NASCAR Cup Series

KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion – “It’s pretty special to get the pole at an inaugural event and to do it here at the Roval, I mean, there’s so much going on. There’s so much that everybody has to manage, crew chief, lead engineer, myself, engine tuners, everybody chipped in on this 41 car the right way. We had a plan for the first two rounds and it paid off. I struggled this year qualifying at Watkins Glen and at Sonoma, so we came here with a plan and it worked.

AJ Allmendinger was second quick in road-racing-style qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race, Round 29 on the 2018 tour. Allmendinger posted a lap speed of 106.811mph in his No. 47 Kroger Clicklist Camaro ZL1, and will start on the outside front row at the new 17-turn, 2.28-mile road course, which includes a portion of the existing oval. The run marks Allmendinger’s second top five and third top-10 start thus far this year.

Kurt Busch won the Busch Pole Award Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the inaugural running of the Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 featuring a unique 2.28-mile, 17-turn, road course.

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 2nd - WAS THERE ANY PART OF THE RACE TRACK YOU FELT LIKE YOU COULD HAVE PICKED UP A LITTLE BIT MORE SPEED? “All of it. I mean this is the way this place is. It’s what makes it interesting and fun. I kind of look back like my Champ Car days it’s a street course. Yeah, you can nitpick and say I could have got a little more here or there, but you could also be in the wall very easily. We weren’t very good in practice, so Trent and all the boys went to work on this Kroger Clicklist Chevy. Got it way better than in practice because I was not very happy. That close, but good starting spot.”

ERIK JONES, No. 20 Reser’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Qualifying Position: 12th - Talk about advancing to round two in qualifying and starting 12th on Sunday. “It was okay. I think we had a car that probably could have contended for the pole, but we got in trouble on the first round, so we just had to make the most of it and survive. Not too much damage, but we’ve got some work to do on the Reser’s Camry to get it back in race condition. We’ll work on it and go from there.”

Richard Childress Racing announced today they have promoted one of their current Xfinity Series drivers, Daniel Hemric to drive the No. 31 Camaro ZL1 in 2019. The announcement featured Richard Childress, chairman and CEO of Richard Childress Racing, Torrey Galida, president of Richard Childress Racing and Daniel Hemric. Full Transcript:

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and discussed the on-track incident in the first practice session, what portions of the Roval are the hardest, his thoughts on Daniel Hemric, and many other topics. Full transcript:

MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - How wild was first practice today at the Roval? “It wasn’t that bad actually. We only made three laps. The car is in one piece. We knocked zero fenders off. We destroyed zero splitters. It was pretty uneventful. It was good. There’s definitely a lot of chance for it to get crazy."

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – DID YOU HAVE ANY HOT WHEELS MEMORIES? “Yeah, Kyle Petty drove the Hot Wheels car for a little while. I remember I had a diecast of that one that I played with, and I think they used to make some NASCAR stuff other than Kyle’s car. Every kid enjoys Hot Wheels. I didn’t know it was the 50th anniversary though. That’s a pretty cool fact to know, but every kid is into them."

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will be in action at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is off. The Monster Energy Series heads to the final race of the Round of 16 in the NASCAR Playoffs, while the Xfinity Series Playoffs continues the Round of 12. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.