SM Archive

If you only took J.R. Fitzpatrick's side of the story, you'd think he hadn't had a good result in five years in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. You'd walk away believing that he had either wrecked, broken or blown an engine in each and every one of his 66 career starts in the series.

Kurt Busch blistered the daunting Darlington Raceway oval Friday, setting a track record en route to claiming the No. 1 starting position for Saturday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 Sprint Cup Series race.

KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/SERTA CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER - YOU JUST CUT A NEW TRACK RECORD. DID IT FEEL LIKE IT? “It did and it didn’t. There is still maybe a little bit more time out there. I might have to hold my breath for 27 more seconds for a couple more other guys"

ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “The draw hurts us. It’s not ideal for us at all, but it is what it is. We can’t do anything about that. It’s supposedly a random draw, so we just do the best we can with what we’ve got. It’s not a great lap there for us. I messed up a little bit and the car was a little bit tight, so that’s OK. We’ll go race them.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 CROMAX PRO CHEVROLET SS met with media and discussed his 700th start, contracts, his experiences in driving with back pain, racing at Darlington, and more.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 SportClips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How was the first practice today at Darlington? "It was good. Obviously it takes a little while to get the rust kind of knocked off, but I feel very comfortable and excited to kind of get back to the competitive spirit again."

David Ragan, driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Fusion, is still basking in the glow of last weekend’s dramatic NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Talladega Superspeedway. Ragan hosted a Q&A session at his team hauler to talk about his busy week and what lies ahead for he and his team.

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Darlington Raceway and discussed going to a back-up car following a practice accident, her confidence going into this race after last years’ experience at this track and other topics.

Daytona International Speedway, which will next showcase the stars of NASCAR on July 5-6 for the Coke Zero 400 Weekend Powered By Coca-Cola, launched a new, mobile-friendly option that makes it even easier for race fans to purchase tickets to a wide variety of events directly from their smartphones.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S EMERALD GREEN CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Darlington Raceway and discussed the rich history of the track, his successful start to the 2013 season, his thoughts on Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon making his 700th start and other topics.