NASCAR Cup Series

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER - THE GUTSY CALL BY CREW CHIEF, CHAD KNAUS, WAS THE GAME WINNER ‘Yeah, definitely a gutsy call. It was just a great team effort. The No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) car was awfully tough and it was going to take some strategy to get by him. When he told me to whip it as hard as I could there, I just felt like I was going to take too much life out of the tires. But, it worked. And I got rolling around the top and got to where I got this Lowe’s Chevy in Victory Lane. I’m so happy for Hendrick Motorsports and for everybody at Chevrolet.”

Denny Hamlin topped the chart in the final session of Sprint Cup Series practice. The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota posted a time of 29.419 and a speed of 188.450 mph.

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion, is scheduled to start 27th in tomorrow’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. He provided his comments about the new low downforce package before today’s practice session.

Chevrolets will fill the front row for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway as Kurt Busch drove his No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet SS to the pole position for the second race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOU MISSED IT? “We were just really loose. I don’t really understand. We weren’t super-fast in practice, but we were a top-10 car for sure. We were really, really loose the first run and made some changes, but it’s hard to go fast here the second run when tires wear out so much."

The Busch Brothers were going to start 1 and 2 when the green flag flew on Sunday at Atlanta, but a surprise circumstance gave the pole to Kurt. Kurt Busch won the pole in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 28.938 and a speed of 191.582 mph. Brother Kyle originally won the pole, but his time was disallowed in post-qualifying inspection.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s 75 Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Qualifying Position: 1st - How does it feel to win the pole in Atlanta? “It feels really good. Just real proud of these guys on this whole M&M’s team."

KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 MONSTER ENERGY/HAAS AUTOMATION CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 2nd “It was a good, consistent car and I hope that translates into race speed, as well. But thanks to Tony Gibson and everybody at Stewart-Haas, it’s a matter of preparing the best car during the off-season to come to these 1.5-mile tracks and seeing what you’ve got."

CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How does it feel to be in Atlanta? “Atlanta is just fun. Actually wasn’t that fast in qualifying trim, so we’ve got to work on that, but I’m having a good time. You really drive the race car here."

After starting the weekend off with the fourth overall fastest time in the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hopes to have the same outcome after qualifying as 2013 when he captured his first NSCS pole award.