NASCAR Cup Series

After leading three laps and running in the top-10 for a majority of the first 50 laps in Sunday’s AAA 400 at the Monster Mile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. blew two right front tires ultimately sending the Little Hug Fruit Barrel Ford to the garage resulting in a 39th-place finish.

KEVIN HARVICK -- No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion “We had a good day with our Jimmy John’s Ford. We just got caught under caution and could never make it back up. We had an okay car and just tried to stay out of trouble all day. Long day. A lot going on out there today.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER - WHAT DOES THIS WIN MEAN TO YOU? “It means a lot to me. When I was growing up in southern California racing dirt bikes I was a big Cale Yarborough fan. We travelled across the country to race in the Amateur Nationals heading to Oklahoma, we stopped at a Hardees I walked in thinking I would meet Cale Yarborough and left with a burger. So, it opened my eyes to the world of sponsorship at that point in time, but I was such a fan and it’s been an amazing journey along the way. It was a huge honor to tie him with three consecutive championships a few years back and then to be here at 83 wins and a day where things played out in such an awkward and weird fashion just very happy that we’ve got it done. To my 83 wins, I’m just so proud that it’s come with one owner, one sponsor, one manufacturer, one crew chief, one team, this is a very special journey this whole Hendrick Lowe’s team has been on.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion) -- CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR CAR AND THE OUTLOOK FOR TOMORROW? “Yeah, this year so far we’ve had really good race speed and not a lot in practice and qualifying speed. It seems to be the case this weekend as well. Not really where we want to be on the practice charts. It seems like that goes in cycles where you’re really fast in practice sometimes and really good in the race to go with that. Sometimes it’s the other way around where you’re not very good in practice and you’re good in the race. And sometimes it’s the other way where you’re really good in practices and not in the race. That’s part of the cycle. It can be frustrating at times but I’m confident we’re going to be strong tomorrow based on the last few weeks and how the scenarios have played out.”

Hell, my grandpa didn’t become a champion overnight, he busted his butt to get there and become who he became. That is kind of what I feel like I’m doing and I like it that way.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Pedigree Petcare Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 1st - How does it feel to win the pole here at Dover International Speedway? “It feels great to beat that 78 (Martin Truex Jr.). Our team cars have been really fast this year, so those guys are really on it, but overall couldn’t be more excited about this Pedigree Camry and the guys and all the work that we’ve done all year long, but to sit on the pole here means a little bit for us – it gives us a really good pit selection for Sunday and, more importantly, just gives us the track position right off the bat."

KURT BUSCH (No 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion) -- Qualified 6th “We’re making good improvements. We were sixth in Kansas and going for the pole position at Charlotte and ended up P12. I was going for it today with a good, clean lap. We want a little more. We’re making improvements. Any time that I pressure the car to get that extra tenth out of it, we lose a tenth. We need to figure out how to get that tenth on Fridays. Overall, I’m happy with the effort. The car unloaded with a lot of speed.”

Kyle Larson made a strong showing at Dover International Speedway today by qualifying his No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS in fifth place for Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race. Larson ran a fast speed of 158.179 mph around the famed Monster Mile track.

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How does it feel to be back at Dover International Speedway where you’ve won and you now have the points lead? “Yeah that all sounds good coming here, so excited about the weekend obviously. It’s definitely a special race track for me. I love coming up here and hopefully we’ll have a successful weekend. Got a good season going, you know? I think leading points after last week is really cool. I think – my trip to the media center in Charlotte, I left there not knowing that, so I was surprised that nobody talked about that, but definitely excited about it and hopefully we can hang on to that for the rest of the season.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AAA CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Dover International Speedway and discussed last weekend’s victory in the Coca-Cola 600, the difficulties of getting refocused after earning his first career victory and tackling the Monster Mile, plus many other topics.