Kyle Busch Starts Coke 600 From Pole

Kyle Busch Adds Third CMS Pole to Record

(CONCORD, NC – MAY 24, 2018 – RIS) Kyle Busch sped to the pole position for Sunday’s Coca Cola 600, the longest race on the NASCAR Monster Energy Series schedule. The pole winning lap time was nearly a tenth of a second quicker than second-place Joey Logano’s time, followed by Denny Hamlin in third, Erik Jones in fourth and Brad Keselowski fifth. The top Chevrolet qualifier, Ryan Newman, will start off in sixth place Sunday. In a somewhat surprising development, Kevin Harvick, dominant so far in the 2018 season, will start off on the last row, after his car failed to pass inspection. RODNEY CHILDERS, Crew Chief, No. 4 Mobil 1/Busch Ford Fusion commented on the situation: “I think it’s something that’s been building throughout the year and at some point you had to get back control of it.  There were some things in the garage that basically the template side of it wasn’t getting used and straight edges weren’t getting used and we were just purely going off the OSS, and that was fine until it somewhat starts getting out of hand.  They changed some things around last week and some personnel around and positions around and started checking things differently.  The whole garage had trouble last week, but we all got through it and I’ll be honest with you, we worked on this thing for 12 hours on Monday trying to get all of it how they wanted it.  We felt good about it when we unloaded it.  We went through there and the hotel was green and everything was good, and then we went back through for qualifying and it was red.  We sanded on it and it was more red, and we sanded on it again and it was more red, so that part of it I don’t understand.  That part is disappointing, but it’s not their fault. Everybody is gonna push things as much as they can and I think everybody knows that the 4 team is out to push things as much as they can and win races, so it’s disappointing to start in the back. It’s disappointing not to have Cheddar (Smith, car chief) here, but we’ll get through it as a race team and we’ll have a good car on Sunday.”

Driver quotes: KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Red White & Blue Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Qualifying Position: 1st- What worked for you today in qualifying? “Pure talent. All the around. The whole team, team talent. Guys did a great job. We weren’t very good in practice. We were off a little bit. You know we could only run a 70 and we ran it three times in a row and that wasn’t going to do it. That wasn’t going to be fast enough, so everybody went to work and did a really good job, so Adam (Stevens, crew chief) gave me a piece there that we could come out here and sit on the pole with and carry that Red White & Blue M&M’s Camry to the front so looking forward to keeping it there and having a great day on Sunday.

What do you need to work on Saturday so you’re standing in victory lane on Sunday? “The biggest thing here is just the bumps. It’s just getting rougher with each and every year and winter and everything. The seasons that kind of go by here. We’re all going to be fighting the weather this weekend. It seems a little bit of some uncertainty there, but overall with the speed in our race car right now, once you get the balance right, the car has speed so you just got to keep it there. It seems like our box might be a little bit smaller than some other guys, but when we do get it there, it shows up.”

Did you save the best lap for that last lap in the final round of qualifying? “We certainly did. The M&M’s Camry was fast and it felt pretty good. The guys did an amazing job in practice, we weren’t very good in practice and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and the boys went to work. Fortunately today I got extra track time so I have my Xfinity guys to thank for a little bit of that today. It’s all good because it’s pure talent all the way around – all these guys. Just feels good. This is a race that you always enjoy coming to at Charlotte. I haven’t won here in a points-paying event here I guess so it would certainly be nice to get that done here this weekend with the 600.”

Do you put more pressure on yourself for this race? “Yes and no. You can only do so much with the stuff that you’ve got and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing has been doing a great job and working hard to put together some better stuff each and every week and to get us closer to those other guys that are a bit faster. That’s all we can do is put our heads together and try to make the most of it. That’s what Adam and these guys did today from practice to qualifying. You look at it and I ran the same speed each time and that was all she had, there was nothing more in it so we went to work and science a few things out there it seems so hopefully it translates to race trim like that and we can have a good practice on Saturday.”

