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  • Lap by Lap: WinStar World Casino 300 won by Ty Dillon

    Lap by Lap: WinStar World Casino 300 won by Ty Dillon

    Ty Dillon wanted to win to get the cowboy hat and he would do just that as he would dominate the WinStar World Casino 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.

     

    Lap 1 – three-wide into turn one with Dillon, Lofton and Burton. Dillon grabs the lead ahead of the field

    Lap 2 – Dillon leads Gresham

    Lap 3 – Dillon leads Gresham Burton Busch Gaughan

    Lap 4 – Dillon leads Gresham Burton Busch Gaughan Lofton Peters Buescher Paludo Sauter. The 57 will be posted due to changing lines before the start of the race. Lofton gets by Gaughan for fifth.

    Lap 6 – Buescher gets by Peters for seventh; Paludo by Peters also for eighth

    Lap 7 – Sauter, Keselowski, Hornaday, Blaney, Crafton and Wallace also slip by Peters for position

    Lap 11 – Busch moves past Gresham and Burton to move into second

    Lap 12 – Dillon leads Busch, Gresham, Burton, Lofton, Gaughan, Buescher, Keselowski, Paludo, Sauter

    Lap 20 – Dillon leads Busch, Burton, Lofton, Keselowski, Gaughan, Gresham, Sauter, Blaney, Buescher

    Caution lap 24 Keselowski spins after getting loose while underneath Lofton. Everybody make pit stops – Busch slides through stall and needs to be pushed back. Dillon leads KyBusch, Gaughan, Lofton, Burton off pit road.

    Restart lap 29. Busch and Dillon side-by-side for the lead.

    Lap 31 Dillon clears Busch off of turn two to take the lead

    Lap 32 Dillon leads Busch, Lofton, Blaney, Gaughan, Sauter, Wallace, Buescher, Burton and Paludo

    Lap 34 Buescher by Sauter and Wallace

    Lap 40 Dillon leads Blaney, Busch, Lofton, Buescher, Gaughan, Sauter, Wallace, Burton and Paludo

    Lap 41 Sauter by Gaughan for position

    Lap 49 Dillon leads Blaney Lofton Buescher Sauter Gaughan Paludo Wallace Quiroga and Burton. Busch pitted due to overheating problems.

    Caution lap 59 Bryan Silas spins on the backstretch as everybody avoids him. Silas spun due to contact from Quiroga as Quiroga was trying to clean his grill. Scott Riggs gets the lucky dog. Everybody heads down pit road. Lofton leads Dillon off pit road.

    Restart lap 64 Buscher and Dillon side-by-side for the lead

    Lap 66 Dillon takes the lead

    Lap 68 Dillon leads Buescher, Sauter, Lofton, Blaney, Wallace, Gaughan, Quiroga, Sieg and Burton

    Lap 77 Hornaday passes Burton for 10th

    61 to go Dillon leads Buescher Sauter Blaney Lofton Gaughan Wallace Hornaday Quiroga and Burton

    57 to go Sauter by Buescher for second

    54 to go Blaney by Buescher for third

    52 to go Lofton by Buescher for fourth

    Caution as Busch blows up. Dillon leads Sauter Blaney Lofton Buescher Gaughan off pit road

    Restart 41 to go as Sauter and Dillon side-by-side for the lead. Blaney makes it three-wide. Blaney takes the lead into turn three.

    38 to go Blaney leads as Dillon and Buescher run side-by-side for second

    34 to go Blaney leads Dillon Buescher Sauter Hornaday Gaughan Lofton Burton Wallace Paludo

    29 to go Dillon to the lead

    27 to go Sauter and Hornaday to 2-3 with Blaney back to 4th

    13 to go Dillon leads Sauter Hornaday Gaughan Lofton Buescher Wallace Blaney Paludo Townley

    8 to go Paludo, Townley and Burton by Blaney while Wallace passes Buescher

    7 to go Burton slows down on the backstretch as he runs out of gas

    3 to go Dillon leads Sauter Hornaday Gaughan Lofton Buescher Wallace Paludo Townley Sieg

    Ty Dillon wins! Sauter Hornaday Gaughan Lofton Buescher Wallace Paludo Townley Crafton Sieg Coulter Newberry Quiroga Blaney

  • Edwards Wins NSCS Pole For AAA Texas 500

    Edwards Wins NSCS Pole For AAA Texas 500

    FORT WORTH, Texas (November 1, 2013) –  Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole position for the AAA Texas 500 during Friday’s Pinnacle Propane Qualifying Days at Texas Motor Speedway.

    Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford), qualifying 40th out of 43 cars, knocked reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Ford) off the pole by .002 of a second with a lap of 196.114 miles per hour. The lap was just shy of the track record of 196.299 mph established by Kyle Busch during April’s NRA 500.

    For Edwards, it is his second pole of the season – the other came at Michigan – and his first career pole at Texas Motor Speedway. His previous-best start at Texas was second on two occasions, both of which came in the spring race (2008, ’11).

    Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) and Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Home Depot “Let’s Do This” Toyota), currently deadlocked for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, will start a row apart as Johnson qualified third (195.943 mph) for the inside of Row 2 and Kenseth sixth (195.518 mph) for the outside of Row 3.

    Sandwiched between the two will be Paul Menard (No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet), who qualified fourth at 195.837 mph, and Kyle Busch (No. 18 Snickers Toyota), who was fifth at 195.780 mph.

    Other notables were Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 AMP Energy Gold/7-Eleven Chevrolet) qualifying seventh, Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet) eighth, Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet) 19th and Danica Patrick (No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet) 30th.

    The final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practices for the AAA Texas 500 will be held Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. CT for a 55-minute session and 1 p.m. for a 50-minute session. The AAA Texas 500, the eighth race in the 10-event Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, will be held Sunday, beginning at 2 p.m.

    Tickets for the AAA Texas 500 are available by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com or by calling the speedway ticket office at (817) 215-8500.

  • Jeb Burton Wins NCWTS Pole For WinStar World Casino 350

    Jeb Burton Wins NCWTS Pole For WinStar World Casino 350

    FORT WORTH, Texas (November 1, 2013) – Rookie Jeb Burton captured the pole position for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino 400 during Friday’s Pinnacle Propane Qualifying Days at Texas Motor Speedway.

    Burton (No. 4 Arrowhead Chevrolet) posted a lap of 181.129 miles per hour to earn his series-leading seventh pole of the season. It also is his third pole in his last five starts, dating to the run beginning at Chicago.

    Burton will be looking for a season sweep at Texas, having won his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in June’s WinStar World Casino 400 at “The Great American Speedway!”

    Burton led a sweep of the top six qualifying positions by Chevrolet and will be joined on the front row by Justin Lofton (No. 6 Lofton Cattle Chevrolet), who recorded a lap of 180.687 mph.

    The duo is followed by Chevy-powered Ty Dillon (No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet), Miguel Paludo (No. 32 Andersons Maple Syrup-Brookshires Food & Pharmacy Chevrolet), Max Gresham (No. 8 Leviton/Made In USA Chevrolet),  defending NCWTS champion and Plano, Texas, native James Buescher (No. 31 Rheem Chevrolet) and Brendan Gaughan (No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet), respectively.

    NCWTS championship leader Matt Crafton (No. 88 Fisher Nuts-MenardsToyota) qualified 14th at 179.390 mph. Other notables were Kyle Busch (No. 51 ToyotaCare Toyota) 11th, Brad Keselowski (No. 19 Draw-Tite Ford) 13th, and rookie Darrell Wallace (No. 54 Camping World/Good Sam Toyota) 17th.

    The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to the track at 7:30 p.m. CT tonight for the WinStar World Casino 350 race (147 laps/220.5 miles).

    Tickets for the WinStar World Casino 350 are available by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com or by calling the Texas Motor Speedway ticket office at (817) 215-8500.

  • Gordon gets the clock, closes the points gap at Martinsville

    Gordon gets the clock, closes the points gap at Martinsville

    Four time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Jeff Gordon, scores his first win of the season and eighth career win at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500. He is now tied with teammate, Jimmie Johnson, for the most wins at Martinsville among active drivers.

    Gordon led a total of 78 laps and passed Matt Kenseth in the closing laps en route to victory. As he pulled into victory lane, his No. 24 Drive to End hunger Chevrolet looked like a war torn relic, beaten and battered from another Martinsville battle. A battle that was slowed by 17 cautions, signifying how rough and tumble the racing was today.

    Gordon also managed to close the gap in the points standings. He now sits in third place, 27 points behind Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson who are tied for the lead. He has now secured a spot in the 2014 Sprint All-star race.

