1st, DENNY HAMLIN
2nd, KYLE BUSCH
3rd, CARL EDWARDS
4th, DAVID RAGAN
9th, CLINT BOWYER
13th, MATT KENSETH
38th, JJ YELEY
42nd, MATT DiBENEDETTO
DNQ, JEB BURTON
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 1st
Can you improve the speed in your race car even more come tomorrow?
“I hope so. That’s the plan. Our FedEx Ground Camry obviously was very fast that last round and Dave (Rogers, crew chief) made the great adjustments to it to pick up the speed and I think that hopefully we’ll have something that we can race with them tomorrow night.”
How much did the track change from practice and what do you expect the track to be like for tomorrow night’s race?
“It will change quite a bit. I think it will definitely go through a few transitions early in the race. You’ve got to be aware of it, you’ve got to be ready. We were able to win the night race before and hopefully we can make it two times.”
Are you happy with your car for tomorrow night’s race?
“It looks like I really got the car working the way I needed to there in that final practice. A testament to these guys and what Dave Rogers (crew chief) did for us.”
How key is it to get the first selection of the pit stalls?
“It’s very important. I mean the camera is right on the other side of the number one pit stall so to have that two nights in a row here is really going to hopefully pay dividends. So, we’re excited. Bristol has been a great track for me in the past and we’ve got nothing to lose this weekend just gearing up for the Chase so I think our FedEx team is ready.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Skittles Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 2nd
How close were you to knocking your teammate from the pole position?
“We were just a little too free there the second segment and the first run of the third segment. It’s a little edgy up there so you try not to push too hard, but still make a good lap and come back safely. Then there at the end we tried a ‘Hail Mary’ and it worked, it picked us up speed, but it didn’t pick us up that spot. Great effort for everyone on this Skittles Camry, these guys are doing a great job. Thank Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development) and a JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) front row for both races here this weekend. That will be good and we just have to make sure we do all the right things and run a good, smooth 500 laps.”
How has Joe Gibbs Racing been so strong in recent weeks?
“I’m hoping the guys at the shop will tell us on Monday that we still have good stuff coming. I’m sure we do, but everybody has just been working their tails off and doing a great job. We just tried some different things this year and it’s kind of worked for us. Overall, I couldn’t be more pleased with just everybody’s effort and everybody’s work and the communication with bringing on the fourth car with Carl Edwards and of course Matt Kenseth as well too. It’s a JGR top-three there and Kenseth, he’s won two of the last four here so we definitely ain’t no slouches around Bristol.”
What did you learn for tomorrow night’s race during practice and qualifying today?
“Essentially just make your car as fast around the top as possibly can, it seemed like that’s what everybody was doing. I don’t know that very many guys spent any time down on the bottom side to even make sure that their car would run around the bottom of the race track. I think everybody was just really particular and solely worried about speed around the top. It’s going to be an interesting race – certainly, I don’t know if you could ever call it the old Bristol, but it’s going to be single file around the top until you get around lapped cars and having to make moves and things like that. It gets to be interesting, that’s for sure. When you are in traffic, the cars don’t’ quite drive as good as if you were by yourself so the advantage always goes to the leader.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 Stanley Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
How strong was the car in qualifying?
“Fast Toyotas today. Our car is very fast. I’m disappointed that we’re not on the pole as fast as the car was, but this is a good effort. The cars are just so fast – I’m excited to go racing. As long as we’re up front, we will be just fine.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 4th
Are you happy with your qualifying round?
“I really thought we had a shot at the pole and just didn’t have enough speed that second round. Probably could have made a little bit more aggressive adjustment on my track bar. I thought we had enough speed to advance to the third round pretty easy and we had to run a few extra laps and I think those extra three or four laps on our tires probably cost us a shot at the pole. But anytime you can start in the top-five that’s a great starting spot for our Aaron’s Toyota. I feel like we’ve got a good race car. Yeah, we’re pretty happy with that starting spot, but I’ll always wonder if we didn’t have to run so many laps that second round if we would’ve had a shot at the pole.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 9th
How was the qualifying effort?
“That was a real solid effort. I’m real proud of the guys. We’ve got a good starting spot for tomorrow night and that’s big at a place like Bristol. It’s a long race and a lot can happen. We just have to keep ourselves out of trouble and we could have a shot to get this 5-hour ENERGY Toyota in victory lane.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 13th
How was the car in qualifying?
“All of our cars have had good speed today, we just missed the setup there a little bit for qualifying and couldn’t really fix it from the pit box. We got the best lap we could out of it – wish we could have made it to the last round there. Just didn’t quite have enough in it.”
JJ YELEY, No. 23 VooDoo BBQ & Grill Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 38th
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 83 Cosmo Motors Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 42nd
JEB BURTON, No. 26 Rocky Ridge/Estes Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: DNQ