How important has it become for you to win here at Charlotte in a points race? “It’s important to me, but I’m not sure it’s important in the grand scheme of things. It’s certainly important to me and I would love to get that knocked out of the way and to be finished with it until another new track comes up on the circuit and certainly it’s been a trying time here over the course of my career and to have it come to fruition in a points race, the last I checked I have a trophy at home that says, ‘winner at Charlotte Motor Speedway,’ so I’ll take that to my grave with me if I do never get a points win here. That will be my saving grace I guess.”

How were you so consistent through all three rounds of qualifying? “We saw that in practice with our speeds from practice. We ran three runs and all three runs were the same speed, they didn’t change. We ran it on two separate sets of tires and we were running the same speed. The car was kind of like, that’s all it’s got and it was slow so we were kind of worried going into the qualifying session that it wouldn’t have the speed that we needed to qualify up front. Adam and the guys did an amazing job of making some really good, really smart changes of giving us what we needed there to be faster and tried a little different technique on my part to see if I could get some speed out of it as well and it just came together. Hopefully the stuff that we learned to make our car faster will translate into race trim and we can keep ourselves where we need to be for an entire 400 laps.”

What strategy do you use to get through 600 miles? “It just changes so much here, that’s the thing. (Martin) Truex Jr. did it a couple years ago and we’d love to have a night like that. I’m sure the grandstands certainly wouldn’t. You just have to be mindful of kind of what’s going on and let things happen and let the race come to you. If we’re the ones that can be up front for much of it then that’s fine. There’s portions of the race though that when you’re running up front and leading laps in the daytime, that’s not to say that you’re going to be leading laps at night and vice versa. I’ve started in the back here and I’ve been good and I’ve started in the front and been bad. You just have to take it in stride and go through the transitions of the track changes and keep up with it with your crew chief.”

ERIK JONES, No. 20 Circle K Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing, Qualifying Position: 4th- You’ll be in the Xfinity booth on Saturday afternoon. Are you prepared for that and what have you done to get ready for that? “I don’t know if I’m prepared, but I have got some good notes that some fine folks sent over from Fox Sports 1. They’ve been kind to me and sending me some help and Adam’s (Alexander) been helping me I guess the best he can. It’ll be fun. It’s my first time in the booth doing play by play, so I’m looking forward to the experience.”

What did you think about your car and what was it like going up in the traction compound for the first time? “Our car was good. It had good speed and it had good speed earlier, so I was thinking the Circle K Camry was going to drive good, but wasn’t sure where we were going to end up for qualifying. It’s a little nerve racking going up in there in the grip strip the first time if you haven’t run it all day and those guys, Kyle (Busch) he had been on it a little bit in Xfinity practice. I was a little nervous in the second round and then really nervous in the third round when I realized how much speed I needed to pick up to get close to Kyle. It was fun though. It’s fun moving around, trying to find different things and fortunately we had some pretty good speed in it.”

DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Qualifying Position: 10thWhat was the biggest difference in the rounds today? “Well, first time out I was running kind of like middle, bottom kind of thing. Second time out I saw a lot of guys actually making good lap times in the middle, top and I went up there and the car was actually faster, but it was way tighter and I don’t feel like we did a good job adjusting for that. We made an adjustment for that, but it wasn’t as big as I wanted, so I got extremely tight. It was a decent qualify, but the car was faster than that. We go with an idea, hopefully we can come back on Saturday with a good race setup and move to the front.”