    Gordon talked about today’s win, ”Oh my gosh this meant so much, I mean I feel like we worked so hard, and many weekends we’ve left the racetrack looking at one another going what do we have to do? We’ve had racecars we’ve had pitstops, we’ve had strategy, I feel like I’ve had days where I’ve done my part, but just couldn’t get it all lined up. Today, we come to this race with a lot of confidence, you know this is a great rack for us the 24 team, for me personally, these guys, Alan especially, give me a great racecar all weekend long, I was a little disappointed in myself qualifying, I feel like we should have done better job than that, but it made up for t getting that number two pit stall. That was sort of turnaround for our weekend in many ways, or just that kind of added bonus, and that paid of for us today as well.”

    Kenseth came into today’s race trailing Johnson by four points. He led 202 laps today en route to a second place finish. Kenseth said, “I mean, I think we led the most laps and finished second. The only guy happier is Jeff. Again you’re always s a little disappointed when your crew puts you out front at the end and you can’t hold on.”

    Johnson was touted as the favorite to win all week. Many practically had has name engraved on the trophy. The five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion ran strong all day, leading 123 laps. He ended the day in fifth place, a good day by many standards, mediocre for Johnson.

    Kenseth and Johnson now head to Texas Motor Speedway tied atop the championship standings. Gordon and Harvick 27 and 28 points back respectively.

    Kyle Busch who finished 15th, now sits 36 points back and sees his championship hopes slipping away. One glimmer of hope, however, is that the series now head to Texas Motor Speedway where he won earlier this season.

    Clint Bowyer had his best finish of the Chase with a solid sixth place effort. 55 points out of the lead, however, Bowyer will need a lot of things to go his way to have a shot at the title. Bowyer talked about how tough the outside lane was day, “Yeah, I mean, it was – it’s just the nature of the beast here. You know, we got jumbled up there going for the inside. The 48 was very, very aggressive for the point leader to be dive bombing to the inside. I was all over the brakes to keep from running him over a couple times. But that’s how important it is to get to the inside on these restarts.”

  • Darrell Wallace Jr. scores historical win at Martinsville

    Darrell Wallace Jr. scores historical win at Martinsville

    The last time and only time an African-American driver visited victory lane in a NASCAR national touring series was 1963 when Wendell Scott took the win at Jacksonville. On Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, Darrell Wallace Jr. became the second.

    Wallace, a NASCAR drive for diversity graduate, led 96 laps in his Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 54 ToyotaCare Toyota Tundra. The win was Wallace’s 11th top-10 finish this season and second top-10 at Martinsville.

    NASCAR implemented the driver for diversity program in an effort give more opportunities to minorities who want to pursue a career in NASCAR. Though several drivers have worked through the program, Wallace is the first driver to find success in a national touring series.

    NASCAR chairman and CEO, Brian France commented on Wallace’s victory,” We congratulate Darrell Wallace Jr. on his first national series victory, one that will be remembered as a remarkable moment in our sport’s history.” He continued, “Darrell’s success, following fellow NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate Kyle Larson’s win earlier this season, is indicative of a youth and multicultural movement that bodes well for NASCAR’s future growth.”

    Wallace’s success came early on when he drove in the drive for diversity program. He won Sunoco rookie of the year honor in the K&N Pro East Series in 2010. He then backed that up with a second place finish in the championship standings in 2011.

    In 2012, Wallace has compiled 11 top-10’s and five top-5 finishes in 18 starts in the Camping World Truck Series. He also started four Nationwide Series starts this season for Joe Gibbs Racing, finishing in the top-10 in three of those starts.

    An emotional Wallace was asked what this win means to him, “It means everything. This is an emotional win for me. Especially to do it in Wendell Scott’s backyard and I love coming here to Martinsville, it’s always good to me and it finally paid off.”

     

  • Denny Hamlin sets track record and takes the pole at Martinsville

    Denny Hamlin sets track record and takes the pole at Martinsville

    Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Denny Hamlin, turns in a lap of 99.595 mph to set a new track record and score the Coors Light pole for the Goody’s 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Today’s record was the 18th new track record this season.

    The pole was Hamlin’s fifth of the season and 17th of his career. Qualifying has been one of the few highlights for Hamlin this season. He missed four races earlier in the season with injuries sustained in a crash at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. His stats this season have been off tremendously scoring only five top-10’s in his 28 starts.

