Edwards Starts on Front Row for Sunday’s Pocono 400

2^nd – Carl Edwards

9^th – Marcos Ambrose

13^th – Greg Biffle

14^th – Matt Kenseth

26^th – Casey Mears

29^th – Aric Almirola

30^th – Michael McDowell

34^th – David Ragan

35^th – Josh Wise

36^th – David Gilliland

43^rd – Reed Sorenson

ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Transportation Impact Ford Fusion – “I didn’t do a very good job and the car was pretty loose right there. It was not a very good lap. I’m disappointed with that, but it’s not from a lack of effort. We’ve worked really hard this weekend to try and get to where we need to be, but now we’ve got the race to go out and run 400 miles and try to get it figured out.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Kellogg’s/Cheez It Ford Fusion – “I drove down in the corner and it was just a little slicker than I thought it was gonna be and I got out of the groove a little bit on exit. I just ran out of guts and had to lift a little off of one, and then I totally messed up the tunnel, but I’ve got a great race car. My guys did a really good job, but, admittedly, it’s very difficult to practice yesterday and run a really good lap and then come back 24 hours later and run that perfect lap again. I think a couple guys are gonna go fast if the track cleans off, but it is a little treacherous out there. I’ve got to give credit to Joey (Logano). He did a really good job.”

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion – “We were great. We’ve had a really trying few days here in practice just trying to work on what this track needs. We’re going good. We’ve qualified decent and we’re gonna have a good starting spot, so I’m proud of my lap. The car was pretty hooked up. I felt like I left some out there, which is always a good thing if you feel you could have got more because I just wanted to put in a solid lap for the team. We’ve been working hard. We’re thin on crew. We’ve been working them really hard getting ready for Sonoma coming up and all the testing we’ve got with the NASCAR tests, so I just feel good that we’re running well for them.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – “I was a lot better than that. It kind of bounced and slid up a little bit and chattered in one and two and I just lost that smooth transition and getting back to the gas early. I just missed it. In the tunnel I was fair and in three I was about on the edge, I got all I could get down there, so probably a couple tenths in one is probably all I could have gained. That’s still not where we needed to be, but these other guys still have to go out and do it, so we’ll see. The track is under some tough conditions right now, so we’ll see how many of them beat us.”

REED SORENSON – No. 32 Herr Foods/Hero Energy Shot Ford Fusion – “When I went out there to come back around to take the green I saw how wide it was (the speed dry on the race track). Fortunately, we’re locked in the show here. If I wasn’t locked in the show, I would not have been too excited about sailing it off into one there, but we could go pretty easy through there just because we didn’t have to take any chances. I guess they’re gonna blow the track off right now, and that’s the right thing to do because there are guys out here that do have to go in there hard and try to make this race. When I came there was actually stuff all over me and yesterday I didn’t have anything on me, so there is definitely a lot of stuff out there.” WHAT HAPPENED ON THE TRACK? “We had the fuel pressure went down, so I just shut it off because it was barely running. We’ll be fine, though. They’ll fix it.”

DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 ModSpace Motorsports Ford Fusion – “It’s the same for everybody, but it’ll get better. If we would have been better in first practice yesterday, we wouldn’t have had to go out so soon. The track definitely didn’t have a lot of grip, but it’s the same for everybody right now.” BEING LOCKED IN HELPS IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS, RIGHT? “Yeah, absolutely. If people are almost wrecking in front of you and we’re locked in, we’ve got to be smart. We’ve still got 400 miles on Sunday.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Fusion – “Our Taco Bell/ModSpace Ford didn’t have a lot of grip. It was pretty free. I think we’ve been spoiled the last few days. The sun has been out. The track has had heat in it and there have been a lot of cars making multiple laps on the race track, so the rubber is built down. We ended with Hoosier rubber last night with the ARCA cars out running, so the track is cooler and it just doesn’t have the grip. It’ll get better throughout the day, but it’s a little slick and a little dirty out there now.”

JOSH WISE – No. 26 MDS Transport Ford Fusion – “It was real loose for me. We didn’t really know what to expect with the new pavement. I’ve never been here before so we just got the car driving as good as we could yesterday. We were hearing everybody on the radio before we went out saying the track was pretty slick and not much grip, so we tried tightening it up the best we could with air-pressure and everything, but it was still really loose. We just put in a solid lap and got it in the show, so that’s all we’ve got to do.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Kellogg’s Ford Fusion – HOW WAS YOUR RUN? “Joey had to go show off for everybody and do what he did in practice. I’m telling you, I have to give Joey credit. I don’t know if Paul feels the same way, but, for me, it’s very difficult to run a fast lap yesterday and then go through the night, think about everything, and then come back a day later with pretty difficult conditions in turn one and to back that time up. I think it’s very impressive. I know I did not back up my time from yesterday and Joey did, so I think he did a really good job. I’m extremely pleased with the fact that we get to start up front with our Kellogg’s Ford. We were really, really bad. A lot of people were complaining about how long we were here and how much practice there was and I’m not complaining at all. We needed every day that we were here to get faster, so I’m pretty excited about the race.”

WHY DIDN’T ANY ONE RUN A 49? “I don’t know. I think it’s really hard to determine what makes this race track faster right now. I don’t know if being a little bit warmer makes it faster. I thought as we went on and that speedy dry and the groove got cleaned off that people would go a lot faster, so it’s a surprise to me. I don’t really understand it. I do think there’s a mental aspect to it too. If you’re sitting there watching the broadcast and you see how slick it is and how much trouble people are having, and you have to hit your marks perfectly on this track. I don’t know if Paul (Menard) feels this way, but I think if I could go run it again I could go faster just because it’s fresh in my mind, so I think it’s mentally a really tough thing to do to come and run this one lap today and be perfect.”

WERE YOU ON STICKERS OR SCUFFS? “Scuffs.”