Pure Michigan 400 Sprint Cup Post Race (Michigan International Speedway)
Sunday, August 18, 2013
JOEY LOGANO CAPTURES FIRST CUP WIN WITH FORD RACING AND PENSKE RACING
Brad Keselowski captured his first NSCS win of the season, taking the checkered flag at Michigan International Speedway for the first time.
The win is also the first of the season for Penske Racing and first for the organization since rejoining Ford.
The win gives Ford the first Michigan Heritage trophy, awarded to the winning manufacturer at MIS.
The win completes a season sweep for Ford at Michigan International Speedway and is the third straight NSCS win for the manufacturer at the track.
Ford has now won 34 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Michigan, most of any manufacturer.
The win is the fourth of the season for Ford in NSCS.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion – YOU CHASED DOWN MARK MARTIN, WHAT DID YOU FEEL IN THE CAR INCHING UP ON HIM? “I was trying to. I noticed he was lifting early because I was catching him on entry. He was able to pull me on exit. I wanted to get by him because I knew the 29 was fast too and trying to get the clean air on the Ford. It is so cool to be here in Victory Lane. It is crazy racing Mark Martin, my childhood hero, I was able to race against him in Pocono last year for the win. It is so cool racing against a guy like that. This is huge for our Chase hopes. We needed this to have a shot at getting in the Chase. We are close now but we can’t make any mistakes. This sure does help a lot.”
YOU ARE NOW THE SECOND WILD CARD ENTRY. YOU GOT MAXIMUM POINTS TODAY ALSO LEADING THE MOST LAPS. “That is pretty cool. I am pretty stoked right now. It means so much and so much to get Ford in Victory Lane here at Michigan. To win with RP here, that means so much too. I know he is running around here somewhere.”
TALK ABOUT THAT LAST RESTART. “When you are starting third on the inside lane you are pretty much in trouble. You can’t really do much. I was able to get a good run on the 29 and I took advantage of that opportunity. I knew if I followed him through turn one I was going to get freight trained and be pretty far back. It is just cool to be in Victory Lane.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – WITH JOEY WINNING, THIS MUST BE A BITTER SWEET DAY FOR YOU. “Oh yeah, it is the same deal every week. The yellows fall exactly the wrong way to screw up our strategy. That can’t keep going that way. Its like Black Jack, you aren’t going to keep turning 15 or 16 on every hand. Eventually you are going to turn a good hand. We just didn’t catch it today.”
DO YOU THINK THERE WAS ANY CHANCE OF YOU MAKING IT IF YOU STAYED OUT? “Only if we had gotten another yellow and we didn’t. I guess we made the right call but I ain’t gonna like it.”
WE COULD HEAR IT ON THE RADIO BUT WALK US THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU ARE HAVING TO HAVE THAT DISCUSSION. “You just know you don’t have a chance to win. We were leading the race and one yellow with the way track position racing is right now, one yellow can either win you the race or lose you the race. That really sucks.”
AT THIS POINT WAS THE IDEA TO GET THE POINTS YOU COULD? “That is pretty much it. That is all you can do. Get the points you can and move on to next week. I think we gained some at least on a few guys.”
JOEY WINNING PROBABLY HURTS YOU IN THE POINTS SITUATION, AT LEAST IN TERMS OF WILD CARD? “He was quite a ways behind me. I am not looking at Wild Card, I want to make my way into the top-10.”
GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – “We bumped the 2 coming out of the pits in that scramble at the end and hurt the left front fender. That might have been some of our problem. Our cars are way, way better out front than they are in traffic. That is really tough for us.”