    Hamlin talked about his run, “I knew we were going to be pretty strong, I knew we had a shot at the pole, and beyond that I think our car was pretty good in race trim as well.”

    Hamlin is always strong at Martinsville and he seems to have a little more pep in his step in the last few weeks. This could be a sign that the team has turned things around, identified the problems, and are now looking to finish the season on a high note.

    Championship points leader, Jimmie Johnson, will start outside the front row. Johnson turned in a lap of 99.344 mph. His lap tied the lap posted by Hamlin’s teammate, Kyle Busch. Johnson took the higher position, however, due to the tiebreaker.

    Johnson and Busch joked in the media center after qualifying about the fact that Johnson thought he was starting third. Busch stated, “He wanted third because he wanted to be on the inside.”

    Johnson talked about his qualifying effort, “I felt like I had a good last lap, although it wasn’t the most efficient and smoothest lap, so I felt like I had a chance to slide down to fifth or sixth or something as the session went on.”

    Matt Kenseth, who currently sits second in the points, will start fourth giving Joe Gibbs Racing three of the top five spots. Kenseth is currently only four points behind Johnson, who is the favorite to win on Sunday.

    Rounding out the top five is Michael Waltrip Racing driver, Clint Bowyer. Bowyer, who currently sits ninth in the standings 57 points behind leader Johnson, turned in a lap of 99.162 mph.

    Toyota has four of the top five spots with Ford sitting sixth and eighth and Chevrolet seventh, ninth and tenth.

    The Goody’s 500 is set to go green at 1:30pm local time on Sunday.

  • Johnson regains points lead at Talladega

    Johnson regains points lead at Talladega

    Jimmie Johnson leads the most laps and finishes 13th, but that was good enough to regain the points lead from Matt Kenseth. While others tried fading to the back, Johnson tried to stay as close to the front as possible.

    Though, Johnson’s stats at Talladega are great compared to many drivers, they are mediocre compared to most other tracks for Johnson. He has two wins, six top-5’s, and ten top-10’s. For this weekend, however, mediocre was good enough.

    Kenseth ran strong all day, but a severely loose race car just past the halfway point put him into a situation where he could not battle for position. The car was fast, but he had trouble when getting around other cars. He did manage to lead 32 laps, but only managed a 20th place finish.

    Other Chase notables:

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 38 laps en route to a second place finish, the fourth of the year and 22nd of his career. The strong run permitted him to gain three spots in the standings to sixth, 52 points out of the lead. Earnhardt commented about his run, “We had such a good car, since I been working with Steve, we just haven’t really had a good combination here and maybe I’ve torn up some really good cars and never got to see how good they were in races in the past, but I knew in practice car was strong, just wondered of everybody was showing everything they had.”

    Kyle Busch, who has been trying to work his way back toward the front after a disastrous Kansas race, overcame an early pit road penalty to score another top-5 finish, his 16th of the season. Kyle gained two spots in the points and now sits in third, 26 back from the leader.

    Kevin Harvick slipped from third to fourth in the standings. He was never really a factor in today’s race, but managed a respectable 12th place finish. He now sits 26 points back behind Johnson.

    Jeff Gordon has been very strong since the start of the Chase. At Talladega, however, Gordon left a little on the table. Gordon led three laps and finished 14th, falling from fourth to fifth in the standings, 34 out of the lead.

    Greg Biffle led five laps and looked strong early, but the No. 16 Scotch Blue Ford faded and finished 11th. Biffle lost one spot on the standings and now sits seventh, 53 points out of the lead.

    All-in-all, Talladega was pretty kind to the Chase contenders. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the biggest gain, with Johnson regaining the lead. The race was pretty calm, with only three yellows. One yellow for fluid on the track, a second on lap 80 for a tow car incident on the frontstretch that ended the day for Juan Pablo-Montoya. The final caution flew on the last lap, when Austin Dillon, driving the No. 14 Stewart-Hass Racing Chevrolet for Tony Stewart, got upside down on the backstretch. Since the white flag had been thrown, the race ended with the yellow, freezing the field, and sending Jamie McMurray to victory lane.

    The series now heads to Martinsville Speedway for the Goody’s 500 on Sunday Oct 27th.

