Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Pocono 400 (Pocono Raceway)
Friday, June 6, 2014
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
3rd Brad Keselowski
7th Joey Logano
10th Carl Edwards
14th Greg Biffle
22nd Aric Almirola
28th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
29th Marcos Ambrose
32nd David Ragan
35th David Gilliland
GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 3M Ford Fusion | QUALIFIED 14th
“I was a little free in the first and second runs, just a little bit. My third run there, I just needed a couple hundredths and the 31 pulled out in front of us. I can’t figure out how he didn’t see us. He was coming to the green. But anyway, It was just a little too loose to get any more out of it and we will work from there. At the end of the day, we were just too loose and the 31 pulling out in front of us – I guess you are going to have that when you have multiple cars qualifying but this is a pretty dang big track to have to run into another car when it is 2.5 miles long. I don’t know. That is just the way it is I guess.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion | QUALIFIED 7th
“We were seventh or eighth every run so I guess this is where we were supposed to qualify. We have to figure out turn one. We are losing a lot of speed down there now. We have practice tomorrow to figure that out. Overall we are still making all these rounds and have still made every round except Talladega and I am proud of being able to be the only team that can say that still. That is a good thing. I want to start a little better than seventh but it is a long race and we will have time to get up to the front. The restarts here are crazy enough that you can be aggressive and make something happen.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Kelloggs/Cheez-It Ford Fusion | QUALIFIED 10th
“That was some pretty tight competition there. The track, the cars run really well here so if you make one small mistake it is really amplified because there is so much time on the throttle. That is a tough qualifying session. I am really proud of that second lap that got us into the third round. Tenth is not what we wanted but it is better than I thought we would get so I am happy with it.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 Nathan’s Famous Ford Fusion | QUALIFIED 22nd
“This is a nice format because if you don’t run the best of laps you have a chance to improve, so I like that part of it. Sometimes it works out in our favor when we make our car better and sometimes it doesn’t. Today in the second round I got loose off of turn three both laps, coming to the green and on my timed lap and that really hurts your speed because the straightaways are so long here, especially the front stretch. All in all, that is okay. We have typically started around 20th to 24th and had some of our better runs.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Redd’s Apple Ale Ford Ford Fusion | QUALIFIED 3rd
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE
TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN OUT THERE TODAY. “We were just all really close on speed and it was going to be curious to see who would get the top spot. I didn’t think Denny was that fast but I knew Kurt was and he put up a good lap and so did Denny. I feel like he put we put up a decent lap as well; we were just a tiny bit short. On a 2.5 mile track, that is pretty dang close. We have a lot to be proud of with the efforts and we are qualifying well every week and that is helpful because we will get a good pit stall from that which is always important as well.”
EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT TRACK POSITION HERE BUT GUYS HAVE ONE FROM BACK IN THE FIELD. KENSETH AND JIMMIE ARE STARTING BACK, CAN THOSE GUYS STILL BE THREATS? “Well, track position is critical but I think it is important to note that qualifying really only sets track position for the start of the race, from there it is who can have the best restarts where it is an opportunity for track position and so forth can be manipulated and then who can do the best on pit road where the strategy and actual pit stops themselves come into play. Track position is important but qualifying is only one of probably three or four factors that can accumulate in the race. In the race, qualifying goes away quickly other than your pit stall and you rely on those other factors of restart prowess along with strategy and your pit crews ability to execute to gain you track position. It is one indicator and certainly a good one to have but there are three or four other factors that are much more important once the race gets started.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THEM REMOVING THE CURB? “I think it is a great change because what we see a lot is cars that get pushed down, when they get pushed down at least now you have somewhere to go. That curb before was kind of a race killer. If you hit it it would damage the front splitter on these cars and that dictates a lot of the cars performance and it could really end your day and not necessarily be your fault. I thought it was a good thing and a great change.”
IS QUALIFYING ONE OF THE SIMPLE JOYS FOR YOU THIS SEASON? “It has been this year. For whatever reason we have really just taken to it like a fish to water and I am not sure exactly why but I am not going to complain about it either. We have had a lot of fun this year. Winning a race early in the year takes a lot of pressure off you with this format and so we have enjoyed that as a team and we are having a lot of fun this year. It does seem as though qualifying day is our highlight of the week as of late but we would rather change that for race day and we are working on that.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED … ARE YOU LOOKING AHEAD TO ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP OR IS THAT PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE? “You have to look at that at the start of the year and plan for that because that is your goal right? At least it is our goal at Team Penske. We will keep trying to push for it but it is still very early in the season and you can only fight so many battles at a time and the fight this weekend is Pocono and we will fight that fight.”
THE CHANGES MADE TO THE CAR IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON, HOW DID IT AFFECT POCONO FOR QUALIFYING TODAY? “I think the new spoiler, we are still kind of learning how it is going to affect it. I think the cars will probably draft more down the straightaways but I am not sure. We are kind of going to find that all out together when they drop the green. Throughout the season we have seen the cars are faster and I would say the change is more than just the spoiler, it is the lower ride heights as well. Those are two very significant changes and as far as how they affect Pocono the early indication is another track record in qualifying with the tracks having a major enhancement in performance. I would say in the race it is a little more of a wild card so we will find out together.”
DO YOU THINK WITH THE CURB GONE THAT GUYS MIGHT TRY TO CUT THAT CORNER LIKE AT PHOENIX? “I am sure someone is going to try it. Clean air is so important and when we all go down into turn two and we are stacked up, I am sure someone will try to use it to find clean air. We will be all watching to see how they get through or if they make it. It should be interesting. It looks really rough down there and I am not so confident the car will stick there but I am sure someone will try it.”