It seems like you and the team have been doing really well together. Last week you finished second and now you come back this week with that good karma. “That was a tough one. When you finish fourth, fifth, third, you know you get it. You go to the next one excited, but when you finish second, that close, it hurts a little bit, but that’s part of racing. You have to learn from that and move to the next one. It was a lot of fun racing with that package. NASCAR did a hell of a job and now looking forward to race with a lot of horsepower, less downforce and try to do the same thing.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 78  Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - Qualifying Position: 15th What happened in the second round of qualifying? “We were really tight. We practiced good and in practice we never ran in the VHT at all and we just missed it there. Our first run we were tight and the second run we were tighter, but we made it in to round two and we just made our tires really mad. We made it through one and two there pretty good and then got to three and just no front tire grip. Just missed it a little bit today, but we’ll work on it Saturday and then we have a long race to go get them in.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 LIBERTY NATIONAL CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 6th - ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:  “It was a good run for our Liberty National Chevrolet Camaro.  The guys did a good job of making it better all day today. They worked really hard on this race car back at the shop. The guys at ECR did a good job.  We have still got some gap to close no doubt about that. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) has been a very dominant car both here and other race tracks in qualifying.  Huge improvement for us from where we have been and most recently our 1.5-mile test at Kentucky.  Just look forward to building upon this and having a car that drives good for 600 miles because that will make my shoulders and my knees run a little bit cooler.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 7th - GREAT STARTING SPOT AND A VERY SOLID QUALIFYING SESSION FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM: “I learned a little bit on the Xfinity side of kind of running in that substance on the race track and there was quite a bit of grip there.  So, I committed the first run to that and there was obviously a lot of grip up there.  And then, had a good last lap going and the No. 22 (Joey Logano) pulled out in front of me.  It wasn’t that close, but enough to mess me up just a little bit.  So, I gave up a little bit the last run, but overall it was a really good day for us.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 COCA-COLA CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 12th - BOTH RCR CARS IN THE TOP 12 A REALLY STRONG SHOWING FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION THIS EVENING: “Yeah, really pumped about the effort that we put in to these Coke 600 cars.  It paid off, obviously.  We actually had a car faster than that and we got on the splitter.  We just missed our travels.  I think we were capable of being right up there where (Ryan) Newman was top five.  So, that is huge for the Camaro camp.  At least we’ve got a direction and we will keep working hard to get there.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 COTTONELLE WAVY CLEAN RIPPLE CAMARO ZL1- Qualified 18th - ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:  “We are making progress on our cars.  Everybody at JTG Daugherty Racing is working hard.  We definitely elevated our qualifying game this year so that is good.  The track was interesting there.  You saw in the Xfinity practice that middle groove really started coming in showing good speed and you can see that the Cup guys that were running Xfinity this weekend they showed up in qualifying and went straight there and put laps down. So, there is speed up there and the benefit of being on track right beforehand knowing what was going to happen is big.  We tried it that second round and a lot of grip there.  If we could go back out and do it again we would probably make adjustments and make it work for a little more speed yet.  For us to be able to adapt I was happy with that through qualifying.  We are getting close to that third round. We made it a couple of times, just got to be there more consistently.” 

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 27th - DID YOU GUYS JUST MISTIME THAT LAST LAP AND NOT GET TO TAKE A SECOND SHOT AT IT?  “Yeah, we probably shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with.  Just kind of frustrated that first run, I got told that the fast guys had run the top and I tried it and it didn’t work.  I mean that’s my fault, I should have stuck with what I know, but our Nationwide 88 car is not bad, we shouldn’t be the far back, but we will be okay on Sunday.”

WAS THE TRACK A LOT DIFFERENT FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING?  “We just need to stick with what we know.  We should have never tried to move up there. That was pretty dumb on my part.  Definitely very frustrating, pretty unacceptable to qualify like that. Unacceptable to have some issues getting back out there.  We should have been able to make that turn around.  We will work on it.  I’ve got some really good guys and really smart people working on our race cars and we will get better.”

RODNEY CHILDERS, Crew Chief, No. 4 Mobil 1/Busch Ford Fusion – CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY YOU DIDN’T GET THROUGH INSPECTION? “I think it’s something that’s been building throughout the year and at some point you had to get back control of it. There were some things in the garage that basically the template side of it wasn’t getting used and straight edges weren’t getting used and we were just purely going off the OSS, and that was fine until it somewhat starts getting out of hand.  They changed some things around last week and some personnel around and positions around and started checking things differently.  The whole garage had trouble last week, but we all got through it and I’ll be honest with you, we worked on this thing for 12 hours on Monday trying to get all of it how they wanted it.  We felt good about it when we unloaded it.  We went through there and the hotel was green and everything was good, and then we went back through for qualifying and it was red. We sanded on it and it was more red, and we sanded on it again and it was more red, so that part of it I don’t understand.  That part is disappointing, but it’s not their fault.  Everybody is gonna push things as much as they can and I think everybody knows that the 4 team is out to push things as much as they can and win races, so it’s disappointing to start in the back.  It’s disappointing not to have Cheddar (Smith, car chief) here, but we’ll get through it as a race team and we’ll have a good car on Sunday.”

