Official Release

Kevin Harvick claimed just his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a qualifying time of 29.118 Friday night.

KEVIN HARVICK (No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion) -- WALK THROUGH THAT FINAL ROUND QUALIFYING LAP. “Yeah, that was the best our car had been and for me the most comfortable because I could see where I was going into turn one.

Ryan Newman led the charge for Team Chevy in qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) laying down a lap of 29.199 seconds/189.870 mph in the final round of knock-out qualifying for Sunday’s Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race, the second event of the 2017 campaign. Newman leads all active drivers with seven career poles at the 1.5-mile, Hampton, Georgia track. The driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS led a contingent of five Bowtie branded drivers in the final qualifying order.

KEVIN HARVICK (No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion) - Qualified 1st “We have had two different styles of body on this chassis so I think that says a lot about our team. Rodney (Childers) and everybody on this No. 4 Jimmy John’s Busch Ford do a good job. We didn’t spend very much time at all on qualifying today."

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 2nd - WHEN WE’VE GOT DAYTONA BEHIND US AND YOU’VE GOT SPEED AT ATLANTA, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS? “’Well, it’s big. I’m just proud of everybody at RCR and ECR with this Caterpillar Chevrolet. We were so close. I really wanted to beat my old buddy, Buddy Baker’s record there. Been tied with him for a while so that was kind of rough. But I’m just proud of the guys and proud of the effort. It is the litmus test for us for a lot of the rest of the season. It was a good start for sure.”

Todd Gordon, crew chief for Joey Logano’s No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion, took a moment to talk to Ford Performance about Atlanta Motor Speedway and how the new aero package is affecting the cars on the track, and what that means come Sunday afternoon.

Jeremy Bullins, crew chief for Joey Logano’s No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion, took a moment to talk to Ford Performance about Atlanta Motor Speedway and how the new aero package is affecting the cars on the track, and what that means come Sunday afternoon.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Atlanta Motor Speedway and discussed his past success at Atlanta, the new rules package, pack racing at Daytona and many other topics.

NASCAR® and Lilly Diabetes announced today that Lilly is expanding its involvement in NASCAR with a multi-year official partnership with the sanctioning body. The new collaboration designates Lilly Diabetes as the “Official Diabetes Health Partner of NASCAR.”

Jeremy Clements Racing announces Rinnai, the number-one selling brand of tankless water heater in the U.S. and Canada, has committed to serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 51 Xfinity Series entry with driver Jeremy Clements for this weekend’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedwa