Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Brickyard 400 Notes & Quotes (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
Sunday, July 28, 2013
CARL EDWARDS, NO. 99 FASTENAL FORD FUSION – “The early part of the race went real well. We had track position. This whole event track position was key. It was very difficult for me to pass people. We lost our track position on the restart and Tony made it four wide. I made the decision to not go down there and wreck everybody and that cost us a lot of track position. We made it back to 13th. I am proud of my guys. They brought a really good race car but we just really struggled on some parts of the track that we don’t normally struggle on.”
WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT DEBRIS? “Yeah, we had paper on my grille and we couldn’t get that off. Fortunately it didn’t heat up too much so that was good. If I would have had a teammate around, after everything we went through with that before, we would have been fine. It was pretty interesting at the beginning. You were actually driving the race car and dodging the trash out there.”
WHAT WAS THE COMPETITION LIKE? “I felt like our competition was really stiff, the guys we were racing against. It was extremely difficult to pass.”
WORSE THAN BEFORE? “Yes, it was really tough. But there were cars that were able to get up front and stay up front. We weren’t able to stay up front so I can’t say that everybody had the same problem but we had a lot of trouble.”
HOW DO YOU FIX IT? WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN? “My opinion is that we saw it Wednesday night. If you are not racing aerodynamic devices and the tire and track can interact so that the car can slide around a little more I think you will see more side by side racing. I have been preaching that a long time. I am not an aerodynamicist, that is just what I see.”
DOES NOT PRACTICING AGAINST ONE ANOTHER IN PRACTICE MATTER? “Here is the thing guys, when you rely on downforce and your car is going 200 mph and everything has to be perfect and there is a car up there in front of you that disrupts that air it just becomes difficult. There were guys back in 2008 where I was the only guy that could pass people. Right now it seems like the 48 is able to make it work. I don’t know that there is a fundamental problem with the car but I would be really curious to see what no front splitter and a really tiny rear spoiler would do. I think it would allow Goodyear to make a tire that is softer so that it would fall off more. I think you would see those great races like we saw at Fontana. That was the track that showed me it isn’t just down force but the way the tire interacts with the race track. That was one of the best races we have ever had.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, NO. 2 MILLER LITE FORD FUSION – “That was definitely not the day we wanted. It was an up and down day and the way the cycles ended it was down on the finish. I don’t think that was indicative of how we ran. That has been the story of the year. We were probably a fifth to tenth place car which isn’t where we want to be and we know we have work to do to make our stuff faster but we weren’t a 21st place car, it is just the way things worked out. It has been one of those years where when we have a car that is fast enough to contend and win races it turns into a strategy race and when we don’t have car fast enough and we play strategy it turns into a race like today where it was about speed. We haven’t been able to catch it the right way. In reality we would like to be fast everywhere but that hasn’t been the case for us. That is what we need to work on.”
HOW HAVE YOU DEALT WITH THE ROLLER COASTER NATURE OF THE SEASON? “It is part of racing. I think in this sport if the rules are being enforced the way they are supposed to be enforced you should go through a roller coaster. Certain cars should have advantages and disadvantages throughout the year. I felt we were really strong at the beginning of the year and not so strong now. I think we will be really strong at the end of the year. For us that challenge is we know we need to make the Chase first and then we will ride that roller coaster the other way if we get there.”
DO YOU EVER HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT MAKING THE CHASE? “If you don’t have concerns then your heart isn’t in it. You should be concerned from Daytona on. When you have success you lessen those concerns and we have had some success this year but we haven’t had the wins and consistency to remove all of those concerns. I am not going to say that I feel 100-percent about a lot of things but I can saw that I believe in the people I am around and we are going to get this right. It is just a matter of when.”
HOW HARD WAS IT TO PASS? “It is a difficult track to pass on and always has been. It was probably slightly more than usual.”
IS THERE ANYTHING THEY CAN DO TO HELP THAT? CHANGE THE TIRE OR DOWNFORCE? “I think there is lots of things we can do to make the racing better. I am always open minded.”
JOEY LOGANO, NO. 22 SHELL PENNZOIL FORD FUSION – TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY AND THE DIFFERENT STRATEGIES OUT THERE. “I was confused. I didn’t know what was going on but Todd did a good job making the calls today. I feel like he gave us the opportunity to gain the track position we needed. We just weren’t quite as fast as we needed to be. We led some laps but the 48 was just so fast plus he had new tires. We lost a little there and then we had some issues on pit road today that cost us about three or four spots. I feel like we could have finished in the top-five and am proud of the effort the guys put into this car. We weren’t really sure how we were going to be. I am glad we got a decent finish again and hopefully we get these troubles out of the way and get back on a top-10 streak and makeup the points we’ve lost the last two weeks.”
