PIT NOTE No. 3:
Kenseth Wins Pole for Bank of America 500
Matt Kenseth earned the pole on Bojangles' Pole Night and will lead the field to green at Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In capturing his fourth pole of the season, Kenseth posted a lap of 194.532 mph to out-pace second fastest qualifier Kyle Busch. Rounding out the top five were Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin.
"That was a heck of a lap," said Kenseth. "We worked all day on our qualifying. I was a little tight though. We had been really fast all day. Tomorrow we will work on our race balance. I can't wait to get on track tomorrow and work on our race setup. The track changes so much here at Charlotte. "
Starting in 6th through 10th were Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Aric Almirola and Ryan Newman.
Brunnhoelzl Wins Southern Slam 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway; Suess Defends Championship
George Brunnhoelzl III started from the pole and led all 150 laps in winning the Southern Slam 150 NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour race Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Brunnhoelzl did have to fight off a couple of challenges from second-place finisher Ryan Preece, but no one could get close enough to threaten the leader. The win was his second career victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
"We had an unbelievable car tonight," said Brunnhoelzl. "I didn't think we would run that long without a caution, and then to get one with two to go kind of changes your plans a little. It was important to get a good restart there. You never know what could happen."
Rounding out the top five were Preece, Danny Bohn, Jason Myers and Burt Myers. Jason Myers took the fourth position away from his brother on the final lap. The race's only caution period came on lap 149 of the 150 lap race after a tangle between Luke Fleming and Jeremy Gerstner that led to a green-white-checkered finish.
Finishing in sixth through 10th were Andy Suess, Jeremy Gerstner, John Smith, Bobby Messmer Jr. and Dalton Baldwin.
With his performance, Suess earned the Whelen Southern Modified Tour Championship, his second consecutive title.
"It's incredible," said Suess. "It's surreal. All I thought I wanted was to win the first one and it would be big and get easier, but this was hard."
Southern Slam 150 Winner - George Brunnhoelzl III - "It was an awesome day. We had some problems in practice but the guys worked hard all day. I never thought we would run that long without a caution. We knew we had to ride a little bit and we had to run a little more and more. At that point, I didn't want to see a caution. It puts a little extra pressure on you. At that point we hadn't had to push the car. You really don't know what you got at that point. We just had to go hard."
Second Place - Ryan Preece - "We weren't as strong as we have been in the past. Early on I could tell we were a little tight. We thought we had a really good car, but we held on for second. It made our drive down here worth it. I got close a couple of times but it was early on and I didn't want to put us in a situation that could wreck us both. I know he (Brunnhoelzl) was trying to lead the most laps for the points. I couldn't really hang on, so I just started riding."
2015 NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour Champion - Andy Suess - "This is incredible. I thought the first one would be big and get easier after that. But it wasn't that easy. It's surreal. I thought all I really wanted was to win one championship, but when you get that close, the emotions go crazy. I'm just happy. I'm able to leave here with the big trophy. It's pretty incredible. I'm really looking forward to the Champion's Week after seeing that last year."
