure is — there’s a lot of pressure right now in qualifying — I can tell you that. I was nervous — I think we all are. This is a big-time weekend. I think it’s going to be great for the fans. You have four great teams in it and you can’t ask for anything better than this — to have a chance for this. The Lord has blessed us with a great chance to have a chance — so I look at it that way. We’re thrilled to be a part of this.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 13th
How was the qualifying run?
“That was an okay run. Definitely an improvement over practice for sure. I think we have a decent Aaron’s Dream Machine Camry for Sunday. We missed the final round of qualifying, but I would love to get these guys to victory lane Sunday. They deserve a win this year and hopefully we can get it for them on Sunday.”
JJ YELEY, No. 83 Dip Your Car Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 34th
ALEX BOWMAN, No. 23 Dip Your Car Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 41st
COLE WHITT, No. 26 Speed Stick Gear Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 42nd
BRETT MOFFITT, No. 66 Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports
Starting Position: 43rd
