“I think they did a good job with the repave, so I’m looking forward to racing there. As the rubber gets put down we will be able to move around more, and as the weekend goes it will get better and better. They changed Turns 1 and 2 in a good way, and as time goes on we’ll definitely be able to run wider and side-by-side. It will not be so one-groove prone like I feel it has been there. Turns 3 and 4 are very similar to how they have been in the past.”
Kasey Kahne
“It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway. It seems like the year has gone by pretty quick. I think the repave is going to be a little bit of a question mark for everybody so I’m excited to check that out. I’ve heard some good things so I hope that they're true.”
Chase Elliott
“It’s been a tough stretch for the No. 48 Lowe’s Racing team. We have had fast cars but not the finishes we’ve been looking for. It will turn around, we just need to be patient. We’ve had really fast cars and made some progress in that direction. I’m looking forward to Kentucky this weekend -- it’s one of the tracks I’ve not been able to win at yet, and we would like to check that off the list.”
Jimmie Johnson
“The bumps were extremely bad at Kentucky – it was rough. The corners were great, and I think a lot of drivers would have liked to keep the corners ‘as is,’ just because they were aged and slick, and provided a lot of opportunity and different lines to run. But, the front straightaway was pretty severe and no amount of grinding was really going to improve things. I’m sure it’s a great surface. All of the tracks that have been repaved recently have been very smooth and very well-done. They also used a new process to develop a coarse asphalt to increase the aging process, or at least the track will hopefully age quicker. I’m excited to go there and check it out. For the first couple of races, the asphalt is going to have a lot of grip, so the cars are going to run in a narrow groove and passing may be a bit of a challenge, but as the track ages, it should be incredible.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr.