Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Federated Auto Parts 400 (Richmond International Raceway)
Friday September 5, 2014
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
1st BRAD KESELOWSKI
5th JOEY LOGANO
7th RICKY STENHOUSE JR.
10th CARL EDWARDS
17th GREG BIFFLE
26th ARIC ALMIROLA
30th DAVID GILLILAND
33rd MARCOS AMBROSE
42nd DAVID RAGAN
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion (Qualified 5th) – “I will take that. I will take a fifth place effort. We were 14th in practice so I didn’t think we would be that good but we were able to get our car out there in time and lay down a good lap the first session. I over drove it the second session. I was expecting more grip with the shade and I over drove it. That is my bad. I probably lost a half a tenth there and that would have put us third. I think the fact that Brad went out a little sooner with the clean track and we waited too long and the sun poked out cost us a little bit there too. If we keep stacking these pennies up we will figure out how to get the pole. That is okay though, we will race from there.”
RICKY STENHOUSE Jr., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion (Qualified 7th) – “I was really happy with our Fifth Third Ford Fusion in the first run. We got really tight in the second run and didn’t pick up the speed we wanted to. That is still a lot better starting spot than we had last time we were here when we were 29th. That is progress. Mike made good changes from practice, we were 17th in practice, and I am happy about that. We will keep working on it.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Ford Fusion (Qualified 10th) – “Our Kellogg’s Ford is good. It is better than that. I was a little loose in qualifying. I didn’t know if that was a dig at me or not when you said last time we qualified 26th but we are making progress, you are right. I think this tire will be a lot of fun tomorrow night. I think it will be tough and the track will change a lot. You will see guys on the fence, at the bottom and that is what it is about here at Richmond. It will be a good time.” SOME SAY THIS WILL BE A REAL SCRAMBLE, PARTICULARLY THE GUYS THAT AREN’T IN THE CHASE. DO YOU WANT TO BE IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT OR NOT? “I feel like I am kind of on that list of guys that will do whatever it takes because we have nothing to lose and we want the three bonus points. We know those first three Chase races will be hard and if we aren’t in the hunt it will be entertaining to watch. There will be guys craining their next to see the Sprint Vision around the race track because I think it will be a crazy race. We’ve seen it here at Richmond the last 50 laps or so and the restarts – you never know what will happen.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion (Qualified 1st)
POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE – TALK ABOUT WITH ONE RACE TO GO BEFORE WE SET THE CHASE GRID TOMORROW NIGHT, THE COMPETITOR THAT YOU ARE I AM SURE YOU WILL GO AFTER THAT FOURTH WIN AND TOP-SEED COMING OUT OF RICHMOND. “That is exactly what we are thinking. It has been a great day so far. I don’t know how many races I have run here at Richmond on the Cup level but this is by far the best car I have had and I feel we have a really strong shot of winning this weekend. I am very excited about that. Everyone says they are excited but when you sit on the pole and have a fast practice you have real reason to be excited. Like you said, I would like to get that fourth win. We have three wins and that is a great start to the season and something we can hang our hat on heading into the Chase but there are five guys all tied for first and I think we are all kind of about the same right now. It would be nice to put up another win and be kind of the lead dog so to speak. I think we certainly have a shot at that and there is a lot left to go. This is just practice and qualifying here today and we are happy with the result but still very hungry and looking forward to tomorrow night and keeping our eye on the prize in front of us but also as the next few weeks develop and unfold a shot at another championship.”
