NASCAR Cup Series

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER - YOU DID IT, BUT IT TOOK A LOT TO GET HERE:“Yeah, man, it took a lot. We were all over the place during the race but the guys stayed with me and worked hard. On those restarts - I didn’t know what would happen because I had great restarts all night and I struggle with restarts a lot. "

When you're pushed into a corner and need to win a race (or completely out-perform your rivals), can you do it? That was the question for Kasey Kahne, as he was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver not in the chase. He answered with a thrilling victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday night.

Heading into this weekend, Jamie McMurray is one of the drivers hoping to reach victory lane so that way he can stamp his ticket for the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

People have been wondering each week before a NASCAR Sprint Cup race if this would be the week that Tony Stewart would choose to return behind the wheel of the No. 14. It's not just NASCAR race fans but race fans in general and the public.

A subdued Tony Stewart addressed the media at Atlanta Motor Speedway Friday for the first time since the fatal accident that claimed the life of Kevin Ward Jr. His voice reflected the emotional toll that the events of August 9 have had upon him.

On the back bumper of Kevin Harvick's No. 4 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet, it says 'freaky fast'. Those words played true for the sixth time this year as Harvick scored his sixth pole of the season in qualifying for the Oral-B USA 200. Harvick would post a lap of 29.118 seconds for his 12th career pole, and his first at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Brad Keselowski – No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion – “It’s by far the best qualifying effort I’ve ever had here. That’s a testament to the team and the work they’ve done and trying to be better.

“Our Home Depot Husky Tools Camry was really good. The last run we kind of missed a little bit there. The first round was good, the second round was actually better and the tires drop off so much here, the third round just didn’t quite get it as good. Overall it was good. It was way better than we’ve been all day, so our adjustments were good and it seemed to have good speeds and was driving decent, so that was all encouraging.”

“Our car didn’t really change that much. I just messed the first round up really bad trying to do something that I wasn’t doing in practice. Luckily we were fast enough to be able to get through the first round into the second round. The second round we got into a little better rhythm where I wanted to run on the race track. I’ve got to thank everybody on our Jimmy John’s team they make my life a lot easier on Friday’s and this is a lot of fun.”

“Our car didn’t really change that much. I just messed the first round up really bad trying to do something that I wasn’t doing in practice. Luckily we were fast enough to be able to get through the first round into the second round. The second round we got into a little better rhythm where I wanted to run on the race track. I’ve got to thank everybody on our Jimmy John’s team they make my life a lot easier on Friday’s and this is a lot of fun.”