1st, Kevin Harvick
2nd, BRIAN VICKERS
7th, KYLE BUSCH
19th, CLINT BOWYER
25th, DENNY HAMLIN
27th, MATT KENSETH
33rd, ALEX BOWMAN
38th, JJ YELEY
39th, COLE WHITT
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 2nd
Did you expect your qualifying lap to be that fast?
“It’s fast — wow. A 27.50 (second lap) around here, that was a fun lap. All the guys on this team did an awesome job with the car. That was probably the best setup race car on the race track. You’re not going to get through the corners any faster than that. I was really proud of the guys. Hopefully, we can take that and take it into the race.”
How strong is the car in race trim?
“I’ve been really happy so far with the car this weekend. We’ve only been in qualifying trim, we haven’t made any race runs yet so it’s hard to say. Typically, the team is capable of taking speed in race trim and putting it in qualifying and vice versa — taking speed in qualifying trim and turning it over to race trim. Honestly, I think we’ll have a good Aaron’s Dream Machine on Sunday and hopefully we can take this good starting position, capitalize with it and turn it into a win.”
How similar do you expect the setup to be from qualifying trim to race trim?
“The setup changes because the downforce changes with the tape. Also because you’re only running one lap so you don’t have to really plan on what the car is going to do on lap 10 and lap 20. By and large the team’s these days with the tools they have are usually pretty good if you’re happy with the car in race trim turning that into qualifying trim or vice versa. Not necessarily, it doesn’t always relate, but typically a good car is a good car and it will carry over. It’s just a matter of getting the balance right.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 7th
How fast was the track in these colder conditions?
“It’s really, really fast — there’s a lot of grip, but you’re on such an edge that when you lose the grip it’s going to be a big mess. That’s just what Kansas is, that’s what repaves are and it’s frustrating in that respect. When you have enough grip and good speed then you’re okay.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 Pink Lemonade 5-hour ENERGY benefitting LBBC Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 19th
How was the qualifying lap?
“Not where I wanted to be starting at my home track. We just need a little more. Think I lost a little bit in three and four but we’ll get this special pink 5-hour ENERGY Toyota toward the front come race time.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 25th
How do you handle not advancing to the second qualifying round based on a tie breaker?
“I don’t know, we have a win and they don’t. I didn’t see anything Matt (Kenseth) said, I’m guessing he was before me and said the same thing I’m going to say. Our cars just don’t have any speed. Balance is fine, just three-tenths, four-tenths odd consistently — all of our cars are. It’s just disappointing we can’t have any more speed out of our cars. We’ll try as hard as we can to move up. We’re going to have to come from the tail end of the pack, but it’s a track position race so maybe we’ll play the strategy right and sneak a good finish out of here.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 27th
Did you have a loose race car in qualifying?
“I just had less (grip) than the 26 in front of me. The track conditions are ideal, it’s a beautiful day here in Kansas. The track has grip, they have a fairly hard tire for that, but as you can see the speeds are extremely fast and we’re trying to get more grip than anyone else. It’s disappointing, as a group that’s about where we were in practice and just missed the first cutoff. I was pretty balanced, the second run I just got a little too loose the last one. Disappointing day but we’ll get it right tomorrow and be ready for the race on Sunday.”
Has Joe Gibbs Racing struggled as a group at Kansas today?
“We’ve just been off as a group — all three of us haven’t been real speedy today. Unfortunately, I was the slowest of the three. It’s been a disappointing day for the Dollar General Camry, but we’ll try to get it driving good tomorrow and hopefully have something to race them on Sunday.”
ALEX BOWMAN, No. 23 Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 33rd
JJ YELEY, No. 83 Burger King Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 38th
COLE WHITT, No. 26 Moen Toyota Camry, BK Racing
Starting Position: 39th
