Official Release

Ryan Reed drove his No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang to an 11th-place finish Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway. Reed qualified ninth and ran as high as second-place, before his extremely loose-handling Ford shifted to the tight side after a two-tire pit stop as the laps dwindled down.

Recap: Joey Logano started on the pole and had a No. 12 PPG Paints Ford Mustang fast enough to run inside the top three all day long, but succumbed to an engine issue with just under 60 laps to go to finish 34th in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Texas Motor Speedway.

DARRELL WALLACE JR. (No. 6 Leidos Ford Mustang) - Finished 6th “We were on the free side pretty much every race and I haven’t had enough to lean on to run with those fast guys up there for most of the year. We had some good calls and good strategy today. The 42 got into us there in entry. Just a racing deal."

Kevin Harvick topped the leaderboard in all three rounds of Coors Light Pole qualifying, circling Texas Motor Speedway in the final round at 198.405 mph to earn his 19th career pole. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver is also the first repeat pole-sitter this season, having earned the top qualifying spot at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.

KEVIN HARVICK (No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion) - Qualified 1st “I just didn't feel like I got through turns 1 and 2 like I needed to. The front took off and I didn't want to do what everyone was doing in practice and get out of the groove and drive it into the wall. I'm just really proud of everyone on our Jimmy Johns/Busch Ford. I have to thank everyone at Mobil 1, Outback, Hunt Brothers, Morton Off Road for sticking behind us with this Ford. It's been a stressful day. Coming in and breaking in a new race track and going out there running as fast as we had to run for qualifying. I have to say thank you to the Xfinity guys for letting me run that car this weekend because I really think the reps allowed us learn some things that I was able to apply here."

It was a challenging day on a new, slick, and unfamiliar track surface at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) for many Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) drivers in preparation for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, Round 7 on the 2017 schedule.

Furniture Row Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to the media at Texas Motor Speedway: MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - Why have you had immediate success with this new format? “I think it's, you know, really not doing anything different, but consistently running up front, leading laps and trying to perform well is kind of what the stage points system rewards."

Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford Fusion, met with media members Friday afternoon after posting the 13th fastest practice time on the newly reconfigured and repaved Texas Motor Speedway.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS – Involved in a single-car accident during the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway - WHAT EXACTLY LED TO YOUR IMPACT? “Just got out of the groove there off (Turn) 2 and got too high and got the wall. Then had too much wheel in it going the other way, so just a mistake on my end. I hate it. I thought our car was pretty good, so hopefully this one will be just as good if not better.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Texas Motor Speedway and discussed the newly repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway, slowing the cars down for better racing and many other topics.