Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
NSCS MyAFibStory.com 400
Sunday Sept. 14, 2014
KESELOWSKI GIVES FUSION FIRST WIN IN CHASE
· Brad Keselowski’s win is his second consecutive and fifth race of the season.
· With the win, Keselowski advances to the Challenger round of the 2014 Chase.
· Ford Racing’s 11 wins this season ties for the most for the manufacturer since 2008 (11).
· The win is Ford’s 629th all-time series victory and the 37th by Penske Racing with Ford.
· In addition, today’s win is the first for Ford Racing at Chicagoland Speedway.
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion: Finished 1st
“I am not really sure what to say. I don’t really know what happened I just know we got to the lead. There was traffic and I was just digging and in the zone. The recorder was turned off so I don’t remember what happened. I had my head down doing all I could do. We had a great Miller Lite Ford Fusion that I knew from the start would be good but man it was really awesome the last few runs. We really dialed it in and the 2 crew did a excellent job. What a day. Man, I am still pumped.” YOU CAME FROM MID PACK, STARTING 25TH, HOW MUCH PATIENCE DID THAT TAKE? “You have to be so patient. The cars in traffic are all over the track and it is very easy to spin out on your own and you have to pace yourself. I don’t know what to say. I am so thankful to be here. I want to say thanks because I know the fans can hear me. I saw all of them standing on their feet when we made the pass for the lead and that was awesome. Thank you fans for being here and for your support. What a great day. God that was sweet.” HOW DOES IT FEEL TO ADVANCE TO THE NEXT ROUND? “Awesome.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion: Finished 4th
“We hit a piece of debris with about five to go. I say piece but it was huge. I think it was a tear-off and we got really hot but the car started handling really good when it was on there and we got another spot because of it. We blew up going into three and just had a big smoke screen behind me but I was able to get it across. What a hard fought day for this Shell Pennzoil team. We were struggling all weekend and weren’t very fast but we fought hard and got a nice top-five out of it. We will take that and keep being consistent and get to the next round.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion: Finished 20th
“What a battle all day. We used up every bit of our track position and our strategy and everything. We had a flat tire and got fortunate that didn’t hurt us, it might have helped us. We have to stay alive. We have to go to Loudon and hopefully our flat short track program is better than this. Then we will take what we learned here to Dover. To make this second round we will have to be perfect and have a little bit of luck. Our day was not good. We’ve got to be a little faster and we have to continue to have good luck. For us to advance we are going to have to rely on other people making some mistakes. All the while we are looking for more speed from our Fastenal Ford and if we can do that I think we will be alright but we have to stay afloat.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 Eckrich Ford Fusion:
CAN YOU PUT INTO WORDS YOUR FEELINGS RIGHT NOW? “No, I can’t. Heartbroken I think is the easiest way to describe it. I am really proud of my guys. We have nothing to hang our heads about. They brought me an awesome race car. We drove from 23rd up to the top-10, running sixth with just over 30 to go and it just wasn’t meant to be. We will regroup and go to Loudon and Dover and try to be spectacular.” WHAT HAPPENED? “I think the motor just let go. My hat goes off to Trent Owens and all the guys on the Eckrich team. Our Fusion was really fast and it just wasn’t meant to be today. The motor let go. Doug Yates builds awesome horsepower for us every week and we rarely have any engine issues at all. It happened but we had a lot of horsepower while it lasted.” YOU WERE RUNNING REALLY WELL. “We were and I knew this team was capable of that. We were coming off top-10s at Richmond and Atlanta and had momentum on our side. We know what we are capable of. We know we are capable of running in the top-10. Everyone else might not think so, the rest of the world thinks we are underdogs and we will gladly accept that tag but what we’ve shown today and the last two weeks is exactly what we are capable of. We don’t have anything to hang our heads about. WE will go to Loudon with our heads held high and try to rebound from this.” HOW DOES YOUR APPROACH CHANGE NOW? “We have to win. That is it. There is no other option. We have to go and figure out how we can win one of the next two races.”