  • Lofton Injured; Fred’s 250 Ends In Junk Yard

    Lofton Injured; Fred’s 250 Ends In Junk Yard

    Mayhem struck the front straightaway on the final lap at Talladega like it’s done many times in the past. Miguel Paludo went flipping across the line and was taken to the infield care center but later released. Justin Lofton on the other hand was one of the unlucky that was injured in the carnage.

    Lofton was taken to a local hospital for further evaluations. Family members have confirmed that Lofton was taken due to an injury on his left hand. Luckily Lofton’s injuries shouldn’t keep him over night at the hospital.

    NSCS driver, Kyle Busch was also involved in the wreck and shaken up afterwards. Busch smacked the exit of pit road wall where there is no safer barrier. “Rowdy” would then sit down along the front stretch wall until medial officials got to him. He was later released from the infield care center.

    “I don’t know where it started,” Busch said after being checked out at the infield care center. “Yeah, there was a couple really good licks I took. There was no sense sitting in the vehicle. I just needed to get out and get some fresh air.”

    Rookie, Darrell Wallace Jr. was another one caught up in the destruction as his No. 54 Toyota took a hard lick into the wall.

    “Jesus Christ, hardest hit of my career,” Wallace said outside the care center. “It scared the hell out of me. Makes you want to go 10 mph under the speed limit in your regular car because pushing 200 and wrecking that hard, I’d die. That’s scary. I’m freaking myself out again. Just couldn’t breathe. I’m all good, not sore anywhere. My pride’s hurt. As long as my Vols won and beat South Carolina, I’m all good.”

    “It’s a pretty eerie sight when you come in the med center and see half the field there,” Red Horse Racing driver John Wes Townley said after he was cleared from an earlier wreck.

    Other drivers involved in the wreck, all of whom have been cleared, include: pole sitter Jeb Burton — son of former Cup driver Ward Burton, Ron Hornaday, Matt Crafton, Chris Fontaine, Clay Greenfield, Ross Chastain, Max Gresham and Parker Kligerman.

    Dakota Armstrong driving the No. 60 just got released from the infield care center, he was the last one to leave around 8:00 PM EST.

  • Busch wins Coors Light Pole Award at Charlotte Motor Speedway

    Busch wins Coors Light Pole Award at Charlotte Motor Speedway

    Driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, Kyle Busch, wins his ninth NASCAR Nationwide Series pole award this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Busch is no stranger to doing well in the Nationwide Series with ten wins this season, including eighteen top-5 and nineteen top-10 finishes leading a total of 4,027 laps.

    The Coors Light Pole Award for the 32nd Annual Dollar General 300 is Busch’s first pole award in 21 races at Charlotte. Working toward his first career win at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kyle commented on the possibility of winning this weekend.  He said, “It would certainly be nice to get a win here whether it’s Nationwide or Cup and especially Cup — we haven’t done that yet here.  It’s been a track where we’ve been really good at over the years and I think the most important thing is that if we can get a win here, then that sets the tone that we  are back in the thick of things.”

    Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, will be starting in second position with a qualifying lap of only 0.004 seconds behind Kyle Busch.  Logano is one of four drivers that have driven the No. 22 Ford in 2013, with all four drivers contributing to the impressive eleven wins posted by the team this season.

    The combination of wins from the No. 54 team and the No. 22 team total twenty-one out of the twenty-nine races run so far this season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

    The NASCAR Nationwide Series points battle comes into play in qualifying positions three, four, and five with Sam Hornish Jr., Austin Dillon, and Regan Smith.

    Sam Hornish Jr. qualified in third position posting his sixth top-10 start at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and his twenty-fourth top-10 start in thirty races this season.

    Going into tonight’s race, Hornish is only eight points behind the points leader, Austin Dillon.  Dillon, driver of the No. 3 AdvoCare Chevrolet, qualified in fourth position with a qualifying lap of 182.704 mph.

    JR Motorsports driver, Regan Smith, is currently sitting thirty-five points behind Dillon in the Nationwide Series points standings.  Smith qualified in fifth position in the No. 7 Goody’s Headache Relief Shot Chevrolet.

    Driver of the No. 99 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Toyota, Alex Bowman, qualified in sixth position as the fastest qualifying rookie.

