MATT KENSETH – No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion (Qualified 30th) – “I’m happy with the pickup and the car drove better, so I’m happy about that. I just didn’t get the best lap. I did pretty good in three and four, and just kind of left a little time out there – probably almost a tenth-of-a-second in one and two, so I’m disappointed I missed it, but I’m happy that the car drove a lot better.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion (Qualified 17th) – “Our Cup car drives really well. We picked up some, but just needed a few more one-hundredths to be up there in the top two or three. Hopefully, that will stay there in the top 10 or 15, but our UPS Ford is very fast right off the truck. I think it’s got some pretty good speed.
It was as good of a first practice as we’ve had all year, so that’s just a product of some things we’ve been working on to unload better and be more comfortable. That’s obviously working, but it helps bringing the same tire back, so we’ve got some notes from the spring to work on. It’s not like we’re starting all over again, so anytime we can come back with the same car and the same style of tire it just helps out.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Qualified 8th) – “I feel like I let the team down a little bit. We had a little faster car than that and I just didn’t realize there was gonna be that much grip. I just didn’t quite get to the bottom on three and four. I backed off because I knew last year that was a problem, but I sort of squared the corner off a little bit, making sure I get to the bottom, and that’s sort of backwards thinking. You need to kind of arc it out to get down there, and then it’s a little hard to see, a little intimidating to not kind of feel the car and how it’s turning. I left a little bit out there.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 44 Ford. Drive one. Ford Fusion (Qualified 16th) – “It was pretty good. It’s a process. I’ve got to keep remembering that. Obviously, you want to go out there, you’re excited to be a part of Ford – all of us are – and you want to go out there and right away just think, ‘We should be on top of the board,’ but it’s not that easy in this sport. We started off practice and struggled a lot. The car is brand new, so there are a lot of things to work through. I’m proud of everybody on the 44 team for working through it. In qualifying, the times are so close that it just felt like I didn’t get everything out of it. Then you look at the board and half-a-tenth would pick you up five or six spots, but, overall, we’re pleased.
Like I said, it’s a process. We know that and hopefully that will get us inside the top 20 and we’ll go racing on Sunday.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion (Qualified 6th) – “Qualifying was pretty good. It’s not the pole, but, hopefully, it’ll be a top 10. If it is a top 10, it’ll be like a victory for us. We’ve worked pretty hard and I was real happy with the pickup there. We’re competitive. I feel like we can hold our own against these guys today and that’s big.”