Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 Qualifying (Martinsville Speedway)
Saturday, October 26, 2013
David Ragan, driver of the No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Fusion, posted the best qualifying effort in Front Row Motorsports history yesterday when he finished eighth overall. Ragan, who won the organization’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race earlier this year at Talladega, spoke about yet another milestone for his team.
DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Fusion – QUALIFYING EIGHTH IS REALLY ANOTHER STEP IN THE EVOLUTION OF THIS ORGANIZATION, ISN’T IT? “Yeah. When I first came to Front Row we really didn’t test any and we just did what we had to do to prepare our race cars and get to the race track. This year was the first time that we’ve been able to test a few times. We’ve built some new cars in-house and that’s doing the chassis work, the body work and building the components, so we’ve really evolved a lot. It’s certainly a lot easier just to go out and buy parts and pieces and buy technical support, but we’ve done it from within and I think long-term that’s a big positive for the whole Front Row Motorsports team. Martinsville is one of the tracks where your aero package doesn’t really mean a lot, so we come here and we just work on mechanical grip and mechanical things that I have a good input in, and we were able to come here and test. That helped us to unload yesterday with a pretty good starting point and I think it paid off. We did some race trim stuff. We didn’t really work on qualifying trim a lot, so we made some quality adjustments, and to qualify in the top 10 is certainly a great spot and puts us in a nice position to start the race tomorrow.”
WHAT DID THE TEST HERE ALLOW YOU TO DO A COUPLE WEEKS AGO? “For a smaller team like Front Row we have to use our time wisely. We have to be resourceful when we can, so we had a good test plan to try some things that we haven’t had an opportunity to do and do some things that the 38 car would like to see. We used our time wisely for two days, but we didn’t only work for Martinsville but in general to get some ideas for our race cars period. Things that make a car go faster here help at a lot of other race tracks like Bristol, Richmond and even Loudon and Phoenix to a degree. There are things you can learn just by having an opportunity for a two-day test, so we’re fortunate we were able to do that.”
HOW DO YOU LIKE MARTINSVILLE? “I enjoy coming back to Martinsville. A lot of guys come here with a bad attitude on Friday and they’re kind of beat before they even make the first lap, but I enjoy the place. It is a different style of racing. It’s a challenge, but I enjoy this race and it can be fun.”
YOU’RE STARTING EIGHTH ON THE OUTSIDE, BUT WOULD YOU RATHER BE SEVENTH OR NINTH AND ON THE INSIDE TO START? “Yeah, I’d probably rather start on the inside, but every now and then on starts here at Martinsville you’ve got so many guys fighting for the bottom that the outside lane can surge for a lap or two, but you do have to get to the bottom quick. Obviously, the track is gonna be its cleanest early in the race, so we’ve just got to get down to the bottom. It’s probably unrealistic to think that we can race in the top five or the top 10 all 500 laps, but we’ve got a great chance at a top 15 or a top 10 if some late-race strategy comes in to play. We’ve got a great starting spot. I think we’re as fast as some of the cars around us. You’ve got the 24 and the 29 is right there behind us, so you’ve got some good cars and past winners that are gonna be trying to get to the front as quick as they can, but if we can settle in line from 10th to 15th and just make laps for half the race, take care of our stuff, stay on the lead lap, we’ll have a great shot at a good day. We finished 12th at Bristol earlier this year and that was one of our best finishes at some short tracks, so if we could back that up with another top 15 would be a good day for us.”
THIS IS A LONG RACE AT 500 LAPS AND WE OFTEN SEE GUYS HAVE A PROBLEM EARLY AND GO DOWN MULTIPLE LAPS BUT THEN THEY RECOVER AND ARE BACK IN IT NEAR THE END. HOW HARD IS THIS RACE MENTALLY WITH EVERYTHING THAT CAN HAPPEN? “It is a long race and mentally it’s tough. That’s why I said that some guys are beat before they get here sometimes, so you’ve got to have a good attitude. Even if something does go bad, you’ve got to keep that good attitude all 500 laps because so much can change just in the last 50 laps of this race. If you have a couple quick cautions, you get fresh tires and maybe get to start on the inside for consecutive restarts, you could gain or lose 10 or 15 spots in one direction. Sohaving a good attitude and a spotter and crew chief that also have good attitudes is important because they can’t get too excited either. We’ve got to make sure our car is gonna be able to run 500 laps, which we’ve done a great job of doing this year, so it will be important for me to keep my mind at ease throughout the day and having a good car will help me stay that way, I’m sure.”
