NASCAR Cup Series

On Friday afternoon at Richmond Raceway, Harvick got through the corners better than everyone else in winning the unofficial pole position for Saturday’s Toyota Owners 400 at the .75-mile track.

LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME YOU WERE THE BIGGEST OF THE BIG THREE. DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE GOTTEN TO THE POINT TO GET BACK IN VICTORY LANE? “Not sure. We are doing all we can.”

“You probably have it right there, see what happens in two weeks. Short tracks, I think it’s fine. It’s a little hectic in the first round and even in the second round, but it’s easy for me to say. We had a great pit stall being first out. I could just roll out and here it doesn’t benefit you to wait so you just roll out and get your lap in. Other than that, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s going to solve any mile-and-a-half issues having a short round for sure.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang -- TALLADEGA IS NEXT WEEK, HOW MUCH DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO THAT FROM A RACING STANDPOINT? HOW MANY FRIENDS DO YOU THINK YOU’LL HAVE? “It felt like when we won our races at Daytona and Talladega we didn’t have any friends either."

MATT TIFFT, No. 36 The Pete Store Ford Mustang (Qualified 20th)“That is our first time this year we have made the second round. That was big for us. We feel like we unloaded decent today. We got to loose in the second round to get the time we needed there."

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 met with media in a breakout session at Richmond Raceway. Select Highlights:

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 47 SCOTT COMFORT PLUS CAMARO ZL1 met with media in a breakout session at Richmond Raceway. Select Highlights:

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 MoneyLion Ford Mustang -- WHAT IS THIS ABOUT YOU BEING TOO NICE? “Who has been saying that? I didn’t see that. I don't know. What am I too nice about? I don't think you can be too nice.”

“I don’t know that there’s any advantage for sure, but I certainly feel like I know what I need out of the car to be successful here I’d say. Just searching for that feel is really what you do every time you come here. Especially the races that we’ve dominated here, that’s a special type of feel that you have to have in the race car. Getting it out of the car especially through all the rule changes and balance changes is the biggest task. This is kind of our wheelhouse of tracks you could say for sure.”

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to the media in Richmond: KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Has anything exciting happened in the past week and how do you feel rolling into the Richmond race weekend?