NASCAR Cup Series

If you need evidence of how competitive the NASCAR Playoffs are, consider this: Ryan Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing team came to Charlotte Motor Speedway ninth in the standings, finished the Bank of America 500 a strong eighth in overtime and left the track 11th in the championship chase.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 SUNENERGY1 CHEVROLET SS- Finished 2nd - THIS IS YOUR SIXTH RUNNER-UP FINISH OF THE YEAR. WHAT WERE YOU MISSING TO BE ABLE TO CONTEND FOR THE WIN? “We needed to be a little better I think in the middle stage and not lose so much track position. That was where Martin (Truex, Jr.) came on and got his track position and we lost ours and it was just hard to get all of it back there toward the end. It was a hard-fought day and really, from where we were in those middle stages, I was proud of the way we fought back and were able to get back to the front. It’s frustrating to run like this. We’re definitely tired of running second. But, if we keep running like we are, hopefully the opportunities will be there.”

KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion – “That’s about about where we were gonna run, second or third. We just kind of lost a little bit of the track there as the VHT started to wear off in the second half of the race. But they did a great job all day. For the most part, we had good stops all day – just the timing of the bad one came at the end, but, for the most part, they did a great job. Everybody in the field had a bad stop at some point today, so it was a good day for our Jimmy John’s/Busch Ford, and everybody is doing a good job with the speed of the cars.”

Charlotte Motor Speedway presented legendary crew chief Tony Eury Sr. with the speedway’s prestigious Smokey Yunick Award on Sunday prior to the Bank of America 500.

Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts the opening race of the Playoff’s Round of 12 this year with the Bank of America 500 Sunday afternoon. Martin Truex Jr. leads the hunt for the championship trophy but Kyle Busch is closing fast.

It was “Go Time” and “Bo Time” for Denny Hamlin on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota rocketed around Charlotte’s 1.5-mile superspeedway with a pole-winning 191.598 mph lap during the final round of an exhilarating Bojangles’ Pole Night.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 1st - How big is it to get the pole at a race like this? “It’s good, you always like to keep streaks alive. Hadn’t had a pole this year and have had one every other year, but it’s good. We’ve been so close and we’ve made so many final rounds, been in the top-five, but not as fast as our teammates. Today we adjusted on it, got it a little better each round and had some good will."

KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion – HOW WAS ROUND THREE DIFFERENT FROM ONE AND TWO? “I didn’t feel like I got to the green quite as good and I felt like I had a little bit to spare in one and I didn’t. I got the ground just a little bit and got up a foot and just had to wait a split-second, but we have a really good car. We had three good rounds, a good starting spot and we’ll go from there.”

Martin Truex Jr. qualified 17th and Erik Jones will start 38th after missing qualifying for Sunday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Truex drove the No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota to a second-round lap of 28.496 seconds at 189.500 mph under the lights on the 1.5-mile tri-oval. Truex will line up on the inside of Row 9

TEAM CHEVY NOTES & QUOTES: CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 SUNENERGY1 CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 7th - WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT TONIGHT AT CHARLOTTE? “Yeah, it was okay. I think we ended up seventh, the NO. 2 (Brad Keselowski) got me there at the end. It was alright, a little better than we have been qualifying by a spot or two, so small gains are worth something.”