Truex Gets Another 2016 Pole

Martin Truex Jr won the pole for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600

Truex Grabs Coca-Cola 600 Pole (CONCORD, NC – MAY 26 2016 – RIS) Martin Truex Jr led the second and third qualifying sessions to earn the pole for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. His lap of 28.077 sec/192.328 mph brought the Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota to his ninth career pole in 382 starts and is his second pole in the current season.

Following qualifying, NASCAR announced that three teams had lost pit selection due to receiving their fourth warnings due to failures to pass pre-qualifying inspections. The No. 43 team failed the template and laser inspections twice, which added to two previous failures, gave them four violations for the season. The No. 48 team had three previous failures and today failed to pass the template inspection twice, along with the No. 88 team with the same problems. All three teams will lose pit stall choice for Sunday's 400-lap race.

Starting Line Up: 57th Annual COCA-COLA 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway

Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed
1) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota, 28.077 sec, 192.328 mph
2) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 28.124, 192.007
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 28.209, 191.428
4) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 28.215, 191.388
5) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 28.277, 190.968
6) Greg Biffle, No. 16 Cheez-It Ford, 28.346, 190.503
7) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.379, 190.282
8) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet, 28.381, 190.268
9) Carl Edwards, No. 19 Subway Toyota, 28.443, 189.853
10) Trevor Bayne, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, 28.483, 189.587
11) Paul Menard, No. 27 Knauf/Menards Chevrolet, 28.547, 189.162
12) Chase Elliott #, No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 28.729, 187.963
13) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet, 28.404, 190.114
14) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Whelen Chevrolet, 28.432, 189.927
15) AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Harris Teeter/Bush's Beans Chevrolet, 28.443, 189.853
16) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 28.448, 189.820
17) Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 28.448, 189.820
18) Ryan Blaney #, No. 21 Motorcraft/QuickLaneTireandAutoCenter Ford, 28.450, 189.807
19) Danica Patrick, No. 10 Nature's Bakery Chevrolet, 28.492, 189.527
20) Aric Almirola, No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford, 28.530, 189.274
21) Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet, 28.543, 189.188
22) Chris Buescher #, No. 34 CSX - Play It Safe Ford, 28.621, 188.673
23) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Cessna/McDonald's Chevrolet, 28.646, 188.508
24) Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 28.734, 187.931
25) Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 28.594, 188.851
26) Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-hour Energy Chevrolet, 28.623, 188.659
27) Matt Kenseth, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota, 28.642, 188.534
28) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Cheerios Chevrolet, 28.645, 188.515
29) Kasey Kahne, No. 5 LiftMaster Chevrolet, 28.666, 188.376
30) Brian Scott #, No. 44 Twisted Tea Ford, 28.721, 188.016
31) Regan Smith, No. 7 Nikko RC/Toy State Chevrolet, 28.803, 187.480
32) Michael McDowell, No. 95 Thrivent Financial Chevrolet, 28.836, 187.266
33) Landon Cassill, No. 38 MDS Transport/We Hire Vets Ford, 28.846, 187.201
34) Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Hope For The Warriors/Cosmo Motors Toyota, 28.884, 186.955
35) David Ragan, No. 23 Bubba Burger Toyota, 28.911, 186.780
36) Cole Whitt, No. 98 Vydox Plus Chevrolet, 29.097, 185.586
37) Josh Wise, No. 30 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet, 29.479, 183.181
38) Michael Annett, No. 46 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 29.494, 183.088
39) Jeffrey Earnhardt #, No. 32 Can-Am Ford, 29.881, 180.717
40) Reed Sorenson, No. 55 World Record Striper Company Chevrolet, 30.095, 179.432

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

MARTIN TRUEX, JR., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
How strong is this race car compared to what you had last year when you were so competitive? "I liked what I felt last year and I've been thinking about this race a lot since then. We had a really good car that day and thought we were going to go to victory lane and got beat on fuel mileage. Just excited for all my guys and for Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Boats, Furniture Row, Denver Mattress and everybody that works so hard on this deal – Toyota Racing, TRD – just awesome race cars. We had to work hard today, we were not that good in practice and made a lot of changes throughout this qualifying session. Hats off to my guys for some really good work and lucky to be with this group for sure."

What will it take to get to victory lane for this team? "Just continuing what we've been doing, we've been so good and we've really had a great season. We don't have a lot to show for it, but we've got a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum and fast race cars. Hopefully we can get to victory lane here soon."

How special was your 'Catwalk for a Cause' event last week? "It was a great week and it's always great to put on that event. This year it was bigger than ever. So much support from so many people and the kids were tremendous as always. It's really inspiring to see them get out there and do that, it's just a humbling deal to be able to put that on."

