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[/media-credit]May 12, 2012 – Darlington Raceway
Ford Finishing Order:
6th – Matt Kenseth
7th – Carl Edwards
9th – Marcos Ambrose
12th – Greg Biffle
19th – Aric Almirola
22nd – Casey Mears
25th – David Gilliland
28th – David Ragan
30th – Reed Sorenson
42nd – Scott Speed
43rd – Josh Wise
MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Zest Ford Fusion – “We were pretty reasonable at the beginning of the race and then the track turned really loose on us and we got way off and was the last car on the lead lap. We made some good adjustments and got it pretty good there at the end. I wish it would have gone green at the end and we probably would have had fourth or fifth, but on that last restart the outside lane just got going better. We didn’t need that last caution, but it was still a good finish for us. We’ve really struggled here, so it was a good run.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion – “We pitted for four tires there at the end and got back to seventh, but I think it was still the right move. I think Bob made the right call because we were probably gonna be about seventh. That seemed about the best we could run there towards the end was sixth or seventh. It was a hard-fought day. I raced hard with Matt there at the end and almost wrecked us both, so I’m glad I didn’t, but it was pretty fun.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion – WHERE DID YOU COME FROM? “I came from Mars (laughing). I re-entered orbit around lap 260 and the last 80 laps was a lot of fun. We were two laps down and just fought our way back. Our team didn’t give up. They didn’t give up on me and I didn’t give up on them. They just kept working on the car and making it better. We finally got ourselves some track position and got back on the lead lap and drove our way to the front.”
WHAT WAS THE TURNING POINT FOR YOU? “We got the wavearound, but we were already making the car better and holding our own. From there we knew we had a good car, we just had to play the strategy and get the lucky dog. We raced our way back to the lucky dog and got back on the lead lap. It was just a good night. We’ve given away a lot of easy top 10s and that one we really earned, so I’m proud of my team and I’ve got to thank them.”
WHAT TOP 10s HAVE YOU GIVEN AWAY? “We had 18 to go at Phoenix and were running third and blew up. We were sixth on the green-white-checker at Talladega and dropped to the back. We ran out of fuel at Texas running sixth with one lap to go. There are three right three. At Bristol we were running 10th and crashed on lap 25 and gave away a really strong day three, so we’ve given away a bunch of points. It’s just good to get our team going back in the right direction.”
DO YOU HAVE SOME OPTIMISM NOW AFTER TONIGHT? “At lap 200 I was about ready to hang myself and by lap 260 I was ready to go to the front and show the boys what I had. I’m just proud of my team. I’ve got to thank DeWalt and Ford for believing in me and the King. It was just a good night for us.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Gravely Mower Ford Fusion – “I earned plenty of Darlington stripes tonight that’s for sure. That’s a tough night here. Mike (Ford) gave me a really good car and I had a lot to learn at the beginning of the race. I felt I learned quite a bit and I finally got in a rhythm about 100 laps into the race and then I just couldn’t get it done there on those final restarts. That was disappointing, but, all in all, it was a good day. I learned a lot, so for my first time here at Darlington that’s saying something. I’m proud of everybody on the Gravely Ford. It’s a work in progress. This is my first time here to Darlington, so I’m looking forward to going to Charlotte now and continue the learning process and getting better.”
CASEY MEARS – No. 13 Geico Ford Fusion – “We just haven’t really been good since we’ve been here. We qualified poorly and this is one of my favorite tracks. I love this place and we just couldn’t seem to get going all weekend. We fought grip. We could make it tight. We could make it loose, but never could really get a good balance where you could run up around the top like you need to. It was a good day as far as no real issues, but our pit stops were off and we didn’t have a really fast race car. We were just kind of mediocre all night.”
