Ford Racing NNS Notes & Quotes:
Drive3COPD 300 Qualifying (Daytona International Speedway)
Friday, February 22, 2013
FORD MUSTANG SWEEPS FRONT ROW FOR SATURDAY’S DRIVE4COPD 300
AS TREVOR BAYNE WINS POLE AND SAM HORNISH JR. FINISHES SECOND
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 6 Cargill Ford Mustang – “I’m starting to like this stage up here pretty good. It normally means something good happens, but I’m excited about our pole run. This whole team, I’ve been talking them up all off-season, but that’s because they deserve it. This group of guys, they’ve won two championships in a row and that’s for a reason. Ricky Stenhouse did them a ton of justice and he’s done a great job in that car, but I’m excited to be the guy driving it this year and we’ve started off with a bang here with the pole. It’s not a win yet, but it’s a good start, so we’ll be happy to see that flag flying up on top of the truck here the rest of the season.”
DID THE DRAW MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE? “It was actually by speeds for Nationwide, I believe. In practice we thought about that and Mike (Kelley), being the crew chief that he is, he was already looking ahead and said it looked like winds were gonna pick up later in the day, so when we went out and did the tandem drafting I kept pulling out to trying to slow the car down to make sure we didn’t go too fast and we could go early in qualifying and it seemed to work out. Later on in qualifying the winds were picking up and the flags were blowing more. It looked like they started blowing down the backstretch for a minute, which is what we didn’t want to see, but as it shifted they slowed back down, so I think it did matter a little bit. Obviously at Daytona the wind always plays a factor, but our car was still really good in practice. I think we ran a couple tenths slower in qualifying than we did in practice, but it was pretty strong.”
WAS IT A DAUNTING TASK TO JOIN SUCH A SUCCESSFUL TEAM? “It was a high expectation going into it, but it was never pressure because, like I said, when I went in the shop and saw how they worked together and the kind of team that they are, you can see why they’re champions. And it’s not because they just got lucky and won a few races or they figured out how to win on fuel strategy every now and then. They are a solid race team – the best in Nationwide – and that’s why they’ve won championships. I was a little bit worried about it going into the shop for the first time that they were gonna expect me to be just like Ricky and do the same things, say the same things, drive exactly the same, but after the first day Mike Kelley sent me a text and said, ‘Hey man, this team has been together for six years. We’ve won races with David Ragan, Carl Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and we’re gonna win races with you. We’re happy to have you as a part of our team.’ So that one text was enough to take that pressure off and to say, ‘Alright, I’m part of this team and we’re gonna do it together.’”
DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE AN ADVANTAGE HERE BECAUSE YOU’VE WON BEFORE AT THIS TRACK? “I think so. Anytime you can get experience in Victory Lane at a race track it brings your confidence up when you go back. In the Duels yesterday when we were leading those laps I was thinking about winning again and how that feels here and what it’s like to be out front. I wish we could have run a little bit better yesterday, but we’ll have that opportunity tomorrow in the Nationwide Series. It’s crazy because every time I come to Daytona it seems like I get the best car of our fleet – the best engine, whether that has something to do with our win or whether that’s just kind of the luck of the draw and the guys I have around me, but last year we were on the outside pole here with the 60 team, which was a part-time team with Chad Norris. They had another good qualifying effort today – I think fourth or fifth – so that team knew how to put it together. The Wood Brothers always bring me fast cars and now with this 6 team, getting the first pole for them at Daytona. For some reason, I just always get the best stuff here it seems like and I’m happy to take that on.”
DOES THIS ESTABLISH YOU WITH YOUR TEAM AND DID THEY TAKE AWAY SOME HORSEPOWER FROM THE CARS? “That’s what somebody asked me about a minute ago and I don’t know that they did that or whether it’s temperature or what, but from talking to Mike before qualifying the cars are exactly the same, so maybe they did make a small restrictor plate difference or a gear change or something real small that I didn’t know about, but that pole, it is Daytona so it’s not a big step. If we were at Phoenix and we set the pole, it might be a little bit different, but it just gives me more confidence in the team. The way Mike Kelley was high-fiving me and all the guys were pumped up I think it’s a good start and it does give them some confidence in me and in our group of guys again, so I’m so thankful that God has surrounded me with this kind of a group of guys and I can’t thank them enough for the race car they brought here.”
HOW IS THE BACKUP CAR ON THE CUP SIDE? “We’ll run some practice tomorrow just to get the splitter heights right. Earlier today we just wanted to shake it down and make sure there were no leaks or anything completely wrong with it, but it seemed to be fast. It’s hard to tell by yourself, but they said it’s a brand new car that’s never been on the track and it went out and picked right up, so I think we’ll be fine.”
WHY DON’T YOU HAVE A FULL-TIME RIDE IN CUP? YOU’RE A CHARMING GUY. “That’s an opinion on the last one (laughing). I would love to be (running full-time in Cup), and I think it’s just timing. I think Ricky being in the Nationwide Series running and winning two championship in a row obviously put him up in the batting lineup to go to the Cup Series in the 17 car. I would love to be the next one to take that step. I think we’ve proven ourselves once and hopefully I can do it again here in the Nationwide Series, and I think that’s what Jack wants to see and he’s given me that opportunity now with the best group of guys. He didn’t take one single guy off that team because he wants to give me what Ricky had the last two years and let me have that shot to go run for a championship. I think that’s what he’s waiting on is just for me to get a little bit of full-time experience and hopefully we can take off next season in Cup. He hasn’t said that exactly yet, but I think behind the scenes that’s all of our plans. I would love to be running Cup again next year full-time. I would have loved to have started two years ago running Cup full-time, but I’ll just take the opportunity I have and try to make the best of it right now.”
WILL YOU DRAFT TOMORROW? “You’ll have to go talk to Donnie Wingo about that one. He’s probably got me parked for a little while, but if we can get two or three cars out there I might go follow them around and see how it handles. That’s what is crazy about the Cup cars now is the turbulence. I know everybody is talking about the windows and all that, but I led thirty-something laps the other day and nothing moved inside the car, nothing was shaking, and I got behind one car – Kevin Harvick – and it felt like the whole thing was gonna come apart, so we might have to do a little bit of drafting tomorrow just to make sure everything stays in and we don’t need to reinforce something.”