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How was the car in qualifying? "Pretty good, I think in qualifying we've really been pretty good this year and that's been kind of par for us. We really plan to concentrate on Saturday and getting our car good on the long run, that's really where we've been struggling most of the season. We've got a new setup idea and we'll see if it works and really excited to get to Saturday, I want to get to practice and see what they've come up with."

Does it mean anything to you that you've made the final 12 in qualifying all season thus far? "It's just a stat thing, obviously we have a great average start this year. If I could switch the average start with the average finish, I'd do it."

CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 Subway Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How was the car in qualifying? "I think we had something that we just couldn't get worked out of it. In qualifying I think we did pretty well considering. It's a good starting spot and considering we have 600 miles to get where we deserve to be, but just truly cool to be driving the Subway Toyota this weekend. Just a lot of neat things they're doing for our troops. Hopefully we can give them a good show."

MARTIN TRUEX, JR., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - Starting Position: 1st - How strong is this race car compared to what you had last year when you were so competitive?

"I liked what I felt last year and I've been thinking about this race a lot since then. We had a really good car that day and thought we were going to go to victory lane and got beat on fuel mileage. Just excited for all my guys and for Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Boats, Furniture Row, Denver Mattress and everybody that works so hard on this deal – Toyota Racing, TRD – just awesome race cars. We had to work hard today, we were not that good in practice and made a lot of changes throughout this qualifying session. Hats off to my guys for some really good work and lucky to be with this group for sure."

What will it take to get to victory lane for this team? "Just continuing what we've been doing, we've been so good and we've really had a great season. We don't have a lot to show for it, but we've got a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum and fast race cars. Hopefully we can get to victory lane here soon."

How special was your 'Catwalk for a Cause' event last week? "It was a great week and it's always great to put on that event. This year it was bigger than ever. So much support from so many people and the kids were tremendous as always. It's really inspiring to see them get out there and do that, it's just a humbling deal to be able to put that on."

How does it feel to be on the pole for the Coca-Cola 600? "It feels awesome. Obviously proud of my team for the effort. We really had to work pretty hard for it today. It was just one of them Charlotte deals where things were continuously changing and we were just chasing the race track and changing the car. Just really never got it really close to right until that last adjustment so really just proud of the effort, proud of my guys for that and it feels good – 600 miles, that first pit stall. We're going to be on pit road a lot Sunday night and that's certainly going to be an advantage so we'll take advantage of it and hope it works for us. Looking forward to getting to work on Saturday and hopefully we'll be good for Sunday night."

Do you have more confidence coming to intermediate tracks with your recent performance? "We did that last weekend and it didn't work out for us. This sport's tough, things are constantly changing with the tire this time, it's a lot different than last year's tire and that kind of caught us off guard this weekend and five laps of practice didn't help. We learned a lot last weekend that I feel has already helped us today. Hopefully it will continue to help us throughout the weekend, but our cars have been so good and our team has been doing such a great job and it definitely gives you a good feeling coming to tracks like this. Hopefully if we can do all the right things on Sunday I think we'll definitely be one of the guys to be able to contend for this thing. Just looking forward to the opportunity and hopefully we can work together and do what it takes to get our first win of the season."

Is it unusual to not be as fast in the first two rounds and have it all come together in the final round? "I don't know, I don't think it's unusual, it was changing quite a bit throughout each run and we were making some pretty big adjustments. We didn't feel like our first run was very good. Really the first two rounds didn't put together a very good lap on my end and then the car just wasn't where I needed it to be. Fixing the problems I had and the problems with the car, it just came together when it counted. Like I said, just proud of my team for what they did and I've got so much confidence in them, I just tell them what I need and they go to work on it and it seems like they're always able to give it to me. That's a great feeling and it's a lot of fun at the race track when you have that going on. I know our cars are fast and it's up to us to just do all the right things to put it together. Just proud of them for that and it's definitely fun. It's a fun lap around here, in qualifying trim this place is really fast. It was cool, it was a lot of fun today. We worked hard and we changed a lot today so it says a lot about our group and what they're doing right now."

Did you believe the car was strong enough to contend for the pole tonight? "I don't know, I really didn't think about it. I just focused on what I thought we needed to do better, focused on trying to give the right information to my crew chief and my engineer and then it's ultimately up to them to make the final decision what we do to the race car. That's really what we focused on. I don't think we ever put odds on our chances or anything like that, it's just a constant battle of trying to figure out how we can be better. At Kansas, we got the pole a few weeks ago there and I guess really didn't see it coming there either, but you never know. We went from 12th the first round to first in the third round so you never know what people are doing, what they're working on, how good their car is, how bad it is so you just have to continue to work and try to get better every time you go on the race track."

