Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Oral B USA 500 Qualifying – Atlanta Motor Speedway
Friday, August 29, 2014
Ford Qualifying Results:
2nd – Brad Keselowski
7th – Aric Almirola
11th – Carl Edwards
14th – Joey Logano
18th – Greg Biffle
26th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
32nd – Marcos Ambrose
37th – David Gilliland
38th – David Ragan
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion – “It’s by far the best qualifying effort I’ve ever had here. That’s a testament to the team and the work they’ve done and trying to be better. We’re having a phenomenal season, but I just wish it would have been one more spot instead of second to first-place, but that’s the way it goes and hopefully we can find that one more spot here Sunday night. The car has been really fast so far as the weekend is just getting started here on Friday. I’m very pumped for this opportunity and this challenge.”
WAS IT GOOD TO SEE TONY OUT THERE BEING COMPETITIVE TO THE FINAL ROUND AND WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON TONY BEING BACK? “I get a lot of messages on social media, which is probably the largest pulse I have for what’s going on, and I certainly get many more positive messages about it from my fans than anything else. I haven’t really chimed in that much. I don’t think there’s frustratingly enough facts out there yet to have an informed opinion, which I sympathize for everyone out there. I think there should be a lot more facts available, but that’s no one in here’s fault. But I’m glad to see the fans are happy and that’s the most important thing. Tony and the other stuff, he’s a strong guy. He’ll figure it out.”
BY THAT ANSWER DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION ON TONY GETTING A WAIVER IF HE QUALIFIES FOR THE CHASE? “The only real feeling I have is that there should be more information available than what there is. I think everyone is kind of getting the shaft on that one and that’s not necessarily Tony’s fault or anyone’s fault, it’s just I feel like everyone is trying to have an opinion without having any information and that’s a scary place to be.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Eckrich Ford Fusion – ARE YOU HAPPY WITH HOW ALL THREE SESSIONS WENT? “Yeah. Anytime you’re the quickest car is something to be proud of, so I’m really proud of that in the first session. And then we just didn’t quite keep up with the way the tires were gonna fall off those next couples sessions. Our Ford Fusion just got away from us a little bit, but for the last few weeks we’ve had really good showings for us. It shows we can be competitive at these race tracks, which is exactly what the doctor ordered going into the Chase.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion – “I kind of went for it there and I overdrove it a little bit. We made some adjustments and I thought we were gonna have a shot at the pole, so I just went a little hard and overdrove. I had fun though. It was a fun day. Our Fusion is fast and feels good in race trim, so I think we’re gonna have a pretty good race. I think it will be fun.”
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 Ortho Ford Fusion – “It’s disappointing. We’ve got a little bit of work to do, but I think we’re better than we have been so we’re going in the right direction. We’ve still got a little ways to go, but we’re gaining on it as a group.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “Our car was tight trying to get to the bottom and as soon as I’d go back to the gas it was loose, so it’s really hard to fix that, especially when you’ve only got a limited amount of adjustments. Like I said before qualifying it’s a place that’s easier than most to make passes and work your way up, so I feel our Shell/Pennzoil is fast in race trim. It’s a little bit of a bummer because we’ve made every round, except for the superspeedways up to this point. All good streaks must come to an end, but I we’re obviously still in a decent position starting 14th and we’ll just work our way up there.” HOW MUCH DID THE CAR CHANGE BETWEEN ROUNDS? “Not enough. We didn’t fix it enough, but it’s a tough place to qualify with the tire wear and what your car is gonna do as the track cools off. It’s a challenging qualifying session for us and we just couldn’t make our car any better. It kind of stayed the same through all three runs that we made. It happens, but we’ll be able to work our way up from there.”
