KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Starting Position: 1st How was your qualifying run? "It was good. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) made some really good adjustments there from qualifying practice to now and the car drove exactly like it needed to for those two laps."
Kasey Kahne led the way for Team Chevy in qualifying his No. 5 Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet in the fourth place starting spot for Sunday’s Advocare 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, Round 35 of 36 on the 2012 season tour.
Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Qualified 14th THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK ABOUT QUALIFYING. DID YOU ANSWER THEM WITH THAT LAP? “There are a lot of cars left to go so I don’t know if we answered anything but we put down a decent lap. Obviously we’d like to have a little bit more. I think Mark Martin is going to lay down a hell of a lap but we’re working on it and we’ll go racing on Sunday from where we end up.”
Nelson Piquet Jr. captures the pole for the 15th Annual Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway with a lap time of 26.778 seconds, 134.439 mph. The time set a new PIR record for the series, surpassing Clint Bowyer’s speed of 133.949 mph in February 2011, the final race before the track was repaved.
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Black & Decker Ford Fusion – “The team here is trying really hard. We want to finish up these last two races well and get ourselves some momentum for 2013.” DID YOU CATCH A BREAK WITH THE CLOUD COVER? “Everybody else is going to get the same benefit, so I’m not sure it’s going to help us any.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed the groove at Phoenix International Raceway, the possibility of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series racing on dirt, what it takes to be a champion and other topics.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the No. 6 Valvoline NextGen Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, comes into the weekend tied for the points lead with Elliott Sadler. Stenhouse, who is going for his second straight series championship, spoke about what he needs to do to accomplish that goal.
TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Phoenix International Raceway and discussed future plans for SHR, racing at Phoenix, Chase contenders and other topics.
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing What is your biggest challenge this weekend? "Beating the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the 2 (Brad Keselowski) -- that seems to be the biggest challenge every week. We've been really close."
USAC World Record Run Chief Steward David Petrali has received ratification from FIA recognizing World Speed Records established during September at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
The reigning two-time Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led 23 of 189-overscheduled laps and went from 11th to 1st in half of the final lap during an overtime shootout to score his first superspeedway victory and increase his points lead by 73 points with two-scheduled events remaining.
Denny Hamlin drove his damaged Camry to a top-10 finish at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday evening to lead Toyota. All nine Toyota Camrys were involved in various incidents across multiple major multi-car wrecks.
