KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Qualifying Position: 9th - How does the car feel and what is your outlook for the race tomorrow? “The M&M’s Camry is alright and we certainly qualified better that we expected to. The guys that qualified good are the ones you would expect to. Not too bad all things considering. Hopefully its just good for the first stage to be able to be up front and hopefully we can stay up front, stay out of trouble and get some stage points up there early.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Fisher Nuts/Menards F-150 – WHAT HAPPENED? “I saw some people getting turned up in front of me and I got hooked in the right-rear. The next thing I knew I was facing the fence and hit head-on.” YOUR STATUS IN THE NEXT ROUND IS STILL UNKNOWN. HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO BE OUT OF YOUR HANDS? “That’s Talladega for you. It’s all out of your hands from when we drop the green. I mean, when you’re racing and people are side-by-side bouncing off each other like that. We did everything we could do the first two segments and let her fly from there.”
Kurt Busch led a Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) onslaught Saturday in Foodland/Food Giant Qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway, taking the pole for Sunday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500. The top four positions – meaning, the first two rows – will be filled by SHR drivers, in the pivotal NASCAR Playoff race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford Fusion – POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE – HOW DO YOU BEAT TEAM PENSKE TOMORROW? “That was the first question I asked when I got out of the car to make sure that all of us were 1-2-3-4 because I saw that after the first round and, man, that’s impressive. It’s impressive teamwork and it’s a commitment level to build restrictor plate cars at this level and to get all four of us up there. It starts with Doug Yates, Roush Yates Engines, the way that our Fords have always worked together since Ford came aboard a few years ago at Stewart-Haas. This is awesome. It’s a great way to celebrate a 10th anniversary and one of the key partners that we have that’s behind the scenes that deserves a lot of credit for today is Mobil 1. They’re a technology partner of ours. We all went on a field trip up to Philadelphia earlier this year to see a lot of the basic chemistry sets and the way they go about developing their new products and the innovation and technology that they pour into our engines. I can’t thank them enough. I’ve been working at this for almost 20 years, to get a restrictor plate pole, and now I have one. I’m really happy about this one. This is a huge bucket list item for myself and I have everybody at Stewart-Haas to thank.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
What did you learn in practice and what is your outlook for tomorrow’s race? “We only ran a handful of laps. Made a qualifying run and then checked travels. Making sure everything looked normal. When we come here, everyone says you always got what you got. It’s hard to learn a whole lot about the car in practice. It all felt normal and fine. Get ready to qualify here soon. Go to sleep tonight and pray for some good luck.”
TALLADEGA, Ala. – All four Stewart-Haas Racing cars were amply endowed with speed for Saturday’s knockout qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway. Kurt Busch was just glad he got the pick of the litter.
Corvette Racing found itself in prime position halfway to challenge for a race victory and championship through the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in the final race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R – the GT Le Mans (GTLM) Championship leader – ran fourth following a restart at the five-hour mark, just ahead the No. 4 sister Corvette.
Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion, visited the Talladega infield media center before today’s practice session to discuss his status in the Playoff standings and tomorrow’s race.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA NIGHTVISION LAMPS CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway and discussed the relief of being locked into the Round of 8 heading into the unknown of Talladega, how the Hendrick Motorsports cars will work together at Talladega, the impact Darian Grubb will have in his new position at Hendrick Motorsports in 2019 and many other topics. Full Transcript:
Strong Run Catapults Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester AA White Flyer Chevrolet Team to Sixth-Place Result at Watkins Glen International
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Snap on Ford Mustang Dark Horse – DID YOU MAXIMIZE TODAY’S PERFORMANCE? “I think so. In a lot of ways we maximized our day with points in most stages"
