Official Release

NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying can be fraught with twists, turns and unexpected bumps in the road. Friday's qualifying session at Pocono Raceway, which saw Kurt Busch capture the Coors Light Pole for Sunday's Axalta 'We Paint Winners' 400, had them all.

Starting up towards the front with these boys is exactly where we need to be. Obviously points are a big focus for us right now. Tomorrow is going to be a tough race; everybody is going to have to manage their tires as well as they can. I feel like our race car is pretty good and I feel like track position is going to be pretty important here too. We’ll just keep working hard and keep our heads down and it will be just fine. For qualifying, the car was pretty loose. "

Kurt Busch captured the pole position for Sunday’s Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Pocono Raceway by turning a fast lap of 177.599 mph in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS. It marked Busch’s 19thcareer Cup pole, his third of the 2015 season, and second pole in 28 races at Pocono.

CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 2nd - How strong was the car in qualifying? “It’s nice to have three shots at it – this place has always been tough for me the first time out. We get to run the first run, work on it a little bit, second run and work on it and for me, that was the best run that we had all day. I was real proud of my guys and everybody worked together really well."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA/PENN STATE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 4TH - ON THE QUALIFYING SESSION ENDING EARLY: “That is unfortunate. You want to see everybody get a chance at it. But that is what I love so much about this format. It creates drama in so many different ways. "

BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – DO YOU FEEL YOU GOT EVERYTHING YOU COULD OUT OF THAT QUALIFYING SESSION? “Yeah, I was just disappointed that we didn’t have great speed. I’m not really sure why, but that’s just part of it.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT SUNDAY? “We’ve been OK. We’re pretty consistent right there in that fifth to 10th-place range, so we just have to find some more.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – Pole Winner “Wow, what a day, today. I feel like there are six corners out there as hard as I was working; corner entry, corner exit. The car was just off-balance, especially with the new bumps in Turn 2. And then we got way loose. I think we were 30th in practice. And we had to drop back and punt."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed going for three consecutive wins at the ‘Tricky Triangle’, last week’s driver’s council, his relationship with Greg Ives and many other topics.

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Fusion, has a season-opening win in the Daytona 500 to his credit this year, along with a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Logano visited the infield media center at Pocono Raceway before today’s qualifying session to talk about a variety of topics.

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Axalta/Penn State Chevrolet SS, met with members of the media at Pocono Raceway and discussed last week’s driver’s council meeting, the roughness of the Tunnel Turn at Pocono Raceway and many other topics.