4th, CARL EDWARDS
10th, KYLE BUSCH
12th, MATT KENSETH
13th, DENNY HAMLIN
18th, DAVID RAGAN
32nd, CLINT BOWYER
38th, JEB BURTON
41st, JJ YELEY
43rd, MATT DiBENEDETTO
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 4th
How was the car in qualifying?
“The ARRIS Toyota is pretty good and I thought I messed that lap up and it was still fast. I think we have a good race car and now we’ll just work on race trim tomorrow and hopefully be good in the race. There is some stuff we can work on, but qualifying trim is so different than race trim. It will be a lot different tomorrow.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 10th
How was the qualifying run?
“It wasn’t bad. We were really far off on the first one and each run we kept making gains on it and kept picking up speed and getting the balance better on the M&M’s Crispy Camry, but there on that last run I didn’t have anything left so I actually slowed down some and hurt my time. Overall, I felt like making those good adjustments and coming up from 24th to 10th, obviously that’s good for the race on Sunday. Just not quite where I wanted to be – I felt like we could have been fourth or fifth or something like that, but after 400 miles here on Sunday it won’t much matter.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 12th
What will you work on in practice tomorrow and how were the qualifying rounds?
“Tomorrow we’ll work on race trim and today we just worked on qualifying with the weather being iffy. We were a little off today and I thought we made some good adjustments and got some speed in round one. Round two was pretty decent and then round three we just got off on the balance. We’ve been a little bit slower than I wish we were, but hopefully we’ll have more speed in race trim and we can get it to drive good.”
How is the speed in your Camry on this fast race track?
“I think the Toyotas have the speed. I feel like my teammates are real fast – they were up there a lot of the day. The Hendrick cars and the Stewart Haas cars seem to be really, really strong today. Hopefully we’ll get a little better tomorrow. We didn’t have the speed today to compete for the pole – even if we had the balance perfect, we were just off that little bit. Hopefully we’ll find that tomorrow.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 13th
How did the car handle in the second round that kept you from transferring?
“On the second run we just got too loose and wasn’t able to be as aggressive with the throttle. You really are on the throttle all the way around the track and you just have to crack it a little bit in the wrong place and you’ll pay for it. It hurt our lap times a little bit and we missed it. Didn’t get another run – we have to wait for our engines to cool and we didn’t have time to make another run. I knew the guys that did make another run were going to be faster. I knew we were going to be in trouble, but that’s just part of it.”
What could have helped you transfer to the final round of qualifying?
“Just if we were tighter. We were loose so I couldn’t carry as much throttle as I needed to and obviously when you have a track like this that’s nearly wide open, if you come out of it at the wrong time it will cost you a lot of lap time and unfortunately for our FedEx Express Camry we are just going to have to qualify 13th. Definitely not as good as what we felt like our car was capable of, but that’s just part of it.”
What are the expectations of this weekend?
“We’d like to contend for a top-five and a win. We come to the race track to win, but ultimately I think we have to get a little bit faster for that to be realistic. We can put ourselves in the top-five and hopefully things will fall our way at the end. We come here and try to get better and overall this is a track that kind of shows you aero and horsepower-wise where you’re at and where you need to improve.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 18th
Were you pleased with the performance of the car in qualifying?
“That’s about where we were all day, anywhere from 10th to 18th I guess. I would have liked to have picked up a little more that second round. We made a couple good adjustments, but everybody picked up a little more than we did. Certainly we have a lot of racing left and a lot of practice left. Always want to go faster on qualifying days, but we’re proud of the weekend and we got off to a good start. Just have to keep getting a little better.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY/Special Operations Warrior Foundation Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 32nd
BILLY SCOTT, crew chief, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY/Special Operations Warrior Foundation Camry, MWR
What is the plan for tomorrow’s practice to improve on the Camry?
“We’re talking about what our options are and what exactly is different between our teammates’ car and ours. It’s been a short week and we went testing so we had some things that might carry over from there too. We’re just trying to get a plan on what to look attonight.”
JEB BURTON, No. 26 Maxim Fantasy Sports Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 38th
JJ YELEY, No. 23 Dr. Pepper/Heinz Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 41st
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 83 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 43rd
