SM Archive

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER BEFORE THIS KNOCKOUT QUALIFYING CAME INTO PLAY SIX NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES POLES. YOU KNOW HAVE THREE WITH THIS FORM OF QUALIFYING: “I think that is just a credit on our Budweiser and Stewart-Haas race team for putting fast race cars on the track. When you put it together with the Hendrick Motorsports engine package it creates a lot of speed and it makes coming to these place a lot of fun. Really excited to start on the pole and get that first pit box and hopefully we can put the whole day together on Sunday.”

The Detroit Lions’ first-round draft pick Eric Ebron is the grand marshal and Quicken Loans chief executive officer Bill Emerson will serve as the honorary starter for Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

TY NORRIS, executive vice president of business development and general manager, Michael Waltrip Racing - What is Brett Moffitt’s future with MWR? “Brett (Moffitt) has been doing quite a bit of testing for us in various forms. We’ve seen a lot of progress in him -- he was very successful for us when he drove for us in the K&N Series and even then we always felt that he should be the next driver to get the opportunity to go to the Truck Series, the Nationwide Series, but unfortunately MWR doesn’t own a Nationwide team or a Truck Series team so an opportunity came available to run him in the Cup car at Dover with our relationship with Jay Robinson Racing. Brett was as good as we thought he was going to be and very, very impressive."

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing - How does it feel to be back racing NSCS at Michigan? “It’s good to be back at Michigan -- wow, this media center is nice. I don’t think I’ve been to the new one. "

“As far as Hendrick at this track, I think that they have always been pretty strong here. I remember racing against them before I was at Hendrick, and they were fast. I know Fords have won here a lot for some reason, but I’ve watched Jimmie (Johnson), Jeff (Gordon) and Dale (Earnhardt, Jr.) win twice here.

"So, we’ve been running where we’ve been finishing for the most part, but we do need to step that up, definitely. If you’re in the top 10, you’ve got a chance of finishing in the top 5, but rarely can you be in the top 10 and have a chance at winning. You have to be running in the top 5.

“It’s exciting to be back, especially with Team Penske and the SKF Ford. It’s pretty cool. I only had one day of testing in Nashville a little bit before the Indy 500, so it’s been awhile, but in Nashville it probably took me about five laps to really get comfortable in the car.

“I think it’s a great looking race car. I thought it looked awesome at Charlotte. Now we’ve got the gold numbers on it this weekend and Superman is on the hood. I’m excited. I enjoy working with DC Comics they are a fun group of people with a lot of great initiatives that match well with our sport and fit well with our sport.

Ricky Stenhouse, driver of the No. 17 EcoPower Ford Fusion, and car owner Jack Roush participated in a press conference this morning announcing their involvement with EcoPower re-refined motor oil, produced by Safety-Kleen. In addition, they answered questions regarding the 2014 season to date. Below is a transcript of that Q&A session:

“Michigan is a special place for me. It is the sight of my first Cup race. We’ve won races there, it’s fast, it’s in Ford’s backyard and it would be a great place for us to lock up a Chase spot with a second win. I got caught up in that wreck last weekend at Pocono, it’s not what we wanted so hopefully Michigan will give us a chance to prove that we have gained a little bit of ground on our big track program."