3rd, KYLE BUSCH
6th, ERIK JONES
9th, DENNY HAMLIN
13th, CARL EDWARDS
14th, CLINT BOWYER
15th, DAVID RAGAN
34th, JJ YELEY
38th, MATT DiBENEDETTO
40th, JEB BURTON
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
How was the car in qualifying?
“We were kind of a little loose the first couple runs and tried to snug it up just a little bit there for that last run. Just got a little too tight on the exit of the corners and we tried to expect that to come about as we were tightening up the car, but we just didn’t quite get it enough. Overall, really good effort there for the M&M’s Crispy Camry, happy with that and looking forward to having a really good race here. This place can get a little bit chaotic towards the end of it so hopefully 500 miles goes smooth for us.”
How much do you need to win Sunday versus needing to score a top-five finish?
“We don’t need to win, but we would love to win. I feel like this is a good opportunity for us to have a really good day and for us to score a victory. We come to every race trying to win and this one’s no different. I hope that Texas will bode well for us and we can score that win. If not, a solid top-five finish is exactly what we need. That’s where we need to be at the end of the day and carry on that momentum and go into Phoenix and hope for another solid day there.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 6th
How strong is everyone’s confidence after the solid qualifying effort?
“Pretty good I think, we made good changes all through qualifying and getting our DeWalt Camry a little bit better throughout the night and through this session. The first session I thought we were really good and the second session we lost a little bit and then the third session I thought we got it back pretty well. Sixth is a really good effort for us. We made the final round at Kansas as well so it’s cool to make the final round in both our starts. We’ll see where it goes from here, obviously we’ve got a long ways to go yet for Sunday – 500 miles. This definitely helps everybody’s confidence a little bit for that.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 9th
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 SportClips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 13th
What did you struggle with during qualifying?
“Just a little bit loose, but the car’s fast though. Just a little loose and I thought it would come to me in the second run and it didn’t. That’s how this goes with the changing conditions and the competition the way it is, you have to get every last little thing. My guys did a great job with the car, it’s got a lot of speed in it. We’ll work on it tomorrow and go racing and hopefully we can get to victory lane with SportClips and these guys. We have to run well here this weekend.”
How strong is the car for Sunday’s race?
“We have such a race car, these guys did a really good job with it. I was in a little bit of denial about the balance, I thought the balance would come to me and it didn’t, but that’s okay. We have a fast car. I think that third run, we’ll see how the time stacks up just for fun. We’ll kind of compare it to how the third round goes. We’ll go tune on it tomorrow. SportClips and all these guys, they put everything into this weekend. We can win this thing and it’s a 500-mile race so 13th isn’t the end of the world.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 Maxwell House Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 14th
DAVID RAGAN, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 15th
How was the car in qualifying?
“We got about everything we could out of our Aarons Dream Machine tonight. That’s a lot better than how we started this morning so I’m happy with the progress we made today. We will work more tomorrow and get ready for Sunday’s race.”
JJ YELEY, No. 26 Overture Promotions Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 34th
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 38th
JEB BURTON, No. 23 Dr. Pepper/Estes Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 40th
