NASCAR Cup PR

Toyota driver Erik Jones was the highest finishing Camry driver in Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Kansas Speedway claiming a third-place result, tying his season-best finish.

MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 19 Auto Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs RacingQualifying Position: 6th - How do you balance speed and knowing it’s tough to pass when you plan a qualifying strategy?"

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 5th ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT “It was okay. It was fine. I thought everything was smooth and our car drove okay, which was fine. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang | Qualified: 2nd “We have really fast race cars. Our Ford Mustangs are fast and I like it. It is fun when you show up to the race track and have a lot of speed. It has been tough to show up to these race tracks and just not feel like we were one of the cars to beat, so it feels good to show up here and have the speed we have today and I am looking forward to the race tomorrow night. Hopefully we can carry that speed through the rest of the race.”

ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - What do you think of the All-Star rules package? “Number one, the All-Star package, I don’t know. It’s different. I know a little bit about it as far as the splitter goes. It’s going to be a forward aero shift. I don’t know what that’s going to do for racing really. As far as the ducts in the hood, I don’t know if that’s going to change either."

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Auto Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Wrapping up some thoughts on the All-Star Race, what are your thought about going for the million?“I’m not sure really. We’ve not run Charlotte yet with this rules package, and there are going to be a few tweaks to it for the All-Star race. I don’t know. It’s really up in the air. It’s always a fun weekend."

DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 Mystik Lubricants Ford Mustang -- “The biggest difference between the two race weekends at Kansas is one is a Saturday night race and one is a Sunday afternoon race. The playoff race there is generally a little more momentum behind the season. Everyone has all their cars on deck and you are trying to get everything you can and are racing for a championship or a playoff round. Here in the spring I think there is research and development going on and trying to understand what these cars need to go fast and getting ready for the summer stretch leading into the playoffs."

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CAMARO ZL1 media breakout session highlights: IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYONE WAS REALLY DRAFTING WITH EACH OTHER. “The package we have here produces close racing. We were able to tune on our single-car package a little bit and get the balance. Our whole organization has a lot of work to do as far as aerodynamic platforms, but we are trying things. We are all pushing the same envelope, so we’ll see what happens.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 media breakout session highlights: ON THE FAN VOTE FOR THE UPCOMING ALL-STAR RACE “I think having the support of internet forums is pretty big when it comes to online votes.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GLOBAL POKER CAMARO ZL1 was the fastest driver in the final practice session today with a speed of 177.731 mph / 30.383 seconds, and met with media to discuss the effects of the new package, preparation for the All-Star Race, the importance of Memorial Day weekend for motorsports, and more.