Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Irwin Tools Night Race Qualifying – Bristol Motor Speedway
Friday, August 22, 2014
Ford Qualifying Results:
3rd – Carl Edwards
5th – Joey Logano
8th – Greg Biffle
9th – Brad Keselowski
10th – Marcos Ambrose
21st – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
28th – Michael McDowell
29th – David Ragan
32nd – David Gilliland
42nd – Aric Almirola
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 STP Ford Fusion – “I screwed up and that’s all there is to it. We have probably the best race car I’ve ever had at Bristol and I screwed up and hit the fence.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion – “I thought we might have had a shot at the pole, but we just never got it dialed in right and maybe I made some mistakes too, one of the two, or both, but in race trim we got it pretty decent here towards the end of practice and I feel like we’ve got a shot at it.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “I’m OK with it. I wish I was fourth because fifth isn’t where you want to be, but it’s just so fast out there. I’ve been a little lost today because there’s so much grip and what I need in my race car has just been different from what I typically need at Bristol, so I’m just trying to figure it out. I feel like I’m a rookie again trying to figure out what the heck I need in the race car to go fast. But, overall, for being as lost as I am we’re fifth so it’s not that bad. My team isn’t lost. They’re making good changes and making my car faster.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion – “It’s a great day. There were a lot of great names in that final 12, so I’m just pleased I was in there to mix it up with them. We did a lot of laps to make it to the final 12, which hurt our performance in the run home, but we’ll take our day.” DOES YOUR FIRST ROUND UNDERSCORE HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO ADVANCE AND START UP FRONT HERE? “Yeah, we had to make two more runs than we wanted, but they kept making changes to the car and made it better. We had to do the laps to make our way in and I’m glad we made it.”
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Hire Our Heroes Ford Fusion – “I’m really happy with that. When I did a .66 I got really excited because I knew I maybe had a little more speed. One and two was definitely faster and then I had to come out of the gas in three and four. It could have been the top of the board, but I’m happy with that. I wanted an even starting spot. It’s really tough here. The outside groove at the very start of the race probably doesn’t matter, but, still, I’m happy to be in the top 10.” YOU TALKED ABOUT YOUR TEAM TURNING THE CORNER. DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE SOME GOOD MOMENTUM? “I think so. We’ll keep working on it. Bristol is hard to judge, but our car is driving good and I can run pretty consistent laps, so I feel like we’ve got a solid top-10 car.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “I was just telling Jeff that the track has a lot of grip and the cars are extremely fast. It was really a pretty fun lap. This is a really fun race track, had a lot of fun in the spring and hopefully this starting spot helps us work towards our goal of winning another race here. But, yes, fast laps. I don’t know what it looks like, but, man, it is screaming fast in there. I don’t know how my first lap out there was any good because I didn’t quite even know where I was there and got everything gathered up and it was decent, so it’s just a crazy race track.”
ARE THE TIRES THE ONLY FACTOR IN KEEPING SPEEDS DOWN? “I don’t know. We talk about speed all the time. We talk about the quality of racing. Were you there at that test at Michigan? I heard a lot of neat stuff coming back from there and I’d say more important than speed is that we can race close to one another. I’m kind of veering off here, but I’m definitely excited about the idea of NASCAR taking away some downforce and softening up the tire. I think that would be good stuff. Here, it seems like you’re out of the throttle enough you can race a little bit, but even here it gets pretty tough when the speeds are this high in the middle of the corner.”
ARE YOU DOING THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE BEFORE THE RACE TOMORROW? “Yeah, we’re trying to work something out. Gary Pinkel, a young man named Vincent Novo, and Wendy Venturini have all called me out and I haven’t done it yet, so I’ve got to do it. It’s a great cause. It’s amazing. I’ve been reading a little bit about it.”