HOW MANY POLES DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN UNDER THE OLD FORMAT? “Probably one or two. No matter what format you still have to be fast but I think this format certainly puts more strategy into play. The root of all success at the NASCAR level is always having a great team and fast cars. That is always the root of all success at this level. You can have the best pit stops and the most horse power and the best driver, it doesn’t really matter, those things on their own by themselves don’t win races consistently and don’t win poles and achieve great success. You have to have great cars. I think this year Penske has really caught on. We hope that will be the case for years to come. I think the Ford relationship has really developed and that is a big piece of why we are excelling to levels that we have never seen before. I think there are a lot of things happening all at once that you could probably point at each and every one of them in some way having a factor into our success but the fast cars are always the root of all success in NASCAR.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED … THE START OF THE RACE WEATHER WILL BE CLOSE TO WHAT YOU PRACTICED IN, BUT THE END WILL BE DIFFERENT. WHAT WILL YOUR TEAM NEED TO DO TO KEEP YOU IN COMPETITION? “I think trying to understand this tire is such a huge challenge for all of us. That is hard to explain to our fans and to the media because it is such a feel thing. Tires are literally where the rubber meets the road and where we take 850-900 horsepower and try to make it go forward and try to make it stop and change direction. That is a big challenge and I don’t know if it really gets truly appreciated what we ask out of a race tire and with that said, small changes have a significant difference in feel for all of us as drivers. Each driver seems to have a specific feel they excel at, at least the top drivers do, and you can have a race track that is your best track and with a very simple tire change it eliminates the potential for your style of driving and thus eliminates your potential for success. I think I look at this car, specific to this tire, this tire for us at least using just one weekend as an example is something we hit on right away and fits my style. Trying to keep up with that tire because the style will probably change again as the track changes into night tomorrow and trying to keep up with that will be the biggest challenge and what we have to keep working on.”
IS HAVING THE FIRST PIT STALL ANY MORE SIGNIFICANT TOMORROW NIGHT? “I think the short tracks the first pit stall is probably bigger than anywhere else. The way they lay out and importance of tires means you will pit more here at these type of tracks than any other. Really slow pit road speeds help to make that a bigger difference again. It is pretty significant. This race almost every year comes down to a 30 or 40 lap sprint at the end which usually entails pit stops beforehand. If you can get the track position in that pit cycle it can be the difference between winning and finishing second, third or fourth.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE ROUSH YATES ENGINES AND THEIR HAND IN YOUR QUALIFYING SUCCESS THIS SEASON? “I think our engines have been a rock for us this year. I am always hesitant to speak about engines, at least our own, because it is just kind of one of those things you don’t talk about or it seems something happens. I don’t know what you call that. Nate Ryan probably has a better word for it. It seems like whenever you talk about it something bad happens but so far we have had a great year on the engine side. Doug Yates and his team and everyone at Roush Yates has done a great job. We are hoping that continues. There is never a guarantee of that. There are some areas we still have to work on and we are where we want to be to have a shot at winning a championship on that front but we would like to be one step better to be the best out there. From a power standpoint we feel like we are a step behind the Hendrick engines but those guys are working on it really hard and I think they have a lot of strengths that we are very proud of and hope to showcase in the Chase here in the next 10 races and even tomorrow night.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED … DO YOU FIND IT STRANGE OR UNUSUAL THAT TWO GUYS, YOU AND HARVICK, HAVE NEVER BEEN GREAT QUALIFIERS BUT THIS YEAR ARE FAR AND ABOVE LEADING THE WAY WITH POLES? “It is certainly notable. There is no doubt it is notable. I feel like Kevin would probably tell you the same as I would that my cars are significantly faster this year in qualifying trim than they ever have been. When you combine that with this format perhaps suiting our style a little better it is kind of a double whammy. I would say Kevin and I are probably not known before this season for having a large qualifying prowess but this year that hasn’t been the case and we are certainly thankful for that. I think it is more than just the format. I think it is two things happening at once – the format is certainly helpful and certainly feels more representative of what it takes to be successful in a race week on the race track at a race pace than what it was in the past where it seemed to be more of a just going out there and bonsai and if it is good it sticks and if not you don’t. I think with this format you have to be much more calculated and think ahead a lot more and you are rewarded for that.”
WILL YOU PAY MORE ATTENTION TO GUYS THAT NEED A WIN THROUGHOUT THE RACE? “No. I appreciate what they are going through and we were in that situation last year and respect it but I think you have to run your own race at the end of the day and treat them as respectfully as you hope they would to you. There could always be a situation at the end of the race where one of those guys is behind you and it doesn’t turn out well and you just know that if that is the case it will work itself back out later down the road. They know that too.”
YOU BACKED OFF YOUR FIRST LAP. WHAT IS YOUR POINT WHERE YOU KNOW TO DO THAT, THAT YOU KNOW IT IS GOOD ENOUGH? “I let Paul and those guys figure that stuff out. They certainly have and each weekend is different, especially with different tires. This particular tire loses pace significantly. This particular track in qualifying format takes shade and picks up speed. Those variables are very difficult to navigate. I don’t feel like I am smart enough to navigate all of that while driving the race car at the same time which is why we have a crew chief to make that call and my crew chief Paul Wolfe does a great job of that.”