Does having a down day tomorrow impact the race team? "I don't think it makes a difference to the driver. I think an extra day out of town for the crews, well most of the guys are in town here so it helps them, but our guys are from Denver so it's another day away from home for them so it's a little more difficult for our guys I guess than everybody else. Everybody else is going to drive home tonight and sleep in their own bed. From our end, I don't think it changes at all really. Get ready to go on Saturday and come back and do our own deal."

Was the pickup in the third round the track changing or your adjustments or a combination of both? "I'd say it was a little bit of both. I think the track was getting better and we saw all the top fast guys and I think everybody picked up in the last round and we just happened to be able to pick up more. It was both, the track got faster for sure, but we made good adjustments on our race car for sure and got better that way. Just put it all together when it counted. You never know how they're going to turn out, we've been doing the same thing for weeks and we got a pole a few weeks ago and now we got another one so it's just momentum. Things are working for us right now and we're confident in our decisions and its fun to race when you have that and things are going the way you need them to."

Did you notice a difference from last week to this week with the rule change on tow in the cars? "Honestly, it's really not a big difference – very, very small. I guess to try to help explain it a little bit, we took the rule last week was three-tenths less skew, at Kansas we had to take two-tenths out before qualifying to get through tech and we sat on the pole. It's really small, the rules changes coming for next year are really big – the rules changes from last year to this year are big. I would say that skew change was very, very minimal and honestly if it's a few hundredths of a second, it would be a lot so it's a very small change."

Is this a high point to your season? "We've had a lot of strong points this year, a lot of good moments, we've led a lot of laps and this is our second pole. It's obvious that our speed wasn't just a come and go type of thing, we've been fast everywhere every week. We obviously feel like we've let a few wins slip away so I wouldn't say this is the high point, but it's definitely a good feeling. Anytime your car is fast and you're getting poles and you're leading laps, that's where you want to be as a driver, that's where you want to be as a team. Now we just have to put it all together on Sunday and hopefully lead the last lap. We've led plenty of others, we just need to get that last one."

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing:
How was the car in qualifying? "Pretty good, I think in qualifying we've really been pretty good this year and that's been kind of par for us. We really plan to concentrate on Saturday and getting our car good on the long run, that's really where we've been struggling most of the season. We've got a new setup idea and we'll see if it works and really excited to get to Saturday, I want to get to practice and see what they've come up with."

Does it mean anything to you that you've made the final 12 in qualifying all season thus far? "It's just a stat thing, obviously we have a great average start this year. If I could switch the average start with the average finish, I'd do it."

CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 Subway Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing: Starting Position: 9th

How was the car in qualifying? "I think we had something that we just couldn't get worked out of it. In qualifying I think we did pretty well considering. It's a good starting spot and considering we have 600 miles to get where we deserve to be, but just truly cool to be driving the Subway Toyota this weekend. Just a lot of neat things they're doing for our troops. Hopefully we can give them a good show."

Jimmie Johnson was fastest among the Chevrolet drivers in qualifying for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  The six time NSCS champion posted the seventh fastest lap with a time of 190.282 mph/ 28.379 seconds in his No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet SS.   Johnson leads all drivers with seven victories at the 1.5-mile track.

Kevin Harvick posted his 10th top-10 qualifying effort of the season, by posting the eighth fastest time of the third and final round in the knock-out style qualifying session in the No. 4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet SS.

Paul Menard earned his third trip thus far in 2016 to the final qualifying round in the No. 27 Knauf/Menards Chevrolet SS and will start 11th in the series longest race.

Rookie of the Year Contender, Chase Elliott, piloted the No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet SS to a 12th-place starting spot.  Elliott was the quickest rookie qualifier and rounded out the Chevy power in the top tier of qualifying for one of NASCAR's crown jewel races, the Coca-Cola 600.

Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota) was the pole winner, Joey Logano (Ford) qualified second, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (Ford) qualified third, Denny Hamlin (Toyota) qualified fourth, and Brad Keselowski (Ford) was fifth to round out the Top 5.

Chevrolet Post Qualifying Quotes:

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S PATRIOTIC CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 7th "The stability in the track was improving. I had a couple more tenths in the lap time. I just overdrove the car in that last run. Our car was really good and I've got to take the blame for only getting P7 in the third round. I had a great (Turns) 1 and 2 and got extremely greedy in the short conversation I had with myself on the backstretch and blew Turns 3 and 4. This one's on me. To make a big mistake like that and still end up P7, we'll take it.  It's a very exciting weekend. It's great to be racing at home and to have this beautiful race car. Something that's really cool is that Lowe's is giving 10 percent off to all the men and women that serve our country. So if you need something, head to the store."

