NASCAR Cup Series

Kyle Busch earned the pole position on Bojangles’ Pole Night with a lap of 197.390 mph in the final session of knockout qualifying on Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But it was his brother Kurt Busch who walked away with the new track record after posting a hot lap of 198.976 mph in the second qualifying session – the fastest NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying lap recorded on a 1.5-mile superspeedway. Both Busch brothers, along with 19 other drivers, bested the previous track record of 195.624 mph set by Denny Hamlin in 2013.

Kyle Busch won the Bank of America 500 Coors Light Pole Award Thursday evening with a lap speed of 197.390 mph in 27.357 seconds. It is his third pole of the season and his second at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Chase contenders Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin will line up in second and third. Tony Stewart, the only non-Chase driver in the top five, will start in fourth and Ryan Newman rounds out the top five.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Doublemint Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 1st - How strong was the car in qualifying? "It seemed like the guy that was the most consistent was able to win the pole tonight. I think we had a .38 then a .33 and then a .36 so pretty good laps there."

Life is full of milestones, some good and some not. Some win championships, some more than one, while others struggle to overcome adversity. Their ability to do so, to win the fight, are just as inspirational, if not more so.

BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Fusion – “We’ve been off a little bit in qualifying trim since we’ve been here, but I thought our race trim was really good in practice and that’s the most important thing so we’ll keep working.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND - ON THE SPEEDS: “Oh my gosh. It’s so fast; so much grip and so much commitment. Luckily our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet had a lot of grip, too. In (Turns) 1 and 2, the last two runs, I just nailed 1 and 2. But the run before that last one, I got into (Turn) 3 a little bit too hard."

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How do you feel coming into Charlotte? "Obviously, we had a good start -- a decent start to this first race in this round. A lot of guys have shown a lot of speed throughout the year had some issues. It's a great opportunity for us to capitalize by continuing on that momentum and really the mile-and-a-half tracks have been some of our strong suits throughout the year even though we've down on speed we seem like we've raced better at these type of race tracks."

ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 11 OneMain Financial Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - What does it mean to drive a pink race car this weekend?"It's October, it's breast cancer awareness month and as a family that has been dealing with breast cancer awareness for the last seven years, I can't thank all the teams, the owners, the sponsors, the race track and everybody for what they do."

EARNHARDT JR. GETS A CAR – Birthday surprises have been the norm this week for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who turns 40 Friday. In addition to a week filled with surprise parties and gifts, the excitement continued Thursday in the Charlotte Motor Speedway media center, as Earnhardt received a brand new car.

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 PEPSI CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway and discussed his chances this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his thoughts on Danica Patrick’s progress this season and many other topics. Full Transcript