NASCAR Cup Series

Friday was a full day of action at Michigan International Speedway as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series were both on the track. Denny Hamlin claimed the pole position for Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400.

Denny Hamlin led all rounds of qualifying Friday evening at Michigan International Speedway to score his 28th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole and his first at the 2-mile track.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 1st - How confident were you that your time would hold up for the pole? “I actually wasn’t that confident – I didn’t get all of it for sure, but the team gave me a great driving car and one that was just easily and consistently able to back-up times and time after time we got faster on the race track today. Proud of this whole FedEx Toyota team. These guys are really stepping up and we’re starting to make a little hay now.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light/Mobil 1 Ford Fusion - Qualified 3rd “The first round, we kind of got scared there. We thought there was a car in the fence and wound up giving up a little time during the first round but that didn’t hurt us. It was too tight in all three rounds and in practice and we never got ahead of it. I am really proud of everybody on our Busch Light/Mobil 1 Ford. We can definitely race ‘em from there.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 5th - TALK ABOUT THAT RUN AND MAKING THE PICK-UP THERE AT THE END OF THIS FINAL ROUND OF QUALIFYING: “Yeah, that was solid for our No. 3 team. We felt like we had a good car throughout practice that was capable to turning a lap. We had one extra lap on our tires right there, so that was a really good lap for four runs on tires. We just had to keep tweaking on it. We didn’t ever have the balance quite perfect until that last run. I think the driver gave up a little bit in (Turn) 3 of speed. Proud of the guys, this is our highest qualifying, I think, all year long. So, we are really pumped about that. It’s good we’ve got to get this momentum going before the Playoffs start. This is a good place to do it.

ERIK JONES, No. 20 Doosan Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - What did you learn in Ann Arbor yesterday and what did the button do? “It was cool to see the R&D center there in Ann Arbor. I’ve never been down to Toyota’s – I’ve been to a few plants and a few other headquarters down in Plano, Texas and the old one out in California, but never the R&D Center in Ann Arbor. Just cool to see what they do there and really a lot of the development that comes out of there that kind of transfers over to the majority of the Toyota lineup that’s out there in the U.S. right now and also to see some of the stuff that they’ve done for racing too. The lead engineer for Tundra is there and they’ve done some stuff with the Camry – it was just neat to see what all was involved. The button was for show mostly, but we got to see a crash test and that was pretty cool. I’ve never seen a crash test in person and I guess they don’t do them often so that was cool that they set that up for us.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Michigan International Speedway and discussed running the Knoxville Nationals, the decision making that goes into mid-race decisions versus late-race decisions, the challenges of Michigan and many other topics. Full Transcript:

Paul Menard, driver of the No. 21 Ford was joined by team owners Eddie and Len Wood as well as Matt Bradley to discuss the Ford Earn While You Learn and NewFordTech.com programs that will adorn the legendary No. 21 this weekend at Michigan.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Michigan International Speedway and discussed his week following earning his first victory at Watkins Glen, his outlook for this weekend at Michigan and many other topics. Full Transcript:

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be at Michigan International Speedway, and the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be on track at Mid-Ohio. Check out the full schedule below, which is subject to change.