YOU’LL LOSE 30 MINUTES OF PRACTICE ON SUNDAY?  “The second practice session.”

IS THAT NOT AS BAD OF A PENALTY BECAUSE THE MORNING SESSION WILL BE MORE LIKE TRACK CONDITIONS ON SUNDAY?  “It doesn’t really matter.  You either got a good car or you don’t, and I’m guessing it’ll be pretty good. We’ll just have to serve our penalty and move on.”

WHAT DOES THE LOSS OF CHEDDAR MEAN TO THIS TEAM?  “The loss of Cheddar means I have to work a hell of a lot harder, but I was a car chief for many years.  I can do it as good as anybody can, so we’ll get through out, but we’ll miss him on Sunday.”

SO YOU DID NOT PASS THE OSS?  YOU MENTIONED TEMPLATES EARLIER.  “One thing affects the other.  In the beginning of the year it was strictly the OSS and trying to take the human element out of it and now we’re back to the human element of making sure quarterpanels are straight and rockers are straight.  The bad thing about the way that all of that system works is that if you change it in one spot it affects it in another spot. Metal is metal and it has to go somewhere.  The straight edge part we got by and was okay with that.  The real issue ended up begin the OSS and the right-rear tail.  That part is sometimes hard to explain.  We go through it at the shop with our OSS also. It’s just part of it.  We all have to learn from it.  We can be at the shop and sand a quarter-of-an-inch off and it doesn’t do anything and we can put a half-an-inch of mud on it and it doesn’t do anything.  You just kind of have to play that fine line every week of knowing what’s right and what’s wrong.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 PPG Ford Fusion – “Obviously, we’d like to be a little bit further up, but I didn’t get the best lap there at the end and hopefully we can be pretty decent in race trim.  We’ll have to wait until Saturday to find that out, so we’ll see.” 

HOW DID THE TRACK CHANGE FROM THE START OF QUALIFYING TO THE END WITH THE SUN GOING DOWN?  “We all moved up.  I ran the bottom the first round and a lot of people ran that middle and then we ended up all running the middle there.  Your car needed completely different stuff, so I wish we would have known that a little bit more, but I didn’t know we were gonna run the middle though.  I just ran the bottom the first round and wish we could have worked on it more, but that’s not a bad starting spot for Sunday.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “Trying to get through tech and rushing, that first round I kind of missed my marks and didn’t put a great lap together.  Thankfully, we squeaked through and then the next two rounds were much more methodical and a little more controlled and we had a chance to catch our breath and make some adjustments to the car.  It’s solid for sure.  It was a little hectic, but a solid starting spot for 600 miles.”

-- PRESS CONFERENCE --

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – HOW DOES SECOND SET YOU UP FOR WINNING?  “It helps. I came in here earlier talking about how important qualifying was and at the time we just got done with practice and we were around 20th on the speed chart and I was thinking, ‘Qualifying is important and we’re not very fast,’ but we made some good adjustments.  The track also changed a lot.  It’s hard for me to say what was the changes and what was the race track.  The XFINITY cars ran on that PJ1 a lot and definitely activated it and got the grip definitely up there, so it’s hard for me to say what was what, but, overall, the car got faster and that’s all I really care about.  We were able to get a good starting spot.  It’s not the pole.  We were a solid tenth off, but we improved every round in getting our car faster. I think it’s the best we’ve qualified all year, so that’s a good sign for us.  Hopefully, when we come back here on Saturday we’re able to adjust on our car a little bit and get it to where we can be good on the bottom, be good on the top and as the track changes like we just saw hopefully we’re good on both of those and that’s what we’ll work on and hopefully at the end of the day we’re winning the Coca-Cola 600.”