HOW IMPORTANT IS PIT STALL SELECTION? BEING NUMBER 7 IN A LONG RACE, DOES IT REALLY MATTER? "It's a long race but you just want to increase your chances and your odds. The better the pit pick, the better your starting track position. The pit pick is probably more useful and helpful than the track position at the start of the race, but we'll take anything we can get."

DO YOU WANT TO GET BACK TO VICTORY LANE HERE IN CHARLOTTE? "Yeah, it's been a while. We all love racing here. Hendrick Motorsports has quite a history here. Our race shop is just a mile down the road and it's wonderful news that Mr. Hendrick just got inducted into the Hall of Fame. A win here would be great."

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 JIMMY JOHN'S CHEVROLET SS – Qualified 8th "We just guessed that the pace would pick up like it has every year that I've ever been here. So, I think we were just off on our travels and just kind of had to deal with what we had; slip-sliding around a little bit more than we expected and the speeds being slower. So, we just missed it a little bit. But still, we're where we need to be up at the front of the field."

PAUL MENARD, NO. 27 KNAUF/MENARDS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 11TH "We made a lot of gains today.  We struggled a little bit in practice.  We made some good adjustments to get it better in practice and then some more for qualifying.  I just screwed up my last run.  I felt like the car was definitely top 10 capable.  I think we wound up 11th, but I lost a bunch of time off of Turn 4 just drove a push into it."

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 12TH  "I thought it was a good effort, obviously, hate to make the last round and be last in the last round.  We kind of threw a Hail Mary at it there at the end to try to help our car to drive better from that last round to make it as close to perfect as we could get it.  It just didn't work out.  We will kind of take that knowledge and try to move forward.  I am encouraged by how our car drove last week, which I think is good.  I hope that translates to Sunday going into the nighttime you are going to spend some of the race during the day, so that will be a little bit different.  I was encouraged by how our car drove last week so hopefully carry some of that to the race on Sunday."

WHAT MORE DID YOU NEED? "We got down and hit the race track there in (Turns) 1 and 2.  We were getting aggressive on our air pressures trying to squeeze the most out of it as we could.  It just didn't work out, but like I said you hate to be last in the last round, but 12th is a decent spot for picking pits on Sunday.  Which 600 miles is a long race, it's also a lot of time spent on pit road.  Hopefully, if we can make it to the end of the race we will try to have a decent pit box for the race on Sunday."

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 WHELEN CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 14TH - "We ended up 14th and it wasn't what we wanted being 11th in practice.  Didn't really change a whole lot and I think the track changed more than we thought it was going to.  Our Whelen Chevrolet was… I feel like we are going to have a good car, we just didn't have as good of a car as we needed to here in qualifying."

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 25TH  - WHAT WERE YOU FIGHTING IN QUALIFYING?  "Just being frustrated.  We weren't good when we unloaded and we never really got better, not good enough to make the next round I guess.  Qualifying has been rough on us all year and we showed up pretty far off.  Just real hard to get it dialed in there."

JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – "We never say die, that's for sure.  We keep pushing to the end.  That's what I love about my team.  It's like, 'We're second.  We're gonna go again.'  It's sometimes a last-ditch effort.  Most of the times it never works, but we try hard and that makes us feel better so we keep pushing at it.  Overall, the Shell/Pennzoil Ford was really fast.  We showed that with winning the first two rounds, but we just didn't win the most important one at the end.  A front row starting spot is nice for a 600-mile race.  We can get a good pit stall because we're gonna be in the pits a lot.  I'm excited about the speed we have in the car.  It's continued from week to week from the All-Star Race, so we'll see what we've got."  THE TIRE GAVE UP BUT YOU STILL WENT FASTER AS THE SUN WENT DOWN.  "Yeah, isn't that pretty cool?  The track changes so much here at Charlotte, and this tire is what we've all been asking for.  This tire gives up like we've been asking, but it was still interesting because we'd still go a little bit faster every round as the track would cool down, but the tires are wearing down so it's all about how hard you can push the car with something you keep thinking about inside the car.  You're saying, 'How hard can I go,' and what the adjustments need to be.  If you're going faster, the car is gonna travel more.  Are we gonna hit the race track?  All of those things you have to weigh out before you go back on the race track, so it was a fun qualifying session for that reason."

