Friday, November 16, 2012
Ford Ecoboost 400
Post-Qualifying Quotes
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Dodge PR
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Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Qualified 3rd “That’s a little bit faster than what we ran (in practice). It’s probably going to take a 30.50 or 30.60 here to be on the pole. Marcos (Ambrose) laid down a heck of a lap. Our car was pretty decent. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 18 or the 48 or somebody lay down a killer lap towards the end here. We knew that qualifying is not our strong suit.”
HOW WAS THE CAR DURING THE AFTERNOON WHEN THE SUN WAS OUT? “I thought it was pretty decent but we can always be better.”
HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING LAP? “I thought it was pretty decent. I was pleasantly surprised with the speed. I felt like we’d be lucky to end up in the top 15. It’s not over yet but it looks like it’ll probably be somewhere in that range. I’m happy with that. Qualifying has not been our strong suit, so to put on some kind of decent showing for that is important. We’re going to keep working hard to be the best we can in the race which is what counts the most.”
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE DAY SO FAR? “I think it’s been a pretty simple day for us, just going through the stuff that we always go through and trying to keep the same routines that have made us successful to date.”
HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO BLOCK OUT EVERYTHING THAT’S GOING ON AND FOCUS ON WHAT YOU NEED TO DO? “I’m not going to lie to you and say that I’ve blocked everything out but I’m enjoying it, how about that? And that’s just as important.”
YOUR THOUGHTS ON QUALIFYING BETTER THAN JIMMIE JOHNSON. “I mean maybe some kind of mental thing. I totally expected him to out-qualify us, to be quite honest. I was going to be fine with that. At least we were prepared for the worst and that’s not what happened so I guess we’re okay.”
WHAT KIND OF RACE DO YOU THINK WE’LL SEE ON SUNDAY GIVEN EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK? “I don’t know. I imagine it’ll be very similar to what we saw at Texas. These tracks are probably the most similar, here Texas and Chicagoland, with the grip levels and the configurations. So, I’d expect the racing to be similar to that.”
COMMENT ON THE PRESSURE OF THE WEEKEND. “There’s always pressure. There was pressure all year long. I don’t feel drastically more than what I have. But the pressure is what makes it worth it. That’s part of what makes it special, what makes it mean something, so I’m not going to try to run from it. But I can deal with it very well.”
SAM HORNISH JR (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger) Qualified 17th HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “We were pretty free. We just couldn’t get it through the corner the way that we needed to. The track tightened up a little bit throughout practice as everything started to cool off. Then the track went free tonight, but we have a pretty good direction for Sunday. All in all, it wasn’t a terrible lap by any means. I think that we’ll be inside the top 15 to start the race. I’m more worried about race day than I am qualifying day. We have a fast Shell/Pennzoil Dodge. We’ll just see what we can do to make our car better tomorrow in practice. We found some stuff today that will help for Sunday. I feel pretty good about it.”
YOU’VE BEEN A CHAMPION OVER IN INDYCAR. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN TELL BRAD HEADING INTO SUNDAY’S RACE? “I’m not telling Brad anything because I’d be afraid that I’d tell him something that would screw him up. I just hope that it’s a nice, smooth race and the championship is won the way it should be, racing hard and not having someone ruin your day.”
WHAT ABOUT THE EMOTIONS THAT A DRIVER FACES HEADING INTO A CHAMPIONSHIP RACE? ARE THE EMOTIONS HARD TO BLOCK OUT? “I had it in different ways. I clinched my first Indy championship before the last race one time. The second time I won a championship I went into the race with an 11-point lead and just had to finish second to win the championship. We won the race and I had a 22 point lead at the end. When I won the championship driving for Roger (Penske), we went into the race knowing that we only had to finish third. There were a lot of variable that had to happen for me to lose the championship so it wasn’t that stressful. (Scott) Dixon made a couple of mistakes and I kept getting around him. I knew how smart Roger (Penske) was about the race and just listened to him all day.”
WHEN YOU’RE IN POSITION TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP, IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING THE ‘HUNTER’ AND ‘HUNTED’? “I would much rather be the hunted because you have the lead. There are fewer scenarios that you have to lose the championship. If you’re coming into the race with any type of margin, it makes things a little easier. There’s just a better feel that you have and less things to worry about to accomplish your goal.”
