NASCAR Cup Series

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Pedigree Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Could you tell the problem was serious? “Oh yeah, it just kept getting worse and worse the more the day was going, especially after restarts it was really, really bad, so I was just trying to bide it out, see if we’d make it to the end. At first, I thought that it was an engine problem, but that wasn’t the case."

Dominant victories are just routine now for the driver that carries the nickname "The Closer." While the smoke and confetti rained down on Kevin Harvick's victory lane celebration at the Monster Mile, he maintained an expression that said "Been there, done that."

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion -- RACE WINNER (VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW) HOW DID YOU GET IT DONE TO WIN BY SEVEN SECONDS? “The first thing I’ve got to do is just thank everybody on my team -- everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, Roush Yates Engines, everybody from Ford for just continuing to put the effort that they put into these cars."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S FOR PROS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th “All in all, it’s been a really good day for our Lowe’s for Pros Chevy. We had a couple of restarts being in the wrong lane. We pitted and we expected a lot more (cars) to come but they didn’t, so we had to start in the teens and start all over again. It’s a good driving car. I’m was really happy with it. It’s amazing how much faster I was when I was up in third and fourth; just had a half a second of speed on our side just due to the cleaner air."

Prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Dover International Speedway, Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield® Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing and his team owner, Tony Stewart, unveiled a custom, high-performance 2018 Ford Mustang and announced the kickoff of the Smithfield national sweepstakes that will allow one lucky Smithfield customer, race fan, or auto enthusiast to bring it home at the end of this year’s racing season.

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - Starting Position: 3rd “Yeah, Turn 4 we just got a little too tight both second and third round. Thought maybe second round I could just drive the car a little different. If it hit it right, we’d be really good and I had an awesome lap going until I got there that last round. I thought I had a shot at it and just got tight off 4 again, so missed it a little bit there, but overall it was another good solid day for us on a Friday. Looking forward to getting ready to race tomorrow.”

Kyle Larson powered his No. 42 DC Solar Camaro ZL1 to the pole position for Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Dover International Speedway with a final round fast lap of 158.103 mph. It was the Larson’s first pole at the famed 1-mile concrete Delaware track, his fifth MENCS career pole, and first of the 2018 season.

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion -- Qualified 2nd - TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN: “We’re feeling good about qualifying well. That’s not been something that we’ve done 100% great here. We’ve qualified okay. It definitely goes a long way in helping get your day started. This is definitely a race track that can take a while to work your way up the field so you don’t want to dig yourself a hole early on. They made the car better all three rounds. We ran our fastest lap at the end. I lost a lot of time in 1 and 2. I got myself hung a little higher and longer than I needed to finish the corner. Still a good lap for us and I’m looking forward to race runs.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1 – Pole Winner - DID YOU GET EVERYTHING YOU HAD HOPED FOR THERE? DID YOU LEAVE ANYTHING OUT THERE? “I felt like I nailed that lap pretty good. Everything from coming to the green to (Turns) 1 and 2 were really good. (Turns) 3 and 4 I maybe left a little bit out there. I got in there a little hot and up the track. I planned on kind of moving up the race track each round."

Kyle Larson scored his first Busch Pole Award of the season at Dover International Speedway with a 158.103 mph lap and will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s AAA 400. It is his fifth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career pole.