TREVOR BAYNE – No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion – "We're in 10th again and like I said a couple of weeks ago we're kind of disappointed with 10th.  That's a refreshing thing to be disappointed with and all of our teammates – third, sixth and 10th – that's a pretty good day for Roush Fenway Racing.  That's kind of back to where we were in 2011, '12 when things were looking up for us.  We're glad to be headed the right direction.  We just missed the balance a little bit in my car.  It has speed in it and it definitely had enough speed to be a pole car today if we just hit the balance right.  We maybe over-adjusted a little bit and expected too much out of the race track with cool temps.  We were just overall too tight and didn't have enough adjustment in the car.  We got it too free in trying, but it's a really good day for our AdvoCare Ford.  We can see the front from there and hopefully we can work our way to it."

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 Cheez-It Ford Fusion – "That last lap I messed up a little bit.  I didn't get to the bottom getting into three.  I don't know what happened, but like the guys said it's good to be disappointed with sixth.  I think we had a chance at the front row for sure.  I beat them in one and two, I promise.  I think I beat the 78 and the 22 in one and two, but I didn't turn to the bottom in three and four and gave up some speed down there."  YOU WERE FAST HERE A YEAR AGO, BUT EVEN FASTER THIS YEAR.  WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?  "Our cars are way better this year.  We're not there yet, which kind of shows, but we're a lot closer.  Now the important thing is 30-lap speed.  We've got one-lap speed.  Now we just need to translate that into 30-lap speed and that's gonna really be the key for us."

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion – PRESS CONFERENCE – YOU MUST BE ENCOURAGED ABOUT TODAY.  "No doubt.  Being in the top four in every session there was really big for us.  We've been fast at times in qualifying, but never put every round together and stayed that consistent, so I'm really proud of the team for the adjustments that they made throughout the qualifying session there.  We just missed it a little bit, but we know where to go work on it to get it better.  Now our job is to get it better on Saturday for a long 600 miles and make sure that we've got some adjustability in it.  It's something that I feel like we've struggled with.  If I could point out one thing that we've struggled with this year it's making the car better throughout the race.  That's one thing we've been talking about all week and will continue to talk about and try to figure out come Saturday's practices and getting ready for Sunday."

WHAT'S THE MAIN AREA OF IMPROVEMENT THAT YOU GUYS AT ROUSH FENWAY HAVE PICKED UP ON THIS YEAR SO FAR?  "I feel like it's everything, but I think we've gotten better with our mechanical grip, our aero department.  I feel like our simulation has gotten better.  The engineers that we've brought in and the leadership that we have in each department has been better.  The way the shop is run.  We changed everything this off-season and I feel like so far everything is for the better and we're trending in the right direction.  We still have a long ways to go, but I'm definitely encouraged with how everything has been so far this year.  We're still not exactly where we need to be, but everybody is continuing to work.  I think a lot of things this off-season that changed and then seeing it pay off early in the season kept everybody motivated to work harder and work harder together, and I think that's the big thing at Roush Fenway.  With our Fastenal extension this week was another boost of confidence in the shop with all the team as well."

HOW MUCH TIME DID YOU DEVOTE TO QUALIFYING SETUP IN PRACTICE?  "We started off in qualifying trim for a couple reasons.  We wanted to make sure we got a good qualifying spot, which that paid off.  But I would say 98 percent of the cars were in qualifying trim today.  We all kind of had the same idea, but another thing was we can transfer one set of tires to the race and this being a race where we have 12 sets of tires, I believe, we do about 12 to 13 pit stops, so now we can transfer a set of stickers to the race.  That will give us an extra set of tires come Sunday.  If we would have done a race run today, and then jumped over and tried to do qualifying, we might not have had that extra set of tires, so that's another reason why we stayed in qualifying trim.  We did five runs today and they were all qualifying runs."

DOES THAT CONCERN YOU AS FAR AS TIME TO DEVOTE TO YOUR RACE PACKAGE?  "There are a couple ways to do it.  Some people like to go out in race runs and build their qualifying package off their race runs.  There are teams like the 48 that do qualifying runs every Friday and no race runs, and then build a race package off their qualifying setup.  I think the 18 was really the only top car that did go out and do race runs today, so I would say one car has a head start on us.  I don't feel too concerned about it.  I was really happy with the way today went.  I think today qualifying third and starting a 600-mile race on the second row in a really good pit box when you're stopping 12 or 13 times is definitely a big advantage."

THIS IS YOUR BEST QUALIYFING EFFORT SINCE KANSAS IN 2013.  WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?  "It feels good.  We've had some solid qualifying efforts this year.  The speed has been in the car.  Our average starting position is way up so far this year, and that's been good for us.  I'm really happy about that.  We're going in the right direction.  It was cool to see we had a lot of Fords in the Top 10 in that final round.  That was awesome to see as well.  We're continuing to be better.  We want to qualify first every week if we can.  That's always the goal although sometimes it doesn't work out that way, but that's the mindset going into every qualifying session and this year we're just a lot closer."