HAS THE TRACK GOTTEN BUMPIER SINCE LAST YEAR?  “We’re on a landfill.  My dad was a garbage man.  I learned a lot about these things and these things seem to fall in every now and again and there are a lot of bumps.  This track was bumpy before they repaved it and every time we come back here the bumps are getting worse and that on top of we’ve got the drop heights in the cars over the last couple of years, but still that makes it a little bit stiffer feeling from inside the car.  But I was talking to Todd in between practice and qualifying and I said, ‘Man, I kind of think this is the bumpiest race track we go to now.’  There’s no huge big bumps like Vegas has that big tunnel bump and all that, but it’s kind of like driving on a cobblestone road, like the lefts and the rights don’t tie together.  The car is shaking back and forth and it bounces your head around a lot, for sure.  You’re bouncing off the headrest back and forth and ride quality is important. There’s always a trade off to that from the aero side and grip side for some ride quality, so it’s a trade off, like we always have to figure out how to get that balance right, but that’s part of it is how do we make those right decisions and what will be right for 600 miles. It’s rough.  It’s brutal in there, but you’ve got to put up with it if you want to win.”

HOW MUCH OF THE RESULT IS WHAT YOU DO TO THE CAR VERSUS WAITING TO GO OUT AND ALL THE GAMESMANSHIP?  “There’s a lot of gamesmanship there.  I wish I could say it’s pure talent, but there’s a lot of thought that goes in behind that for my race team and helps me with that.  Every race track is a little bit different of when you want to go out there.  You think of tracks like Martinsville or Bristol is different than coming to a Charlotte or Dover and when you want to go out there and when we think the track is best.  Tonight, we saw Kyle go right out.  I went fairly late in the second round, which we just wanted our tires to cool a little bit more and the sun is going down, so you kind of have those things going for you, but as you wait more cars go out there and you have dirtier air, the track is fuller, the track might actually gain some temperature because there are cars out there.  You have to think about all this stuff, so it’s kind of fun in between qualifying sessions because you’re thinking about your car and what it’s going to do from round to round, and then you’re thinking about, ‘Okay, when is the right time to go out there on the race track and get the best race conditions out there for your best run you can get?’”

 “We bounce ideas off of each other.  I’m not quite good enough to do it all on my own, so I have to have a good team behind me to help me with that.  Todd and I and Miles and Logan, our engineers, we all kind of bounce ideas say, ‘I think this and I think that.’  It’s good.  I feel like I kind of help with some of what I feel down at the end of pit road when cars are pulling out there.  They can’t see all that and I kind of have an idea of when I think the track is best and we talk about that before qualifying.  We talk about it during qualifying depending on how our car is and things like that.”

YOU JOKED A COUPLE WEEKS AGO WITH MARTIN ABOUT LAST YEAR YOU WERE CHASING THE 78 AND THIS YEAR YOU”RE CHASING THE 4.  IN THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS DO YOU FEEL YOU’RE MAKING PROGESS ON THAT AND HOW FAR AWAY DO YOU FEEL FROM BEING ABLE TO GO TOE TO TOE?  “We’re not far – about a tenth (laughing). That’s all it really takes, too. This sport we’re so close all the time. It doesn’t take much to flip over and have a car that’s better than everybody and it’s all about peaking at the right time.  Everyone talks about peaking at the right time, but these days everyone is showing up with everything they’ve got.  It’s not like you’re holding something in the tank.  Every race means so much now.  The points that you’re able to gain for the Playoffs at the Coke 600 is way more important than it used to be.  It doesn’t carry just for the first round when we all said, ‘just don’t crash’ and you get through the first round.  Those points carry you through all the way to Miami, so every race is super-important and you can’t really afford to not bring everything you’ve got every week, which is great.  That’s the way racing should be.  You shouldn’t hold out.  You should bring the best thing you’ve got every week, bring your A-game whether it’s the car or the driver or the team, you’ve got to bring your best to compete against the best.  I think that’s why you kind of see some cars that are real dominant for a while and then it kind of switches back because everyone is just developing so quickly right now.”

