Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Food City 500 Qualifying (Bristol Motor Speedway)
Friday, March 15, 2013
Ford Qualifying Results:
7th – Brad Keselowski
10th – Joey Logano
14th – David Gilliland
15th – Casey Mears
20th – Aric Almirola
21st – Carl Edwards
22nd – Marcos Ambrose
24th – Greg Biffle
27th – Scott Speed
28th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
30th – David Ragan
34th – Michael McDowell
40th – Jason Wise
42nd – Scott Riggs
44th – Terry Labonte
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Kellogg’s Ford Fusion – “It was an OK lap for me. We were just a little tight, but that’s faster than we went in practice. It’s OK and it’s a good starting spot. We’re gonna be good. We’ve got the fastest pit crew in the world here, so it’s gonna be good.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Best Buy Ford Fusion – “It definitely could have been better, but I was just glad we got out there after changing the engine and going through the tech line. It was a great job by the guys. We only had one qualifying run there in practice and we picked up quite a bit on that run there, but was just a little loose in. We’ll go to work tomorrow and get it ready for the race.”
FORTUNATE TO HAVE YOUR ISSUE IN PRACTICE VERSUS THE RACE, OBVIOUSLY. “Yeah, a lot better to have it happen during practice than when we get in the race and it really matters. The engine shop has been doing a great job all year and I can’t complain about the horsepower they’ve given us. I’m just glad we got a new one in.”
DID IT GIVE ANY WARNING IT WAS GOING SOUR IN PRACTICE? “No, it actually had been running really good. We felt like we were fast in race trim, but then as soon as it let go, it let go. I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with it. They’ll get it torn down tomorrow and check it out.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Farmland Ford Fusion –“You always want more. We were seventh in practice and I thought we had a really good chance at a top 10 in qualifying. I’m not saying that still may not be the case, but it looks kind of grim right now. We’ll just have to see where that plays out, but I thought we were better than that. We just missed it a little bit and that’s all it takes at Bristol. If you’re just a little bit off it just kills you because everybody is so close. All in all, it’s OK, but I think we’ll be a lot better in the race.”
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 A&W All-American Food Ford Fusion – “Our car in race trim, I think we were third overall in 10-lap average and we really just worked on race trim stuff in practice. I’m really proud of the guys. Our car had good speed. We switched over to qualifying trim and were able to lay down a good lap there. We’re close. We’re in the game and that’s exciting, especially for myself. For all of Front Row Motorsports to come here and unload so well, like I said, we’re in the game. We feel like we’ve got a good shot at having a great weekend. Our performance on the race track has been better this year than any of the other years I’ve been at Front Row. We’ve been to almost every style of race track already and at each track we’ve made great improvement. I’m just proud of everything we’ve been able to do here so far.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion – “We just haven’t been that great in the center of the corner all day. We were OK in qualifying trim through there, but we’re still giving up some. We’ve just got to think about it, but it was a decent qualifying effort for us. We’re right around our teammates and after the last couple of weeks that’s a good thing.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “You always wish for more, but we’ll just have to see where that puts us because there are still quite a few fast cars to come. Hopefully, it will be in the top 15. We were decent, but probably went just a little bit too far with our adjustments. Qualifying here at Bristol gets your attention. It gets your heart rate going really, really high and that makes it a lot of fun.”
HOW WAS PRACTICE? “We’ve got some work to do in race trim, but our qualifying trim came around to something decent. I feel like if we get a little bit closer to Brad’s setup, it seems like he’s pretty good, so maybe he’s got the right thing in there.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford Fusion – “The 38 has been extremely fast since we got here, so we definitely want to lean on those guys some tomorrow. We’ve picked up a little bit throughout the day and have made our car better, but we just haven’t unloaded very good the first few weeks. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we all like this place because it’s a fun race track. You can pass here and race hard, so it’s certainly a favorite of our and our teams. Hopefully, our Dockside Logistics Ford can get tuned up a little bit on Saturday and it will be a fun 500 laps on Sunday.”
CASEY MEARS – No. 13 Geico Ford Fusion – “This team is slowly chipping away at it. We had a good run at Phoenix and we struggled at Vegas, but to come back at Bristol and be in the hunt like we were last time we were here is good, so I’m happy with where we’re at. We had a run there towards the end of practice where the fuel pump shut off on us and we didn’t quite get to complete our run and it kind of left us wondering what we should do for this qualifying run. We were a little conservative, but, at the end of the day, it gave us a decent starting spot.”
