FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES
Heluva Good! at the Glen
August 15, 2011
Watkins Glen International
AMBROSE GETS FIRST CUP VICTORY
. Marcos Ambrose registered the first win of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career with today’s win.
. Today’s win is the sixth of the season for Ford Racing.
. Ambrose is the 77th different driver to win a Cup race with Ford Racing, and the third this season joining Trevor Bayne and David Ragan.
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion – TV VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: “I’ve sacrificed so much to get here and to finally win and be here in Victory Lane in the Cup Series is a dream come true. I flew the kids home yesterday. It was the little one’s first day at school. I was desperate to be there for her and this kind of makes up for it. I’ve just got to thank the Richard Petty Motorsports team, Stanley, DeWalt, everybody involved. Mrs. Petty is not doing so well at home. We wish her the best. This win is for her and the whole Petty family. Richard and everyone else who gave me the chance, thank you very much. Winning in the Cup Series for Stanley is just an incredible feeling and I’m very, very proud.”
YOU QUALIFY FOR THE $3 MILLION SPRINT BONUS AT ATLANTA NOW. “I’ll win a million bucks for anyone. I don’t care. I just want to get to Victory Lane again. It just feels great right now. It’s just a dream come true. The fans out there who have supported Richard Petty and this whole team through the turmoil last year, I can’t thank them enough. We’re gonna go onward and upward from here. It’s a proud day. No one realizes how much everybody puts in to try to get to Victory Lane and when it actually happens it’s almost a surreal moment.”
RADIO VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: “It’s a dream come true. For me to drive for Richard Petty in the first place is an unbelievable opportunity and to get into Victory Lane is just incredible. Mrs. Petty is not doing so well at home. She’s having a tough time of it right now. This win is for her and the whole family. To Stanley, DeWalt, thank you so much for giving me the chance. They plucked me out of obscurity almost. I was just trying hard to win races and to get to Victory Lane with my Stanley boys behind me, what a dream come true.”
WHAT ABOUT THE FINAL RESTART. WHAT HAPPENED? “I was trying to pass the 18 before the caution came out and really used my stuff up, so I was happy when the caution came out. I didn’t want to start on the outside, so I actually gave up the start trying to get to the inside, but when I realized that wasn’t gonna work, I just turned up into turn one and tried to make something happen. I spoke to Brad Keselowski last night. We had a chat for about a half-hour just shooting the breeze and talking about how hard it is to get to Victory Lane and there I was racing him for the win. I’m pleased we did it clean, but I was gonna get to Victory Lane. I wasn’t gonna let that 2 beat me to the checkered flag.”
WHERE DID YOU HAVE THOSE GUYS BEAT? “We just had a really good combination of balance. We didn’t have any exceptional spots on the race track, we just had even balance across the whole circuit. I was able to look after the rear tires, but it’s tough out there, it really is. It’s a real fight to the death and I’m just so proud to be here in Victory Lane with my Stanley team. I’ve sacrificed so much to be here. My little daughter started school today, so I didn’t get to take her to school. I might be able to pick her up with a big check.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER – No. 43 Best Buy Ford Fusion – “It’s great to see Marcos in Victory Lane and it’s great for the team. I’m happy for those guys.”
THE INCIDENT WITH KURT RUINED YOUR DAY DIDN’T IT? “Yeah. He was a lap down. I know what he’s trying to do, trying to get back on the lead lap, but I’m just proud of my guys and proud of the way we fought back all day. We had great pit stops. The car was fast. I love working with Greg, and I’m happy we got a win for the team.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Scotts Ortho Ford Fusion – “I didn’t get to see all of the finish. I saw some of it on the big screen when I was pulling in. I hope everybody is all right. There was a little bit of rain coming, a green-white-checker at a place like this, you knew it was gonna be dramatic so I hope everybody is all right. We didn’t have the day we were looking for, but we’ll go to Michigan, the home of Ford, and we’ll take our Aflac/Ortho Fusion there and hopefully have a run like we usually have at Michigan and get another win. That would be huge.”
HOW WAS IT OUT THERE? “That was wild. We just hung on all day. It’s not the day we wanted, but it could have been a lot worse. Our Ortho Fusion was OK. There were spots on the track it was bad, but Marcos did a great job. I’m happy for him for getting a win in a Ford. Now we’ll go back to Michigan and hopefully get that points lead back, but, really, we need wins so maybe this will be a little kick in the behind for us to go out there and get some wins. That’s what we need.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion — “It’s just a product of close quarters racing at the end. Our UPS team had done a good job. We were going to salvage a top-20 finish I think after running out of fuel earlier in the race. I felt like I had a good run; I felt like I had Boris (Said) clear and I think he got a little better run that we did and he just hooked us. He certainly could have given a little more of a break and we all could have gotten through there and not torn up anything. But he was aggressive and we were all aggressive. He hooked me and I hit hard.”
ARE YOU OKAY? “Yeah, I’m okay, I’m sore. That was a hard hit. I looked down at my feet and my pedals and my leg rests were all pushed over. It’s a shame that a race track we go to in 2011 doesn’t have a better wall design all the way around the race track, so hopefully they’ll look at that. I’ve been to some dirt tracks that have better walls than that. It was a hard hit, but our cars are safe. Thanks to everyone back at home that builds us safe race cars.”