DO YOU FEEL THE TOYOTAS HAVE FOUND SOMETHING TO GET A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE FORDS?  “I wouldn’t say the Toyotas have been off.  I think Kyle’s got three or four wins.  That’s a lot of wins.  I don’t think they’re off by no means.  I think it’s been a little overshadowed because Kevin has won a lot of races here recently, but I think the Toyotas have been fast the last few years. They’ve been really quick.  The Gibbs cars have been quick.  The 78 has been quick and now you see Kevin, who always has been one of the fastest cars every week, but they found a little bit. I think personally Penske and the 22 team in general has kind of gotten closer to where we need to be.  I’d say we’re comparable to where the Gibbs cars are right now – Team Penske is.  I think we’re about where that is, but we need to obviously keep improving.  The development cycle happens so quick that we’ve got to keep improving there.”

DOES IT HELP TO HAVE HARVICK IN THE BACK TO START SUNDAY?  “It sure don’t hurt (laughing).  We taking bets on how long it’s gonna take for him to get up there?  Where is the new betting thing?  Is that what we’re doing now?  Is that in the media center?  That’s funny.”

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Time Trial Results, 59th Annual COCA-COLA 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway

Qualifying Round: 1
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald's Chevrolet, 28.267, 191.035, 1, 1, 0.000, 0.000
2) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Red White & Blue Toyota, 28.407, 190.094, 1, 1, 0.140, 0.140
3) Erik Jones, No. 20 Circle K Toyota, 28.425, 189.974, 1, 1, 0.158, 0.018
4) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 PPG Ford, 28.463, 189.720, 1, 1, 0.196, 0.038
5) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy Ford, 28.481, 189.600, 1, 1, 0.214, 0.018
6) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 28.510, 189.407, 1, 1, 0.243, 0.029
7) Paul Menard, No. 21 Menards/Knauf Ford, 28.519, 189.347, 1, 1, 0.252, 0.009
8) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 28.539, 189.215, 1, 1, 0.272, 0.020
9) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 28.542, 189.195, 1, 1, 0.275, 0.003
10) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Stars Stripes and Lites Ford, 28.565, 189.043, 1, 1, 0.298, 0.023
11) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Liberty National Chevrolet, 28.579, 188.950, 1, 1, 0.312, 0.014
12) Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.588, 188.890, 1, 1, 0.321, 0.009
13) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 28.626, 188.640, 1, 1, 0.359, 0.038
14) Kyle Larson, No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet, 28.629, 188.620, 1, 1, 0.362, 0.003
15) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota, 28.632, 188.600, 3, 3, 0.365, 0.003
16) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.652, 188.469, 1, 1, 0.385, 0.020
17) Chris Buescher, No. 37 Cottonelle Wavy Clean Ripple Chevrolet, 28.652, 188.469, 1, 1, 0.385, 0.000
18) Daniel Suarez, No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 28.662, 188.403, 1, 1, 0.395, 0.010
19) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, No. 43 Kroger/Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 28.673, 188.330, 1, 1, 0.406, 0.011
20) Matt Kenseth, No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford, 28.685, 188.252, 1, 1, 0.418, 0.012
21) William Byron #, No. 24 Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.722, 188.009, 1, 1, 0.455, 0.037
22) Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Military Chevrolet, 28.734, 187.931, 1, 1, 0.467, 0.012
23) Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 28.741, 187.885, 1, 1, 0.474, 0.007
24) David Ragan, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford, 28.756, 187.787, 3, 3, 0.489, 0.015
25) Ross Chastain(i), No. 15 Internetwork Engineering Chevrolet, 28.781, 187.624, 1, 1, 0.514, 0.025
26) Kasey Kahne, No. 95 Thorne Chevrolet, 28.787, 187.585, 1, 3, 0.520, 0.006
27) Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 28.801, 187.493, 1, 2, 0.534, 0.014
28) Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas 30 Years of the VF1 Ford, 28.834, 187.279, 1, 1, 0.567, 0.033
29) Michael McDowell, No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford, 28.894, 186.890, 2, 2, 0.627, 0.060
30) AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, 28.921, 186.716, 1, 3, 0.654, 0.027
31) Matt DiBenedetto, No. 32 Cosmo Motors Ford, 29.025, 186.047, 1, 1, 0.758, 0.104
32) Parker Kligerman(i), No. 96* Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota, 29.173, 185.103, 1, 1, 0.906, 0.148
33) Corey LaJoie, No. 72 MyFreedomSmokes.com Chevrolet, 29.484, 183.150, 1, 3, 1.217, 0.311
34) Gray Gaulding, No. 23 BK Racing Toyota, 29.486, 183.138, 1, 1, 1.219, 0.002
35) Landon Cassill, No. 00 DAIRI-O Chevrolet, 29.513, 182.970, 1, 1, 1.246, 0.027
36) Timmy Hill(i), No. 66* CrashClaimsR.Us Toyota, 29.963, 180.222, 1, 1, 1.696, 0.450
37) Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 55* Angels of America's Fallen Chevrolet, 30.172, 178.974, 1, 1, 1.905, 0.209
38) BJ McLeod(i), No. 51 Prefund Capital Chevrolet, 30.383, 177.731, 1, 2, 2.116, 0.211
39) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Mobil 1/Busch Beer Ford, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----
40) JJ Yeley(i), No. 7* Steakhouse Elite Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, 0, 0, -----, -----

