FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES
Kobalt Tools 400 Qualifying, Page 1 March 4, 2011
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
MARCOS AMBROSE – Stanley Ford Fusion (Qualified 2nd) “It was a great lap. I am so proud of our Stanley team. They took a huge risk to put me on. I had a chance to make it in the sport or get kicked out pretty quick with the change I made for 2011. For Richard Petty to give me the chance like he has and for us to deliver in our third race with a good lap time is great. I am really excited about it. We are in the hunt for the pole and you can’t ask for much more than that.”
GREG BIFFLE – 3M Post-It Ford Fusion (Qualified 4th) – “Hopefully we end up with the top three here. We have our cars running good. It shows how hard these guys have worked back at the shop. I feel bad because my car had more speed than that and I missed it just a hair. That is why we have qualifying and the race too. We will wait and see what happens.”
CARL EDWARDS – Scotts/Kellogg’s Ford Fusion (Qualified 3rd) – “That lap was fast. I couldn’t tell exactly how fast it was while I was out there because we picked up so much. Right now we are seeing speeds that no one could touch in practice. I didn’t really know what it was going to do. I guess Matt is out there right now and I hate to say this with Marcos standing right there but I hope he blows the doors off both of us because six-one thousandths is going to be hard for me to go to sleep missing by that much.”
DAVID RAGAN – UPS Ford Fusion (Qualified 43rd) – “I got too greedy. It was a great lap going and I got back to the throttle real early and just a little too early. I was back 100 percent and used up a little too much race track coming out of two and got into the sand and trash on top and couldn’t hang on. I am glad we didn’t hit anything. We have a great car and I wish we could have finished that lap. It was going to be fast. We were going to be on the front row with that lap but I just didn’t do what I needed to do to get back around. We will have a lot of work on Sunday but we will be fine.
MATT KENSETH – Crown Royal Ford Fusion (Qualified 1st) – “It feels great. Qualifying is not my strong suit but I knew we had a really fast car today when we did our last qualifying run. Honestly this is the most nervous as I have been before qualifying in probably five years at least because I knew we had a shot at the pole and I knew last week we really messed up. I didn’t want to mess up a fast car today, so I was really happy with that.”
TONY RAINES – Race Fuel Energy Ford Fusion (Qualified 42nd) – “We have been struggling in one and two. The track is bumpier than it was last year and we haven’t found the package yet. We get through 3 and 4 okay. When we get into one and two we bottom out and are losing a bunch of time. We tried something a little different in the right front for qualifying but it still did it. We will work on it for Sunday.”
TRAVIS KVAPIL – Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion (Qualified 40th) – “We have been quite a ways off from where we need to be. We changed the set up 180 degrees to be closer to our teammate David Gilliland because they had speed on practice. The car drove 70-percent better than where we were. We have a ways to go to get it where it needs for Sunday. Huge strides though right there. I’m happy with the gains we are making but we still have a ways to go.”
DAVID GILLILAND – Taco Bell Ford Fusion (Qualified 35th) – “We hit the splitter really hard right there and upset the car. It threw our lap off from where w needed to be. We need to work on our car to get it off the race track. It is the biggest thing for us that we need to work on. We gotta get it up off the track.”
TREVOR BAYNE – Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Qualified 16th) – “I ran out of room of the corners there. I think with another 20 feet we could have had stayed in the throttle and had a faster time but that’s the case for everybody. We got tight and couldn’t stay in it. It’s a big pickup from practice. I know that probably won’t be the fastest but they did a good job with this Ford Motorcraft/Quick Lane Fusion getting it ready for qualifying. We have a lot of fast Ford teammates coming up later and hopefully they do good. I think this should be a decent spot for us which is good.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER – Best Buy Ford Fusion (Qualified 7th) – “The car has been really good so far. It’s no secret that this isn’t my best track. It felt really good in race trim but struggled a bit in practice because we were a little tight. We made the car a little better but we were still a tad tight there. You never know with this new qualifying format because all the fast guys are coming up behind you. Tar should put us on the edge of the top 15 which isn’t too bad here. We should be able to see the front.
NOT BAD FOR A TRACK THAT HAS ALWAYS GIVEN YOU PROBLEMS. “You always want to be better but I think we have a good race car. I have gotten a lot more confident on this race track just in today. I knew we would coMe here with a lot better stuff than we have ever had. The car is fast. This motor is screaming. There are a lot of fast Fords to go. Hopefully Ford gets the pole.”
