NASCAR Cup Series

With 20 NASCAR wins in the record books Charlotte Motor Speedway has always been a favorite of the Roush Fenway teams. In the past 25 years RFR teams have accumulated eight Cup and 12 Nationwide Series wins, while leading over 5,000 laps. This weekend RFR hopes to add to those totals.

Trevor Bayne and the crew of the No. 21 Good Sam/Camping World Ford Fusion were best in class in qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday, despite the distractions that came because of a radiator change before qualifying for Saturday’s Bank of America 500.

TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Good Sam Ford Fusion – “It’s the toughest when you know you have to make the show and can’t bring it back wadded up or you’re going home. You want to go for poles. That’s what we came here to do tonight, but it makes it hard when you know you’ve got to bring the thing back in one piece or you’re going home. I’m really proud of my guys."

Greg Biffle set a new Charlotte Motor Speedway record en route to his 12TH career pole position during Thursday’s Bojangles’ Pole Night. Biffle sped around the 1.5-mile superspeedway in 27.877 seconds (193.708 mph) to earn the top starting spot for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500, the only night race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Greg Biffle rolled his 3M Ford onto the track. Biffle was the 32nd car onto the track, but when the dust had settled, Biffle found that his 193.708 lap had put him on the pole for Saturday night’s race.

Ryan Newman posted the third fastest qualifying lap for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in his No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet with a lap of 27.943 seconds, 193.251 mph. It marks his 17th top-10 start at Charlotte Motor Speedway; and his 18th in 31 races this season.

2nd, MARK MARTIN 28th, MIKE BLISS 4th, CLINT BOWYER 31st, DAVID STREMME 6th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 37th, LANDON CASSILL 8th, KYLE BUSCH 41st, TRAVIS KVAPIL 9th, DENNY HAMLIN 43rd, REED SORENSON 12th, JOEY LOGANO DNQ, JOE NEMECHEK 15th, BOBBY LABONTE

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED THIRD HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP? “It was a good lap for our Quicken Loans/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Chevrolet. I got everything I could out of it. I got just a little bit free getting into (turn) three had to counter steer just a little bit which just kind of cost me a little bit of confidence off of (turn) four. They said I had a good lap going. The guys did a good job today. We will keep working on it.”

Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Qualified 14th “I’m just mad at myself. I don’t feel like I drove it hard enough but even from what it’s changed from practice to qualifying from the end of Nationwide practice it’s picked up so much grip that I feel like I’ve babied it a little bit."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway and discussed Dale Earnhardt, Jr. out of No. 88 with concussion, Jimmie Johnson at Charlotte, rule changes and other topics.