Official Release

BRETT MOFFITT, No. 16 Hino Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises - Finishing Position: 1st - What does it mean to get the win on a last lap pass? “I knew Johnny (Sauter) was fast and our Toyota engine, we were lacking a little bit of raw speed today with that, but I was just really waiting to time it. Aisin Group, Toyota and TRD – everything they do for us, they give us the right tools to get the job done. Pretty amazing that this little team has gone to victory lane four times now this year. I can’t thank Shige Hattori (team owner) and all these guys enough.”

Friday was a full day of action at Michigan International Speedway as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series were both on the track. Denny Hamlin claimed the pole position for Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 1st - How confident were you that your time would hold up for the pole? “I actually wasn’t that confident – I didn’t get all of it for sure, but the team gave me a great driving car and one that was just easily and consistently able to back-up times and time after time we got faster on the race track today. Proud of this whole FedEx Toyota team. These guys are really stepping up and we’re starting to make a little hay now.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light/Mobil 1 Ford Fusion - Qualified 3rd “The first round, we kind of got scared there. We thought there was a car in the fence and wound up giving up a little time during the first round but that didn’t hurt us. It was too tight in all three rounds and in practice and we never got ahead of it. I am really proud of everybody on our Busch Light/Mobil 1 Ford. We can definitely race ‘em from there.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 5th - TALK ABOUT THAT RUN AND MAKING THE PICK-UP THERE AT THE END OF THIS FINAL ROUND OF QUALIFYING: “Yeah, that was solid for our No. 3 team. We felt like we had a good car throughout practice that was capable to turning a lap. We had one extra lap on our tires right there, so that was a really good lap for four runs on tires. We just had to keep tweaking on it. We didn’t ever have the balance quite perfect until that last run. I think the driver gave up a little bit in (Turn) 3 of speed. Proud of the guys, this is our highest qualifying, I think, all year long. So, we are really pumped about that. It’s good we’ve got to get this momentum going before the Playoffs start. This is a good place to do it.

ERIK JONES, No. 20 Doosan Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - What did you learn in Ann Arbor yesterday and what did the button do? “It was cool to see the R&D center there in Ann Arbor. I’ve never been down to Toyota’s – I’ve been to a few plants and a few other headquarters down in Plano, Texas and the old one out in California, but never the R&D Center in Ann Arbor. Just cool to see what they do there and really a lot of the development that comes out of there that kind of transfers over to the majority of the Toyota lineup that’s out there in the U.S. right now and also to see some of the stuff that they’ve done for racing too. The lead engineer for Tundra is there and they’ve done some stuff with the Camry – it was just neat to see what all was involved. The button was for show mostly, but we got to see a crash test and that was pretty cool. I’ve never seen a crash test in person and I guess they don’t do them often so that was cool that they set that up for us.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Michigan International Speedway and discussed running the Knoxville Nationals, the decision making that goes into mid-race decisions versus late-race decisions, the challenges of Michigan and many other topics. Full Transcript:

DGR-Crosley announced today that NASCAR NEXT member Riley Herbst would join the team for three races this season. Herbst will compete in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) races at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Ariz. The 19-year-old Las Vegas, Nev., native will also race in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway next month.

NOAH GRAGSON, No. 18 Safelite Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports - What is your mindset heading into this weekend and the final races leading into the Playoffs? “I feel like this weekend is a great opportunity to win. I know I’ve been working hard this past week to get back in my Safelite Auto Glass Toyota Tundra and I’ve done a lot of preparation going in – talked to Kyle (Busch) quite a bit. He runs here good in a truck and I just have to be more aggressive. I have a good shot, a good opportunity this weekend to compete for the win and it’s all going to boil down to being in the right position at the end of the race. I feel like there’s not a ton of pressure going into this weekend, it’s more of a weekend with superspeedway racing or how superspeedway racing used to be – we’re not really going to do this kind of racing when we get to the Playoff races so this is not a fun weekend, but one that we can use as a chance to clean some stuff up before we get into the Playoffs and just have some fun and try to get the trophy.”

Paul Menard, driver of the No. 21 Ford was joined by team owners Eddie and Len Wood as well as Matt Bradley to discuss the Ford Earn While You Learn and NewFordTech.com programs that will adorn the legendary No. 21 this weekend at Michigan.