Joe Gibbs Racing Qualifying Report

The Joe Gibbs Racing Qualifying Report Presented by Interstate Batteries
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
Date: May 16, 2008

Event: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (non-points event)

Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)

Pole Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (121.956 seconds at 132.835 mph)
JGR Lineup: Kyle Busch (1st, 121.956 seconds at 132.835 mph)

Tony Stewart (12th, 124.816 seconds at 129.791 mph)

Denny Hamlin (20th, 157.594 seconds at 102.796 mph)

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota, led the three-car Joe Gibbs Racing contingent in time trials at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway by qualifying on the pole for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Busch’s time of 121.956 seconds at 132.835 mph – which included three timed laps around the 1.5-mile oval with a four-tire pit stop – placed him first among the 21 drivers already eligible for the All-Star race.

"Man, I can’t thank these guys enough at Joe Gibbs Racing. Steve Addington (crew chief) and all these guys that work on this car do such an awesome job for me,” said Busch, who will make his third career appearance in the All-Star Race on Saturday. “They gave me a great race car that ran three phenomenal laps and gave me great pit stops. They were solid on pit road and that’s all you need in this kind of deal. Proud of the effort.”

Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates – Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota and Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota – qualified 12th and 20th, respectively. Stewart timed in at 124.816 seconds at 129.791 mph while Hamlin stopped the clocks in 157.594 seconds at 102.796 mph.

“Our run really didn’t mean anything because we had to change a motor so we have to go to the back anyway,” said Stewart, who has participated in each All-Star Race since joining the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as a rookie in 1999. “We basically did it just to go through the motions. I got 12 laps of practice, so not real sure what to expect for tomorrow. We broke a part in the motor that kept us from getting it changed before practice was over, so we never got to go back out and really didn’t get anything done today.”

“Our car was just a little bit free on our run,” said Hamlin, who in qualifying for his second career start in the All-Star race, spun while coming to pit road. “You run a lot faster under these conditions, so you’re carrying more speed. You’re not necessarily going to stop faster, so we probably should have moved our point back a little bit.”

Jeff Gordon will start next to Busch on the outside of row one, as he qualified second (122.494 seconds at 132.251 mph). Kyle’s older brother – Kurt Bush – qualified third (123.157 seconds at 131.539 mph), while Martin Truex Jr., (123.328 seconds at 131.357 mph) and Greg Biffle (123.406 seconds at 131.274 mph) rounded-out the rest of the top-five.

As far as manufacturers went in All-Star Race qualifying, Toyota took the top spot thanks to Busch’s pole-winning mark. Chevrolet was next best at the hands of Gordon. Kurt Busch carried the flag for Dodge, while the top Ford came via Biffle.

The All-Star Race gets underway on Saturday, May 17 at 9 p.m. EDT after the undercard Sprint Showdown is completed. SPEED will carry live, high-definition coverage of both events beginning at 7 p.m.

FedEx Racing Express Facts - Sprint All-Star Challenge

RACE INFO:

Event: Sprint All-Star Challenge

Date/Time: May 17, 2008/ 9 p.m. EST

Length: 1.5 miles

Shape: Quad-Oval

Banking: 24 degrees

2007 winner: Kevin Harvick

EXPRESS NOTES:
Top Ten at Darlington for Hamlin, FedEx Racing: Denny Hamlin and the #11 team continued their climb up the standings with an impressive seventh-place finish at Darlington (S.C) Raceway Saturday night. After starting 21st, Hamlin methodically worked his way to the front to lead 15 laps but, with leading comes the responsibility of deciding whether to pit or stay out. That decision came for the #11 team on lap 248 and they chose fuel and fresh rubber and fuel, while several others made the decision to stay on track. Restarting back in the pack, Hamlin made his way forward but never recovered from the loss of track position. The seventh-place finish continues his streak of top-ten runs at the famous track.

Hamlin at All-Star Weekend: This will be Hamlin’s third appearance at NASCAR’s All-Star Weekend and he'll start the All-Star Challenge by virtue of his win at New Hampshire in July of 2007. Hamlin made his first All-Star race appearance last year and had the #11 FedEx machine running well before a lap 63 incident with Casey Mears cut the night short. As a rookie in n the 2006 NEXTEL Open, Hamlin started second on the grid and led one lap before finishing fourth and missing a spot in NEXTEL All-Star Challenge.

Hamlin at Charlotte: Hamlin has secured three top-ten finishes in his five Cup point’s races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Charlotte Chassis 189 & 204: Chassis 189 will make the short trip from Huntersville to Concord this weekend and carry the FedEx Freight livery this weekend. This will be the third start of the season for this car. It made its debut at Atlanta where Hamlin qualified 22nd and finished 15th, then finished fifth at Texas. 204 will also be on the truck this weekend. It finished ninth at Las Vegas earlier this season.

HAMLIN CONVERSATION - SPRINT ALL-STAR WEEKEND:
What is unique about this All-Star Event? "This is a fun weekend for us. It's a great event for the fans and for the teams also. You see a lot of the crew members with their families at the track because it's close to home for us. We spend a lot of time on the road during the season between race weekends and testing so I am really happy for the guys on the crew to be home for a couple of weeks - they get to make up for some missed little league games and little things like driving the kids to school. I really can't thank the guys on our "A" team enough. They build me great cars each and every week and they sacrifice a lot to do it. In a lot of ways this week becomes a tribute to the crews and it's well deserved."

Pride not points - How do you approach this weekend? "The fact that we aren’t racing for points really changes the race. But I think the whole idea that you are throwing caution to the wind is played up a little too much - it almost makes it seem like we are all out there taking it easy on the average weekend. Coming off of Darlington last weekend, I can assure there was nothing easy about it. The fact that we are not racing for points makes a difference when it comes to taking little risks here and there over the course of the race. On the average weekend you are on a knife edge a lot, but you have to keep in mind that a DNF will undo a lot of progress. Here you might purposely put the car in a riskier situation but I can assure you - and all the guys at the shop and J.D. (Gibbs) too -that we’re not in the business of tearing up equipment."

The #11 crew has been reliably, and quietly, stellar this season. "They've been awesome. It's a team that has really gelled and it's showing on pit road. They are regularly picking up spots on pit road and that's the best case scenario for me. Everyone is doing their part and it's showing. This is still a relatively new team as this sport goes so it's just taken a little time to get everyone in the right place. Mike (Ford) has really taken an active role in that aspect of planning and putting together a team because as a former over the wall crew member, he has a very clear picture of how it should work. All of it is coming together and that bodes well for the team. I wish those guys the best in the crew competition and I look forward to them showing their stuff for the rest of the season."

2008 All Star Race Info

The 2008 All Star Race is scheduled for Saturday May 17,2008 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The drivers eligible for this year's event are:
29 Kevin Harvick
17 Matt Kenseth
48 Jimmie Johnson
18 Kyle Busch
31 Jeff Burton
24 Jeff Gordon
5 Casey Mears
1 Martin Truex Jr.
99 Carl Edwards
42 Juan Montoya
11 Denny Hamlin
26 Jamie McMurray
20 Tony Stewart
2 Kurt Busch
07 Clint Bowyer
16 Greg Biffle
12 Ryan Newman
43 Bobby Labonte
44 Dale Jarrett
8 Mark Martin
88 Dale Earnhardt Jr
08 Showdown Winner
08 Showdown 2nd Place Finisher
Fan Vote Winner

This year's event also features a Burnout Competition and the race has been lengthened to 100 laps. The entire event can be seen on SPEED. For more information visit www.lowesmotorspeedway.com