HOW HAS YOUR PERFORMANCE AFFECTED YOU IN YOUR CONFIDENCE?  "The last couple of years was rough.  I still felt like I could do it, but we weren't getting it done on the race track, so then obviously you kind of wonder what you need to get the job done.  Luckily for me, everybody at Roush Fenway never really talked about giving up on me.  Everybody believed in my ability to get the job done and we kept working on our process and our program to get the job done with getting better race cars and I felt like I was really in the shop and really engaged with the guys to get our cars better and still am.  I think all of us drivers at Roush Fenway have been a lot more hands-on so far this year versus the last couple years, which has been paying off as well because the 17 team can't do it by ourselves.  That's been a key role, but definitely this year has built back the confidence that I feel like I belong here and know what I'm doing."

JOEY LOGANO PRESS CONFERENCE – WHAT'S IT GOING TO TAKE TO BE THERE ON SUNDAY AFTER 600 MILES?  "A lot.  This is a great start for us.  You look at 600 miles and you may say qualifying doesn't matter much, but we're gonna spend a lot of time on pit road in this race, so the pit stall is gonna mean a lot for us.  We'll have a good one.  We won't have as good of a one as if we were able to get the pole, but we'll get the second-best stall in our opinion.  Overall, our car has speed.  It's transferred over from last weekend, at least in qualifying trim.  We'll see what happens when we get back here on Saturday and get back in race trim, but overall our Shell/Pennzoil Ford is so fast.  It's still a race track we feel Todd and I have a hold on and an understanding what we need to do to go fast.  We just came up a little bit short the last round.  It was kind of tough after you've won the first two rounds.  You feel like you've won it twice and you really want to get it the third time, but, unfortunately, just came up a little bit short.  It is what it is."

HOW MUCH DOES SATURDAY CARRY INTO THIS WEEK AND WHERE ON THE FINAL LAP DID YOU MISS IT THAT COST YOU THE POLE?  "I think the confidence is high.  Our momentum is going.  We're rolling again.  It feels like last year.  I think maybe some of these rule changes have fallen into our hands as a team, maybe it's fallen into my hands as a driver and what it takes, I don't know, but overall it's working so we're not gonna complain about that.  Where did I miss it?  I got a little bit tight landing in one, and a little bit free off.  It wasn't much and then three and four I thought was a pretty good corner, so I would say most of it was down in one and two – probably at landing and through the center is where I lost most of my momentum.  It's not much.  Half-a-tenth of a second doesn't take long."

WHY DIDN'T SPEEDS PICK UP FROM PRACTICE?  "I felt like I was going faster, that's all I know.  That's interesting.  I guess I would say that maybe he was up in the second lane in practice and there wasn't much rubber in the second lane, and we ran a whole XFINITY practice and cars were all the way up to the wall rubbering in the whole race track, so maybe that took some of that advantage away that he was in the second lane.  At the beginning of qualifying it definitely cooled off from practice.  I went faster than I did in practice, I know that, but I thought it was interesting because the tire was a lot of fun.  There is a lot of tire fall-off with this tire and we saw it last weekend.  The cars are dropping off in speed.  This is what we want.  This is what we're asking for and Goodyear has delivered this weekend, so we're really excited about that.  Qualifying was really interesting because the sun is going down and it's going faster, and your tire wear is growing so it was just a fun little guessing match on how hard you can push your car and what's gonna happen with travels and all that while you're out there.  It was a lot to think about when you went through to qualify this time."

HOW IS YOUR XFINITY CAR AND WILL IT HELP FOR SUNDAY?  "My XFINITY car is not very good.  That's really the only way to put it right now.  I hope it gets better.  We've got a couple days to think about it and talk about it, so that's good.  Maybe we'll come up with something.  It's no secret we've been struggling over there with speed in that race car, so I think we're making small gains.  It's not great yet, but if all scenarios play out right we can race for a win.  To transfer notes it's less and less as the Cup cars take downforce off their cars.  As you take drag off and downforce the Cup cars just tend to drive more different.  Yes, you can take some things but the cars have become more different than they used to be."

WHAT HAVE YOU FORD GUYS FOUND OF LATE?  "There's never one thing in this sport that is just, 'Boom,' faster.  It's a bunch of little things that are added up.  I can't speak for Roush Fenway on what makes their cars go fast.  I don't live in their shop, but for us I know it's just constant hard work, it's constant finding a little gain here and a little gain there.  If it's a little bit of aero, if it's a little bit of something in the suspension, if it's maybe a little bit of motor.  It all adds up slowly but surely, but it does seem like maybe the rules change has kind of helped us a little bit, and that's one thing that is constant for everybody across the field and how you adapt to those changes is crucial.  We see this all the time that the first one to figure something out has an advantage for a short amount of time because they catch up really, really quick.  We've got to capitalize while we feel like we've got some good speed in our cars right now."

