Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Brickyard 400 Notes & Quotes (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
Saturday, July 27, 2013
CARL EDWARDS, NO. 99 FASTENAL FORD FUSION – “We have a fast race car and I am pretty proud of that lap. If I did it again I don’t know that I could go any faster. That was a pretty good lap. Hopefully that holds up for a top two or three. If we can start up front I think we have the pit crew and crew chief on the box and a car that can win this race. I want to win this thing badly.
MARCOS AMBROSE, NO. 9 DEWALT FORD FUSION – “We improved a lot and I am pretty happy with that lap. The weather looks like it might cloud over here so we may not be up at the front as much as we probably would if the weather was consistent. I am proud of that lap for Stanley and Richard Petty Motorsports and Ford. We were much better in qualifying trim than what we were in practice yesterday. I feel good about that.”
DO THE CLOUDS MAKE THAT BIG A DIFFERENCE? “Yes, certainly. We had a little help out there with some cloud cover but there are some bigger ones looming. It takes a hour and a half to get through qualifying. Fingers crossed it works out for us but it is just fun to put down a good lap early and watch the rest try to beat it.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, NO. 2 MILLER LITE FORD FUSION – “It is definitely hot out there but I have seen it hotter at Indy. It will be interesting to see how that affects the rest of qualifying. There are a couple clouds in the distance that might affect the back half of qualifying. We will see how that affects the speeds. I thought we got in a decent lap until I saw what Jimmie’s time was. I have no idea where that will shake out position wise but hopefully it is as close to the front as possible.”
AJ ALLMENDINGER SAID WHEN YOU WALK IN THIS PLACE DRIVING FOR ROGER AND WITH PENSKE ON YOUR UNIFORM IT IS A BIGGER DEAL. “Yeah, it is a big deal. It is Roger Penske. I take pride in that anywhere I go, not just Indy. Roger has done a lot here but he doesn’t have that NASCAR Cup win here and I would love to get it for him.”
WHAT IS THE KEY TOMORROW? INITIAL SETUP? CHANGES IN THE TRACK? “I think the key to winning the race will be getting the lead on the last restart. If you get the lead on the last restart and don’t beat yourself, whether it is hitting the wall, run out of gas or a flat tire, then you have the win. It could be a lot of different things like strategy that play into it too. It could be just out executing someone on the restart.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED HOW BIG A DEAL THAT NATIONWIDE WIN FOR YOU HERE LAST YEAR WAS FOR PENSKE? “I knew it was a big deal when they hung banners up in the shop for it. I thought it was great, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t realize how big a deal it was for Roger but he certainly showed me.”
JOEY LOGANO, NO. 22 SHELL PENNZOIL FORD FUSION – “I am just frustrated. I thought we had a car that should probably be second right now. We will see where that holds up but we were just too tight and I tried arcing turn two a little more trying to get a little more out of it and I didn’t make it to the bottom and had to lift off of two. I feel like I gave up a lot of time there. I feel like I left two-tenths out there probably and that frustrates me because it is hard to pass here. You have to be on your game when you qualify here and I am mad at myself.”
TREVOR BAYNE, NO. 21 MOTORCRAFT/QUICK LANE FORD FUSION – “The car was super tight in qualifying trim today. We were on the splitter really hard which makes it even more tight. I am glad to go back to race trim where our car was pretty decent. It is hard to pass here so qualifying is important but I think we can still make it up and go to the front here. I think we are in the show and that is what we came here to do. We will have to see what we can do to get to the front.”
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO RACE THIS HENRY FORD CAR? “It is pretty special. It is cool to represent Henry Ford and the Ford brand and Motorcraft and Quick Lane and the whole family. Wood Brothers Racing has been a huge part of Ford Racing’s history and it is an awesome partnership and we are glad to be celebrating the 150th birthday.”
DAVID GILLILAND, NO. 38 LONG JOHN SILVER’S FORD FUSION – “We’ve really been struggling this weekend. Our Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion just hasn’t been what we needed. We were loose on our one qualifying run and did a couple of minor adjustments and now we were just super, super tight. I don’t know. It has been a moving target for us. We’ve been struggling this weekend.”
DAVID RAGAN, NO. 34 CSX PLAY IT SAFE FORD FUSION – “Qualifying here, you have to hit your marks in all four corners and I feel like I hit my marks good but it was really warm when we went out and I got really loose off of 4 so I think we left some on the table. For not doing any qualifying runs in practice it was okay. We are going to work on our car some and make some adjustment for the race tomorrow. We will have to try to predict what the cloud cover and temperature will be. This is one of my favorite races of the year, so I am looking forward to it.”
CARL EDWARDS PRESS CONFERENCE
TALK ABOUT YOUR EFFORT AND ASPIRATIONS FOR TOMORROW HERE AT THE BRICKYARD “I was really proud of our guys. We brought a brand new car here and they have worked very hard on it. We were not very good at the beginning of practice but everybody worked really hard to get the car right and we had a great one and two and a not so great three and four. I thought I was going to be the most disappointed guy in the place until Ryan (Newman) ran his lap. I feel bad for Jimmie here. I felt really bad. Second is the worst you guys. It is the worst to qualify second and nobody wants anybody to go through what Jimmie just had to go through. We all don’t feel too bad for Jimmie though. That was pretty dramatic. I didn’t expect that. It was a very good lap on his part and he deserves it.”
IT LOOKS LIKE LIGHTS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN HERE AT SOME POINT. WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE FOR YOU GUYS TO BE THE PRIME TIME RACE HERE AT NIGHT? “I think I can speak for everyone in the garage that is is a honor to be able to race here. We all grew up watching races here and idolizing the guys that were successful at this track. If putting lights up and making a night race is more enjoyable for the fans and fun and fits the schedule and works for the sport overall then I think we are all for it. It would be a blast. It will be a neat part of history if we are in fact the first series to get to run under the lights.”
YOU SEEM TO RACE BETTER THAN YOU QUALIFY HERE, SO QUALIFYING THIS WELL DOES IT GIVE YOU A BOOST FOR TOMORROW? “Yeah, we are really proud of that. We have worked really hard on qualifying this year and Jimmy Fennig has helped me a lot. Our cars have been getting better and better and hopefully we can turn this into a good race effort. A year ago we qualified second and had a plug wire fall off. I have been waiting about a year to get to try this again. Hopefully starting up front we can run well. This track has been very difficult for us as a group. I don’t know that we have ever had a real dominant car here out of Roush Fenway. I think Greg (Biffle) has run well once or twice and I have led a couple of laps. It seems there are maybe one or two little things we have been missing. We have brought the best we can bring and hopefully this is our year to win it.”
