Track:  Charlotte Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile oval, Concord, North Carolina
Pole Winner: David Ragan

Pole Time:  28.172 seconds

Pole Speed:  191.680
TV/Radio: SPEED/MRN/SIRIUSXM

No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Qualifying Position: 8th

No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford Qualifying Position: 16th

Points get tossed aside this week in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  It's All-Star weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway and it kicked off Friday for Front Row Motorsprots with practice and qualifying for Saturday night's Sprint Showdown.  The 40-lap race will pit 27 drivers against each other, trying to earn the top-two finishing positions in order to transfer to the All-Star race immediately following the Showdown.  The winner of a fan vote will also transfer.

David Gilliland and the Taco Bell team and Travis Kvapil and the Long John Silver's team had their Ford Fusions on the track for a Friday-afternoon practice session under hot, sunny conditions.  Both teams worked through multiple set-ups trying to get their cars turning well through the corners of the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway, and by the late-afternoon qualifying session, both teams had made solid adjustments to their cars.  Gilliland and the No. 34 team earned an eighth-place starting spot in the Showdown's starting field, and the No. 38 team qualified 16th.

The field is now under impound, so the teams will not be able to work on the cars any further until green flag Saturday night.  The race will include two 20-lap segments, with a caution period in between for pit stops.  The Showdown and All-Star race air on SPEED, with all the action beginning at 7pm ET.

David Gilliland

Comments from Taco Bell Ford team driver David Gilliland after qualifying for the Showdown:  

"I'm really proud of the guys.  We are ahead of some good cars.  In relative speed to the faster cars in the field we're racing against, this is the best we've been on the mile-and-a-half stuff.  I feel like we're on to something here that could help us qualify much better at more of these mile-and-a-half tracks we're going to.  The guys did a good job.  I think our Taco Bell Ford Fusion is going to drive really good tomorrow night."

Travis Kvapil

Comments from Long John Silver's Ford team driver Travis Kvapil after qualifying for the Showdown: 

"It was OK.  The car's still a little bit tight.  It's kind of what we've been fighting.  It bottomed out a fair amount and bounced up the track a little bit, which hurt some speed.  We tried two or three different set-ups in it today and just worked on some stuff.  But it was OK.   We would've liked to have been a little better for sure, but overall not too bad."

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