Qualifying Round: 2
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Red White & Blue Toyota, 28.185, 191.591, 1, 1, 0.000, 0.000
2) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 28.360, 190.409, 1, 1, 0.175, 0.175
3) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 28.379, 190.282, 1, 1, 0.194, 0.019
4) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 PPG Ford, 28.387, 190.228, 1, 1, 0.202, 0.008
5) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Liberty National Chevrolet, 28.408, 190.087, 1, 1, 0.223, 0.021
6) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald's Chevrolet, 28.433, 189.920, 1, 1, 0.248, 0.025
7) Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 28.448, 189.820, 1, 1, 0.263, 0.015
8) Kyle Larson, No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet, 28.461, 189.733, 1, 1, 0.276, 0.013
9) Erik Jones, No. 20 Circle K Toyota, 28.555, 189.109, 1, 1, 0.370, 0.094
10) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 28.560, 189.076, 1, 1, 0.375, 0.005
11) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Stars Stripes and Lites Ford, 28.590, 188.877, 1, 1, 0.405, 0.030
12) Daniel Suarez, No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 28.591, 188.871, 1, 1, 0.406, 0.001
13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 28.595, 188.844, 1, 3, 0.410, 0.004
14) Paul Menard, No. 21 Menards/Knauf Ford, 28.601, 188.805, 1, 3, 0.416, 0.006
15) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota, 28.620, 188.679, 1, 1, 0.435, 0.019
16) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy Ford, 28.668, 188.363, 1, 3, 0.483, 0.048
17) Matt Kenseth, No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford, 28.726, 187.983, 1, 3, 0.541, 0.058
18) Chris Buescher, No. 37 Cottonelle Wavy Clean Ripple Chevrolet, 28.738, 187.905, 1, 1, 0.553, 0.012
19) David Ragan, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford, 28.796, 187.526, 1, 1, 0.611, 0.058
20) Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Military Chevrolet, 28.815, 187.402, 1, 1, 0.630, 0.019
21) William Byron #, No. 24 Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.835, 187.272, 1, 3, 0.650, 0.020
22) Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.860, 187.110, 3, 3, 0.675, 0.025
23) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.935, 186.625, 1, 3, 0.750, 0.075
24) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, No. 43 Kroger/Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 29.061, 185.816, 1, 1, 0.876, 0.126

