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[/media-credit]Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Aaron’s 499 (Talladega Superspeedway)
NSCS Qualifying (May 5, 2012)
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
3rd Marcos Ambrose
4th Aric Almirola
6th Greg Biffle
7th Carl Edwards
10th Matt Kenseth
11th Trevor Bayne
16th Josh Wise
25th Casey Mears
26th David Gilliland
28th Terry Labonte
32nd David Ragan
35th Michael McDowell
MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion (Qualified 3rd)
“We missed the pole by two-one hundredths. I am proud of Todd Parrott, he works really hard at these Superspeedway events. He really knows what to do. We just keep getting better and better at these race tracks for the King and for his whole Richard Petty Motorsports team. I have to thank Stanley and Ford for the power. We have a chance to win tomorrow. We are going to do whatever we can to stay up front all day and try to lead that last lap.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 VeriFone Sail Ford Fusion (Qualified 4th)
“I thought we had a good shot at the pole and proved to be right. We qualified fourth so we were really close. I am proud of all the guys on this VeriFone Ford this weekend. We have a really fast car. We didn’t want to be fastest in both practices and steal the pole and win the race. We figured we would give something else to the competition for qualifying. Hopefully we will go get us a win tomorrow.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Qualified 11th)
“The car was touching the track just a little bit more than yesterday. The wind was completely dead so I didn’t get any kind of push or anything against me. As long as you don’t get anything that is okay. You don’t want the head wind and we didn’t get that. I think we will be alright. All the Fords are fast right now so I don’t know if it will hold up for the pole. It is just a wait and see. Either way I think we are going to have a good starting spot and I am really proud of this team for bringing a fast Superspeedway car once again. They do that every single time it seems like.”
GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Qualified 6th)
“I am not sure if that will hold up on the front row. The pole speed was a tenth-and-a-half faster than what we went. We had cloud cover and the best conditions and I thought the car had a little more speed. We ran a little bit faster than that yesterday on both runs. We are happy with that though and it should stick us in the top five and we will just have to wait and see how these cars go.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion (Qualified 7th)
“It is hot. That is good though. It will be nice and slick and a crazy race. Heat is good. Our guys workout and stay fit and hopefully it is a long, hot difficult race. I think that could play into our hands. It is going to be wild. The practice yesterday was insane. There is not a lot of grip and cars are all over the place which I think is better for this type of racing and makes it harder to partner up and more chaotic and fun for the drivers because you can try to make something happen. I think that will be a good starting spot for our Fastenal Ford and we will go and race.”
JOSH WISE, No. 26 Morristown Driver’s Service Ford Fusion (Qualified 16th)
“These guys at Front Row Motorsports brought a good car and we had good speed all day yesterday. I think we were hoping for a little better speed there but it is hard to tell because I think in practice the air is a lot dirtier and it might make you think you are going to run faster than you are. Everyone might be a little slower here but we will just keep our fingers crossed here for a little bit and hope it holds up.”
MARCOS AMBROSE POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE
TAKES US THROUGH YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT AND HOW PRACTICE HAS GONE AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR TOMORROW. “Well, as a driver all you can do here is mess up. You can’t make any speed, you can just lose it. There are three races going on for us out there. The first thing we want to do is beat our teammate which we did by a whisker. We want to be the first Ford home, we did that. Then you need to get the pole and we didn’t quite get that job done. I am proud of Todd Parrott and the team at RPM. We took it to them and we are a two car team and it is really good to run this good at a speedway. They are hard to get right and they have a lot of good stuff going on back at the shop to get the cars dialed in and get the speed out of them. We have focused on the plate races and it is paying off.”
NINE RACES INTO THE SEASON AND YOU DON’T HAVE A TOP-10 FINISH. DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE BEHIND AND PLAYING CATCH-UP? “It has been a disaster in terms of points. We have had four or five top-10 runs that we have thrown away. It is just terrible and we know it. We want to turn our season around. We have had absolutely no luck and it is a shame. We should be sitting here solid in the points with three or four top-10’s and feeling good about ourselves. Instead I am answering that question. It is a shame we have to answer it.”
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO LEARN FROM TODD PARROTT GIVEN THE INCREDIBLE SUCCESS HE HAS HAD HERE? “He really is a wizard at these race tracks. He loves them. He has a passion for these plate races like I haven’t seen anyone with that much enthusiasm and commitment to try to get it right. He has gotten our team and cars better every single time we have gone to a speedway race. He is just rubbing on it and knowing what to do and getting everything lined up. When I first joined with Todd in November he had parts in his back seat for the Daytona 500 he was driving around for two months. That is what it takes. You have to be constantly thinking about it, constantly getting stuff done that you need to work on to try to find that last half a horse power or last bit of drag. I knew as soon as we rolled up here that we had a good car. It takes a lot of work. It is no secret. Todd Parrott has a passion for it and is committed to making these plate cars the best they can be.”
