Paul Menard qualified third and was the top Richard Childress Racing qualifier for the John R. Elliott Hero Campaign 300 presented by Driver Sober or Get Pulled Over. Brian Scott qualified fifth, Ty Dillon eighth and Brendan Gaughan 12th.
Jimmy Weller and the No. 08 Geneva-Liberty Steel / Thunder Exhaust / Engine Parts Plus Chevrolet Silverado team finished 22nd on Thursday night at Kentucky Speedway. Experiencing an incident that acted as a setback during a mid-race restart, Weller worked on a different pit strategy than the leaders throughout the closing stages of the race. Forced to take a few gambles to regain lost ground, Weller and his SS Green Light Racing team could never catch the break they needed to rebound and instead finished in the 22nd position.
Josh Reaume and the No.23 Lilly Trucking team came into Friday's NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) event at Kentucky that lightning would strike twice. Rick Ware Racing was coming off an impressive third place finish in last weekend's race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI with driver Kevin O’Connell.
No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – A LATE-RACE SPEEDING PENALTY BUT A GREAT RUN BACK UP THROUGH THE FIELD. “Yeah, I did put us behind with that, but you still have to give credit to Kevin at the end there. He drove by and took the lead, so he was really good. We had a great Discount Tire Ford and I definitely put us behind and was just one spot away from catching back up.”
Simon Pagenaud was consistently quick during the opening day of the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston presented by the Greater Houston Honda Dealers.
"Today was an up-and-down day for this Rheem Comfort Products team. We were just fighting a loose and tight truck all day and had to continue to work on it to make it better. This team never gives up and we managed to leave here with a top-10 finish.
"Most of my energy is spent with do we have a shot at winning at this track. I feel like we have run solid here the last few times we have been here. I feel like as good as our cars are this year that this is probably the most legitimate shot that we’ve had of crossing that one off the list. It would mean a lot.
"We struggled getting the truck handling like we needed it to. We tried a lot of things to get it off the race track, but it ended up being a frustrating night for our Nextant Aerospace/Curb Records team. Consistency has been the key to us staying in contention this season and ending with a top-10 isn't a bad thing."
“It’s probably the longest in my career to not have a top 5 in any given season, but at the same time we’re sitting eighth in points, which is probably twice as good as I was at this time last year if I remember roughly. So, that part of it is better. That’s why I said it’s the best/worst year I’ve had without top 5’s and a few top 10’s; and yet consistency-wise, we’re eighth in points.”