Qualifying Round: 3
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next
1) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Red White & Blue Toyota, 28.149, 191.836, 1, 1, 0.000, 0.000
2) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 28.240, 191.218, 1, 1, 0.091, 0.091
3) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 28.265, 191.049, 1, 1, 0.116, 0.025
4) Erik Jones, No. 20 Circle K Toyota, 28.288, 190.894, 1, 1, 0.139, 0.023
5) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Stars Stripes and Lites Ford, 28.338, 190.557, 1, 1, 0.189, 0.050
6) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Liberty National Chevrolet, 28.391, 190.201, 1, 1, 0.242, 0.053
7) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald's Chevrolet, 28.430, 189.940, 1, 1, 0.281, 0.039
8) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 PPG Ford, 28.437, 189.893, 1, 1, 0.288, 0.007
9) Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 28.465, 189.707, 1, 1, 0.316, 0.028
10) Daniel Suarez, No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 28.465, 189.707, 1, 1, 0.316, 0.000
11) Kyle Larson, No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet, 28.580, 188.943, 1, 1, 0.431, 0.115
12) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 28.712, 188.075, 1, 1, 0.563, 0.132
Starting Line Up, 59th Annual COCA-COLA 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway

Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed
1) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Red White & Blue Toyota, 28.149, 191.836
2) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 28.240, 191.218
3) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 28.265, 191.049
4) Erik Jones, No. 20 Circle K Toyota, 28.288, 190.894
5) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Stars Stripes and Lites Ford, 28.338, 190.557
6) Ryan Newman, No. 31 Liberty National Chevrolet, 28.391, 190.201
7) Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald's Chevrolet, 28.430, 189.940
8) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 PPG Ford, 28.437, 189.893
9) Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 28.465, 189.707
10) Daniel Suarez, No. 19 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 28.465, 189.707
11) Kyle Larson, No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet, 28.580, 188.943
12) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 28.712, 188.075
13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 28.595, 188.844
14) Paul Menard, No. 21 Menards/Knauf Ford, 28.601, 188.805
15) Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota, 28.620, 188.679
16) Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy Ford, 28.668, 188.363
17) Matt Kenseth, No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford, 28.726, 187.983
18) Chris Buescher, No. 37 Cottonelle Wavy Clean Ripple Chevrolet, 28.738, 187.905
19) David Ragan, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford, 28.796, 187.526
20) Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Military Chevrolet, 28.815, 187.402
21) William Byron #, No. 24 Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.835, 187.272
22) Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.860, 187.110
23) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet, 28.935, 186.625
24) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, No. 43 Kroger/Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 29.061, 185.816
25) Ross Chastain(i), No. 15 Internetwork Engineering Chevrolet, 28.781, 187.624
26) Kasey Kahne, No. 95 Thorne Chevrolet, 28.787, 187.585
27) Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 28.801, 187.493
28) Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas 30 Years of the VF1 Ford, 28.834, 187.279
29) Michael McDowell, No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford, 28.894, 186.890
30) AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, 28.921, 186.716
31) Matt DiBenedetto, No. 32 Cosmo Motors Ford, 29.025, 186.047
32) Parker Kligerman(i), No. 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota, 29.173, 185.103
33) Corey LaJoie, No. 72 MyFreedomSmokes.com Chevrolet, 29.484, 183.150
34) Gray Gaulding, No. 23 BK Racing Toyota, 29.486, 183.138
35) Landon Cassill, No. 00 DAIRI-O Chevrolet, 29.513, 182.970
36) Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 CrashClaimsR.Us Toyota, 29.963, 180.222
37) Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 55 Angels of America's Fallen Chevrolet, 30.172, 178.974
38) BJ McLeod(i), No. 51 Prefund Capital Chevrolet, 30.383, 177.731
39) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Mobil 1/Busch Beer Ford, 0.000, 0.000
40) JJ Yeley(i), No. 7 Steakhouse Elite Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (*) Non-charter team