FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES
IRWIN Tools Night Race (Post Race) August 27, 2011
Bristol Motor Speedway
Ford Bristol Finishing Order
6th Matt Kenseth 9th Carl Edwards 10th Marcos Ambrose 12th AJ Allmendinger 20th David Ragan 24th David Gilliland 25th Andy Lally 27th David Starr 31st Greg Biffle 34th Terry Labonte 37th Travis Kvapil
Carl Edwards, No. 99 Aflac Dental Ford Fusion (Finished 9th) “That was a lot of work. Lots of work for a ninth place. That is a tough race right there. We had a little loose condition off the corner but I can’t thank the fans enough for coming out here. To look up in the grand stands is really cool. I hope they enjoyed the race and we will go to Atlanta now and go for a win there and try to get another few bonus points and a trophy. Right now I am proud to be in the Chase. That is a big accomplishment for our team. Overall we had a good performance, not a good result. We had Aflac Dental on the car and the first mission was to not knock the teeth out of the front of that paint scheme and we did that, we made it to the end. We struggled all night being loose off. I would come off the corner and have the throttle down and the rear tires would light up. So those long runs were very difficult. We had good pit stops and good strategy and we locked into the Chase, so that is huge. That is the first mission of the season and we accomplished that.”
Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion (Finished 6th) “That is great. My guys have been doing a great job this year and it feels good to clinch that spot. I wish we were running just a hair better but they did a great job. They had a heck of a battle with Jamie there coming to the finish line and I wish I could have gotten him for fifth but it was a good battle. It was next to impossible to pass for nearly 20 laps and you had to get everything you could in the first 10 or 20 laps and then after that you just drive the track. The good qualifying effort, great pit stall and great pit stops kept us where we were all night. There were moments in the race where we seemed pretty good and other moments we were just kind of hanging out.”
Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion (Finished 10th) “We finished 10th and I am pretty proud of our efforts tonight. The car wasn’t perfect but we stayed on the lead lap and kept digging on the top groove. The tire was very challenging for the teams to set up for. It was pretty loose in and I am pleased with our results.”
Greg Biffle, No. 16 3M Ford (Finished 31st) “I don’t know what happened. I think I might have had a loose wheel or something because the car was vibrating really, really bad and it wouldn’t turn so I pitted for tires and they said they didn’t see anything wrong with them but something was wrong with the car. I don’t know what happened there. We were really loose when we unloaded off the truck and could never get it fixed. It is really frustrating because I run so good here and to have a car that far off and to see Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick have a night like they did doesn’t make me feel much better but you know. This tires is awful on this race track. The rubber it puts down just doesn’t make for good racing. It is real single file and the tire we had a couple generations before this was way better. Hopefully Goodyear will look at it and we will have something new next time.”
MATT WAS GETTING OFF PIT ROAD QUITE EASILY, DID YOU HEAR WHAT WAS GOING ON? “I didn’t really. I know pit road was a little tough for us and we got boxed in there a couple times and lost a bunch of spots. Pit road is really, really tough here.”
AJ Allmendinger, No. 43 Best Buy Ford (Finished 12th) “Off of past results this was an awesome night. With like 200 to go we were running like sixth or seventh and we were just kind of going back and forth between being too loose and too tight and we got it too tight the rest of the night. Everybody just runs the top and especially when you are tight you can’t do anything. I feel like 12th place, I am pleased with it, not thrilled but pleased with it.”
