SM Archive

The last four qualifiers each held the pole position for a few minutes, but Jeff Gordon is the only one who gets to keep it. As the night’s final qualifier, Gordon knew the pole was up for grabs as speeds climbed higher as Bojangles’ Pole Night Qualifying Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway went on, and he answered with a blazing lap in 27.791 seconds (194.308 mph).

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER: IT WAS EXCITING TO WATCH. HOW EXCITING WAS IT TO DRIVE A LAP LIKE THAT? “Man, that was awesome. It’s been a while since we’ve had a pole here at Charlotte as well as doing it in that fashion. The way that the draw was today, there’s a lot of fast cars going late in qualifying. But when you didn’t see the lap times picking up as much as we thought they were going to, I didn’t know if that late draw was going to really be a big factor."

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 My Best Buy Ford Fusion – “I don’t feel like anybody is gonna beat us through one and two. We felt good down there all day, but we were just fighting it and getting it to turn in three and four. It was a little too tight for us, but, overall, the My Best Buy Ford was fast. I overdrove a little bit in three and four, which obviously helped create the tight issue, so I think if I could go do it over again I would love to, but the week has been pretty smooth so far. We got to test Martinsville this past week and got to learn a lot there, make a lot of laps."

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 9th - How was the car in qualifying? "The M&M's Camry is not too bad -- certainly wish for a little bit more. We would have liked to have been quickest, but it seems like the track is similar in qualifying to what it was in practice, but a lot of guys are running the same. We kind of slowed down a little bit."

The popular rock band Fuel will perform live at Phoenix International Raceway, prior to the AdvoCare 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race on Sunday, Nov. 10, PIR President Bryan R. Sperber announced today. The performance is the result of a partnership between PIR and Niner Sports and Entertainment.

At the NASCAR Sprint Cup race this fall at Texas, NASCAR star Greg Biffle will be driving a No. 16 3M Ford Fusion with a strong force behind it – the power of the 3M Hire Our Heroes program.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S DOVER WHITE CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed racing this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he currently sits in the Chase and other topics.

"BK Racing understands the severity of the situation and we don't condone the actions that Travis has been accused of," commented Ron Devine, co-owner of BK Racing. "We feel it's important to let the system take its course. For that reason, we have elected to support Travis and his family and keep Travis in the car for this weekend's race. Further comment will be available as additional information becomes available."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS, met with the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway and discussed his win last weekend at Kansas Speedway, his expectations for this week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his thoughts why rookies are not more successful these days in the Cup Series and other topics.

"NASCAR does not condone the actions with which Travis Kvapil has been charged and we are disappointed to learn of this incident. We have been in close communication with the race team and are in the process of gathering as much information as possible. NASCAR takes this matter very seriously and will continue to monitor the situation as it moves forward."