Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Daytona 500 – Daytona International Speedway
Sunday, February 23, 2014
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – “I thought we were really strong in the middle all night with our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford and we’d work our way from the back to the front time and time again. There at the end we were running the middle with the 24 and the 11 and felt really strong and all of a sudden the 40 shoved it four-wide down into turn one and really squeezed everybody. We almost crashed there, so I had to back out of the gas and fell back a few spots and we were working our way through the middle again. Our car was really free up off the corner. We’ve seen that a lot tonight with the cars. Handling is becoming an issue again. I don’t know if that’s just the track wearing out or the aero package we have now, but you actually have to drive them again. There were a few times I got loose with cars around me, and I saw other people doing it, but it finally stepped out too far. I tried to save it, but when it finally caught it hooked right into the wall like you see sometimes at mile-and-a-halves. You don’t normally expect that at Daytona by yourself, but I hate it for our team. We kept recovering tonight. We went a lap down after a slow pit stop and got it back. We worked our way into the top 10 a few times and led some laps, but it’s not the finish we were hoping for.”
HOW FRUSTRATING TO WRECK SO CLOSE TO THE END? “It’s frustrating, but we made it that far, I guess. We made it to the last 20 laps and that’s kind of your goal at Daytona – to be around at the end for a chance to win. Unfortunately, there’s still nine to go and we’re not out there, but I thank the Lord I’m OK because some of these hits are pretty hard, but Jesus kept me safe. We’re good to go. We’ll go to Phoenix in the Nationwide Series and we’ll be back Cup racing at Vegas.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion (Finished 4th) – “We had a really fast Miller Lite Ford and just came up a little short there at the end. We had a good restart but didn’t get any help from behind. I was really proud of my car and team to be able to hold fourth with no help. Dale and his teammates were really fast and they did a good job executing at the end. Congratulations to him.”
HOW MUCH HELP DID YOU NEED TO MAKE PASSES? “If I had maybe one or two cars behind me I think I could have maybe had a shot but I just didn’t get it.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Nationwide Insurance Ford Fusion (Finished 7th) – “We struggled there for awhile. We worked our way to the front and got off a little on fuel strategy when that rain came. I knew our Nationwide Fusion was fast but it was such a log jam trying to get back to the front, then we slowly worked our way there and got a few cautions. I really wanted to get to the back bumper of the 2 and get Ford another 500 but all in all it was a good day for us. We came home seventh and that is a good way to start the year. We just needed a little bit more there at the end. We needed a couple cars behind us to be able to get to the 2’s bumper and we just didn’t quite get it.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “We had decent speed. I thought the 2 car might have been a little faster, but that was a crazy, crazy race there at the end. It’s funny because you line up behind Brad and he gets a hole and I don’t, and then you see where he goes and where you’re at. We got shuffled all the way to the back and then with 10 to go we were all the way in the back. We worked our way up some. At least the fans are excited about the finish or the winner at least. But the guys did a great job the last two weeks and gave me some decent cars. We survived it. When you start in the back, like 15th or further back on the last restart, you’re pretty sure you’re gonna get caught up in a crash. We came close enough on that last one when I was sideways, but I was able to save it.”
YOU AND BRAD WORKED WELL TOGETHER ALL NIGHT, ESPECIALLY BY PITTING TOGETHER UNDER GREEN A FEW TIMES. “Anytime you can help your teammate the easier it is to move to the front and we did that from the beginning of the race and steadily moved our way up through the field, but eventually you kind of get stuck and separated. Once you get separated it’s hard for me to help him and hard for him to help me.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “We had a really fast Fastenal Ford, I got to lead a bunch of laps so that was really fun. The 88 was very good. He was going a really good job, so he definitely deserved the win. The reason we all crashed at the end was that there was still some oil on the race track or some kind of fluid. I went through it the lap before Kevin wrecked and then he got sideways right in front of me and hit the 18 and caused a bunch of havoc, but there was definitely fluid on the race track. That’s too bad because I think it was gonna be a pretty good finish without tearing up cars. People were doing a really good job driving.”
HOW FRUSTRATING TO HAVE IT HAPPEN LIKE THAT? “It’s frustrating for me because we had a really good car. I think if I would have done things a little differently we could have finished really well, but I did learn some things and I did have a good time. This is about the most fun I’ve had at a Daytona 500 ever, so I guess that’s something. I just hate to tear up that race car. That was a really good car.”
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – “It was a good night. They just have a tick more speed, it seems like. I could kind of hold them off, but it depends on who is pushing you, I guess. You get some fast cars lined up and you’re fast, but that last restart killed me. That was it.”
YOU WERE TRYING TO BLOCK THE WHOLE FIELD WHEN LEADING. “We had a really strong car, but the 88 was real fast. We just couldn’t hold him off.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 CSX – Play It Safe Ford Fusion – “Well, it was a long Daytona 500. Our CSX team had a good car and a fastcar but we had a transmission go out and we had to come to the garage and change it. We were able to get back out and collect a few points, but it was definitely not the Daytona 500 we all hoped for. We’ll try to diagnose what the problem was and learn from it, and we’ll look forward to Phoenix.”
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion – “We had a great car. Our Love’s Travel Stops Ford was fast all week, and it felt great as the race got started. We were just taking it easy, logging laps up toward the front. After the rain delay, we were toward the back and we just wanted to hang out there for a while. But we got caught up in that wreck and it spun me into the grass and I got stuck there, and they had to tow it to the garage to fix it. I’m proud of the guys, though. They worked really hard all Speedweeks and all winter, really, to put a great car on the track. There were a lot of wrecked cars out there today and unfortunately we were one of them.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion – – “We had a fast car today. The STANLEY Ford was good all week and the car was fast tonight. That is encouraging. We were caught in the wreck close to the end. From there we survived the other ones and finished the race on the lead lap. It’s just a shootout, but we had a chance for the majority of the day.”
