1st, Joey Logano
3rd, CLINT BOWYER
9th, BRIAN VICKERS
19th, JEFF BURTON
20th, KYLE BUSCH
27th, DENNY HAMLIN
28th, COLE WHITT
29th, MATT KENSETH
32nd, PARKER KLIGERMAN
36th, ALEX BOWMAN
39th, RYAN TRUEX
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 3rd
How was qualifying?
“I’m not used to this. Our normal deal is to be scared once a weekend — three times is a lot to ask out of us. You know it is really exciting, especially once you get down to the end and you’re in the game and you got a shot at it. Not a huge fan of the cool down deal. I really hope that NASCAR looks at that — that first deal everybody’s out there going fast, you’re 200 miles an hour out there and cars that aren’t even running are running about 40 (MPH). Hopefully, we can make some adjustments there. I’m super excited about the knockout deal towards the end. It’s a lot of fun. It’s nerve-wracking. Qualifying has always been that way. Being able to bust that one lap off a weekend was big, but having to do that two or three times here — that’s a lot.”
Is qualifying now more stressful?
“Knowing that you got a shot at it and it’s no different than it’s ever been as far as that part goes, but the aspect of your tires wearing out, and sometimes that throws everybody for a loop. You might have done a better job cooling your tires off than the next guy, or his car might react different the next time around. Every time I went out my front end turned less and less and less. Again, you can adjust that — you can adjust air pressure and free the thing up and counter that a little bit but you can’t go too far. There’s a lot of things right there. There’s a lot to learn on everybody’s aspect. I’ll tell you what, this shows you what’s happened with our sport right now is how close everything is. These are Martinsville times on a mile-and-a-half race track. It’s pretty hard to grasp right now.”
Do you have a handle on this new qualifying format?
“Well, I’ve never had a firm grasp on qualifying obviously, if look at my qualifying record. However, it is a breath of fresh air to have a good day in qualifying and at least bounce back after not even making the second cut there last weekend. Happy and proud for my guys — we’ve been fast since we unloaded. That’s a huge confidence-builder on these mile-and-a-half tracks and they make up the most part of our season.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 9th
How was qualifying?
“Ninth, that’s not too bad for the Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota. We should have been top-three if not on the pole. We had a really fast car but we struggled on execution. Getting jammed up, knowing when to go out — things like that. We have to improve on execution during qualifying. On the speed side, I was really proud of the guys. We did a great job of getting the car fast. On that first run we were really fast. The biggest thing that disturbed me about the whole deal are the policies on qualifying. We don’t have impact data on 170-180 MPH differential impacts. If I hit someone with those speed discrepancies that’s going to be really bad for everyone. Unquestionably it’s more exciting for the fans. It’s fun, interesting, but there are some things that have to take place. That’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done in a race car.”
JEFF BURTON, No. 66 Let’s Go Places Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 19th
How was qualifying?
“It’s nerve-wracking. The strategy and that — after everybody had run that first time we were sitting there P12. We knew people would go faster the second time out. We didn’t want to go out and run — we had to go out and run. Any other track where the tires don’t pick up the second time you go out — we would have been sitting pretty where we could have sat there. Having to go out twice the first time put us in a position where we got hot when we went out the second time. It was really, really close. Just from being hot. That’s nerve-wracking — it really is.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 20th
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 27th
COLE WHITT, No. 26 Speed Stick Gear Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Starting Position: 28th
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 29th
How was qualifying?
“I was depressed last week not making (the top) 12 — this week I couldn’t make 24. It was really bad. I got to figure out what I’m doing wrong. Have to try to help these guys a little bit more. Not sure what went wrong. We worked on qualifying pretty hard today — all day really. We were off a little bit, but I didn’t think we were off nearly this far. Hopefully, it will be better tomorrow. I got to get better at it, for sure.”
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 30 Aria Hotels/Black Clover Toyota Camry, Swan Racing
Starting Position: 32nd
ALEX BOWMAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 36th
RYAN TRUEX, No. 83 Borla Exhaust Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 39th