    Trevor Bayne, Kyle Larson, Brain Vickers, and Kevin Harvick round out the top-10 positions for tonight’s 32nd Annual Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

  • Jeff Gordon steals Pole at Charlotte

    Jeff Gordon steals Pole at Charlotte

    The last four qualifiers each held the pole position for a few minutes, but Jeff Gordon is the only one who gets to keep it. As the night’s final qualifier, Gordon knew the pole was up for grabs as speeds climbed higher as Bojangles’ Pole Night Qualifying Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway went on, and he answered with a blazing lap in 27.791 seconds (194.308 mph).

    “That was an exciting qualifying effort, regardless whether we were on the pole,” Gordon said. “All those cars that were going late and the times just dropping. To go out there and know that the pressure’s on you after the car ahead of you just sits on the pole and you’re battling those guys for the championship … to go out there and get the pole is really exciting. To do it here in Charlotte … I think it’s been a while since we’ve won it here, so man, it feels so good.”

    It was Gordon’s ninth pole at Charlotte, his first since 2010, and it was won by the slimmest of margins. In fact, less than a tenth of a second separated the top five qualifiers.

    Kasey Kahne turned a fast lap early in Thursday’s qualifying session and held the pole position until the final four drivers of the night: Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick and Gordon. Each of those drivers benefited from the late draw and the knowledge gleaned from watching the rest of the field qualify by turning quicker laps than the driver before.

    The three who had been edged out in succession each felt he had left something on the race track.

    “I felt like I didn’t get everything in (turns) three and four,” Harvick said. “I knew the way practice was going that I had to get everything I could out of one and two and not get tight coming off Turn 4, and I probably lost the pole right there. We would really like to have the pole tonight, but everybody knows how we’ve qualified in the past, and to be on the front row, that’s good for us.”

    Driver Quotes

    Jeff Gordon (Bojangles Pole Night Winner, 27.791 seconds, 194.308 mph): “Man, that was awesome. We got through (turns) three and four good in practice, but I thought I was a little bit tight; we actually freed the car up a little bit. When it went through one and two as good as it did … I just kept pushing the throttle down, and it stuck. I didn’t know if it was going to be good enough and when I found out how close it really was; it’s pretty amazing. That was an exciting qualifying effort, regardless whether we were on the pole. All those cars that were going late and the times just dropping. To go out there and know that the pressure’s on you after the car ahead of you just sits on the pole, and you’re battling those guys for the championship … to go out there and get the pole is really exciting. To do it here in Charlotte … I think it’s been a while since we’ve won it here, so man, it feels so good.”

    (Were you on edge?) “You’re always on the edge at Charlotte on a qualifying lap. My biggest fear was losing the front, not the back. I thought, ‘OK, that was pretty good, now don’t screw up three and four.’ I just really wanted to get the front end down to the white line.”

    Kevin Harvick (2nd place qualifier, 27.806 seconds, 194.203 mph): “I felt like I didn’t get everything in three and four. I knew the way practice was going that I had to get everything I could out of one and two and not get tight coming off Turn 4, and I probably lost the pole right there. I’ve got to thank the guys. We knew we needed to qualify better in the Chase, we knew we needed to run better on the mile-and-a-half race tracks, and they’re bringing cars to the race track to do that, and we’re capitalizing on it. We would really like to have the pole tonight, but everybody knows how we’ve qualified in the past, and to be on the front row, that’s good for us. The race is no problem. It’s the qualifying that stresses me out. For us, qualifying has never been a strong suit. But to have a better pit selection and not have to pass half the field to start the race is a good sign for us. We were able to get some race laps in before we put it in qualifying trim.”

    Greg Biffle (3rd-place qualifier, 27.841 seconds, 193.959 mph): “I wasn’t on the pole as long as I wanted to be, only about two cars. I’ll tell you what. I’m surprised, very surprised the track had the grip it did. I watched the others guys go, and I was using the Kevin Harvick mentality of don’t try for more than the track will give you. That was my mindset going in. And when I came across three and four the track had so much grip. I barely came out of the gas. I thought the track had a ton of grip. I got all I could in turns one and two. It had so much grip there, it kind of sucked me into three and four thinking it was going to be as good as one and two. I drove down in there and it went straight to the bottom, and I was like, oh I got this. I went to the gas and it started slipping up the race track. I actually got out of the gas pretty far. I would have run much faster if I would have backed up the corner. But Jeff (Gordon) had the best opportunity by watching what everybody else did and where he needed to be.”