YOU SAID THE GOODYEAR TIRE SEEMED BETTER AS THE SESSION WENT ON.  CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT?  "The tire wasn't better, we went faster.  The tire wore more, but the track cooled down, so we actually went faster.  Maybe I screwed up.  I usually say something I shouldn't say, so that was probably what happened.  What I meant to say is the tires are wearing a lot, but the track was cooling down so we actually went faster – which maybe I meant better by saying that.  There's a lot of tire wear, but the tires did not get better, the track got better."

BUT YOU WERE MORE COMFORTABLE?  "It was basically the same.  We went fairly close to the same speed in all three rounds – within a tenth-and-a-half or two-tenths, so it wasn't huge like we would have seen if it was hot the whole time.  You would have seen big fall-off."

Time Trial Results: 57th Annual COCA-COLA 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway

Track Qualifying Record: Kyle Busch: 10/11/14; 27.357 sec, 197.39 mph

Qualifying Round 3
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota, 28.077, 192.328, 1, 1, 0.000, 0.000
2) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 28.124, 192.007, 1, 2, 0.047, 0.047
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 28.209, 191.428, 1, 1, 0.132, 0.085
4) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 28.215, 191.388, 1, 1, 0.138, 0.006
5) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 28.277, 190.968, 1, 1, 0.200, 0.062
6) Greg Biffle, No. 16 Cheez-It Ford, 28.346, 190.503, 1, 1, 0.269, 0.069
7) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.379, 190.282, 1, 1, 0.302, 0.033
8) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet, 28.381, 190.268, 1, 1, 0.304, 0.002
9) Carl Edwards, No. 19 Subway Toyota, 28.443, 189.853, 1, 1, 0.366, 0.062
10) Trevor Bayne, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, 28.483, 189.587, 1, 1, 0.406, 0.040
11) Paul Menard, No. 27 Knauf/Menards Chevrolet, 28.547, 189.162, 1, 1, 0.470, 0.064
12) Chase Elliott #, No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 28.729, 187.963, 1, 1, 0.652, 0.182

Qualifying Round 2
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 28.159, 191.768, 1, 1, 0.000, 0.000
2) Greg Biffle, No. 16 Cheez-It Ford, 28.180, 191.625, 1, 1, 0.021, 0.021
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 28.185, 191.591, 1, 1, 0.026, 0.005
4) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 28.222, 191.340, 1, 1, 0.063, 0.037
5) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota, 28.229, 191.293, 1, 1, 0.070, 0.007
6) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet, 28.240, 191.218, 1, 1, 0.081, 0.011
7) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.274, 190.988, 1, 1, 0.115, 0.034
8) Trevor Bayne, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, 28.280, 190.948, 1, 1, 0.121, 0.006
9) Paul Menard, No. 27 Knauf/Menards Chevrolet, 28.285, 190.914, 1, 1, 0.126, 0.005
10) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 28.294, 190.853, 1, 1, 0.135, 0.009
11) Carl Edwards, No. 19 Subway Toyota, 28.378, 190.288, 1, 1, 0.219, 0.084
12) Chase Elliott #, No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 28.392, 190.194, 1, 1, 0.233, 0.014
13) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/HsAtmtn Chev, 28.404, 190.114, 1, 3, 0.245, 0.012
14) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Whelen Chevrolet, 28.432, 189.927, 1, 1, 0.273, 0.028
15) AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Harris Teeter/Bush's Beans Chevrolet, 28.443, 189.853, 1, 1, 0.284, 0.011
16) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 28.448, 189.820, 1, 3, 0.289, 0.005
17) Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 28.448, 189.820, 1, 3, 0.289, 0.000
18) Ryan Blaney #, No. 21* Motorcraft/Quick Lane TrandAtCntr Ford, 28.450, 189.807, 3, 3, 0.291, 0.002
19) Danica Patrick, No. 10 Nature's Bakery Chevrolet, 28.492, 189.527, 1, 3, 0.333, 0.042
20) Aric Almirola, No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford, 28.530, 189.274, 1, 1, 0.371, 0.038
21) Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet, 28.543, 189.188, 1, 1, 0.384, 0.013
22) Chris Buescher #, No. 34 CSX - Play It Safe Ford, 28.621, 188.673, 1, 1, 0.462, 0.078
23) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Cessna/McDonald's Chevrolet, 28.646, 188.508, 1, 3, 0.487, 0.025
24) Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 28.734, 187.931, 1, 3, 0.575, 0.088

Qualifying Round 1
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 28.224, 191.327, 1, 1, 0.000, 0.000
2) Ryan Blaney #, No. 21* Motorcraft/QuickLaneTireandAutoCenter Ford, 28.238, 191.232, 1, 1, 0.014, 0.014
3) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/HsAtmtn Chev, 28.245, 191.184, 1, 1, 0.021, 0.007
4) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 28.306, 190.772, 1, 1, 0.082, 0.061
5) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 28.325, 190.644, 1, 1, 0.101, 0.019
6) Aric Almirola, No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford, 28.326, 190.638, 1, 1, 0.102, 0.001
7) Greg Biffle, No. 16 Cheez-It Ford, 28.333, 190.590, 1, 1, 0.109, 0.007
8) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 28.345, 190.510, 1, 1, 0.121, 0.012
9) Chase Elliott #, No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 28.355, 190.443, 1, 1, 0.131, 0.010
10) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet, 28.376, 190.302, 1, 1, 0.152, 0.021
11) Paul Menard, No. 27 Knauf/Menards Chevrolet, 28.382, 190.261, 1, 1, 0.158, 0.006
12) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Toyota, 28.383, 190.255, 1, 1, 0.159, 0.001
13) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.422, 189.994, 1, 1, 0.198, 0.039
14) Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 28.436, 189.900, 1, 1, 0.212, 0.014
15) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 28.470, 189.673, 1, 1, 0.246, 0.034
16) Carl Edwards, No. 19 Subway Toyota, 28.473, 189.653, 1, 1, 0.249, 0.003
17) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Whelen Chevrolet, 28.475, 189.640, 1, 1, 0.251, 0.002
18) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Cessna/McDonald's Chevrolet, 28.494, 189.514, 1, 1, 0.270, 0.019
19) Tony Stewart, No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet, 28.504, 189.447, 1, 1, 0.280, 0.010
20) Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 28.535, 189.241, 1, 1, 0.311, 0.031
21) AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Harris Teeter/Bush's Beans Chevrolet, 28.541, 189.201, 1, 1, 0.317, 0.006
22) Trevor Bayne, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, 28.546, 189.168, 1, 1, 0.322, 0.005
23) Danica Patrick, No. 10 Nature's Bakery Chevrolet, 28.556, 189.102, 1, 1, 0.332, 0.010
24) Chris Buescher #, No. 34 CSX - Play It Safe Ford, 28.581, 188.937, 1, 3, 0.357, 0.025
25) Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 28.594, 188.851, 1, 3, 0.370, 0.013
26) Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-hour Energy Chevrolet, 28.623, 188.659, 3, 3, 0.399, 0.029
27) Matt Kenseth, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota, 28.642, 188.534, 3, 3, 0.418, 0.019
28) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Cheerios Chevrolet, 28.645, 188.515, 1, 3, 0.421, 0.003
29) Kasey Kahne, No. 5 LiftMaster Chevrolet, 28.666, 188.376, 3, 3, 0.442, 0.021
30) Brian Scott #, No. 44 Twisted Tea Ford, 28.721, 188.016, 1, 3, 0.497, 0.055
31) Regan Smith, No. 7 Nikko RC/Toy State Chevrolet, 28.803, 187.480, 3, 3, 0.579, 0.082
32) Michael McDowell, No. 95 Thrivent Financial Chevrolet, 28.836, 187.266, 1, 3, 0.612, 0.033
33) Landon Cassill, No. 38 MDS Transport/We Hire Vets Ford, 28.846, 187.201, 3, 3, 0.622, 0.010
34) Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Hope For The Warriors/Cosmo Motors Toyota, 28.884, 186.955, 3, 3, 0.660, 0.038
35) David Ragan, No. 23 Bubba Burger Toyota, 28.911, 186.780, 2, 2, 0.687, 0.027
36) Cole Whitt, No. 98* Vydox Plus Chevrolet, 29.097, 185.586, 1, 1, 0.873, 0.186
37) Josh Wise, No. 30* Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet, 29.479, 183.181, 3, 3, 1.255, 0.382
38) Michael Annett, No. 46 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 29.494, 183.088, 1, 3, 1.270, 0.015
39) Jeffrey Earnhardt #, No. 32 Can-Am Ford, 29.881, 180.717, 3, 3, 1.657, 0.387
40) Reed Sorenson, No. 55* World Record Striper Company Chevrolet, 30.095, 179.432, 1, 1, 1.871, 0.214

John Davison

Long-time RIS staffer, beginning in the mid-80s. Charlotte, NC area local contact.

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Volume 2016, Issue 5, Posted 10:22 PM, 05.26.2016