Catchfence

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “We just kind of missed it a little bit today. I kind of missed turn three by maybe a hair, but, unfortunately, that’s about all we have. We struggled a little bit today with this Fastenal Ford, but we’re pretty happy with our stuff from last Saturday. We’ll get to work on Saturday and I know these guys will get it right for Sunday.”

YOUR REACTION? “I think that’ll be hopefully on the good side of 15th. It was better than what we were in practice. We really struggled today and got a little bit better, but we’ve got some work to do Saturday to get it right for Sunday.”

DOES IT MATTER WHERE YOU START SUNDAY? “You always want to start good and get your good pick in the pits and hopefully get up front and lead some laps to get some bonus points. And also it’s been known for some long green flag runs, so the farther forward you are the better, but if you have the best car, 600 miles is more than enough time to get to the front.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “I just got really tight. It’s very frustrating. We have such a fast race car. The balance was so far off and it was just Bob and I taking a big stab at it from practice. We’ll get it right for the race.”

TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – “It wasn’t bad. I’m pretty pumped about that. We’re only three-hundredths off the pole run and it didn’t get too out of control. I feel like if we could ever come to one of these races where we were locked in, we might be able to go for a pole.”

ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion – “That’s really awesome. To get my first pole right here in Charlotte. I get to drive home and go sleep in my own bed tonight. That’s really cool. Mike Ford and all the guys on this Richard Petty Motorsports team did an awesome job. My U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion is fast. I want to thank Smithfield and all the people there that support us. Memorial Day Weekend with Air Force on the car, it’s really cool.”

MIKE FORD CAME ON BOARD SO IS THIS ANOTHER STEP UP? “I really think so. This is the first weekend. He came on at Talladega and we ran Darlington with what already was in the car and we came here for the All-Star Race last weekend and came with the standard M.O. and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna step off the island this week. It may or may not work, but we didn’t run good enough last week for it to matter.’ We struggled last week, so we came this week with something totally different and it’s paid off. We’ve got a really fast car.”

JOSH WISE – No. 26 MPS Ford Fusion – “I would have liked to have picked up a little more than we did, but I think we did good. We picked up about four-tenths from where we practiced and the guys on the Front Row Motorsports MPS Ford worked real hard after practice just to get it driving good. We didn’t start off the best we have and they just worked hard and got it to where it needed to be.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL – No. 98 Presbyterian Health Care Ford Fusion – “I’m just very blessed to have an opportunity to race this weekend. We’ve got Presbyterian Health Care on the side and the partnership that allows us to race. That’s what we’re building here at the 98 Phil Parsons Racing team. We’ve got K-LOVE on the car and Curb Records and we’re trying to build it one race at a time. These guys built a brand new car for us. They’ve been working hard. They just got done at 5:30 this morning building this car, so it’s great to get a good qualifying run, it’s nice to be in the show and I’m gonna get to run all 600 miles.”

DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 Mod Space Ford Fusion – “It’s definitely not what we wanted. We were a little free there. It’s the first time we’ve been loose all day. We did some air-pressure changes from practice to now and we were just a little on the free side. We’ll have to work on race trim and, luckily, it’s a long race on Sunday.”

CASEY MEARS – No. 13 Geico Ford Fusion – “We needed to probably run three-tenths faster to be real good. We struggled in practice again, but came back with a totally different concept and it seems to be driving better. It seems to be responding a little bit better, so we’ll see how it translates on Saturday in race trim and have a good 600.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 Al’s Liners/Scorpion Coatings Ford Fusion – “You always make a little bit of adjustment after your final run and we made our Scorpion Window Film Ford a little bit better. You always want to pick up some and we had a solid pick up. I think our car is gonna have some speed for the 600. It feels like it drives pretty good, but we’re greedy and always want to go faster. It was a nice pickup. I wish we could have got more, but we’ll take it and be ready for a long 600.”

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion – PRESS CONFERENCE – “What a great day for Richard Petty and Richard Petty Motorsports. We’re a two-car team independent here trying to take it to the big super teams. It’s just a great night for us. Congratulations to Aric on his great lap. I think it’s a new lap record if I’m not mistaken and our team really has it together. My DeWalt Ford was really hooked up, just not quite enough to get the pole, but we’ll take a front row. If you’re gonna get beaten by anyone, I guess you want to be beaten by your teammate. It’s a proud day for us and we’re looking forward to more things to come in the 600.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU GOT IT ALL ON THE LAP? “You could always want more and if I had my time again maybe I could do better, but I was happy with my lap, it just wasn’t quite enough to catch the 43. We beat 45 other cars, so I feel pretty good about that. It was a good lap. It could have been better, but that doesn’t count. Everybody has the opportunity out there to do it and we had a good run, just not good enough.”

HOW MUCH HAS MIKE FORD HELPED THE TEAM? “Absolutely, no doubt, our team continues to try to become better and an addition like Mike Ford is gonna pay dividends. It’s his early days, I think he’s been around three weeks now, so I wouldn’t attribute the pole to him entirely, but, definitely, we are a team that is always evolving and looking for more performance and Mike has helped a whole lot and he’s going to continue to because he’s a winning pedigree crew chief and he brings with him that skill set that we can learn from.”

MARCOS AMBROSE CONTINUED — WHAT WILL IT MEAN TO GIVE THIS TO RICHARD? “Nothing would make me happier than to see the King smile in Victory Lane and that’s our goal. I’m proud to represent him and even prouder to run well for him, so it’s an honor to be a driver for him and he should feel good about what we did today because a year-and-a-half ago he single-handedly saved this team and kept it alive and he’s still steering the ship for us and he’s here at the track. He’s been here today and he’s just a great inspiration to have and someone to really feel good about running well for.”