Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
NSCS AAA Texas 500
Friday Oct. 31, 2014
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
10th Joey Logano
11th Carl Edwards
16th Marcos Ambrose
18th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19th Greg Biffle
22nd Aric Almirola
25th Trevor Bayne
26th Brad Keselowski
31st David Gilliland
37th David Ragan
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 AAA Insurance Ford Fusion – “It wasn’t a bad run for the No. 22 AAA Ford, but its not what we were hoping for. We were pretty good in the first round and I thought we would be better in the second round, but we were good enough to make it. The later it went, the faster the guys went. In the third round, we were just too tight. I tried to arch the corner and I got tight. It’s not bad but not great. We can see the front and we can see our competitors in the Chase. 500 miles is a long way. Plenty of time for things to happen.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – “We want to be on the pole. That is what we are here for. We just didn’t have enough to get that done. That is unfortunate but there are 25 other guys out there that worked real hard and beat us so we will continue to work hard and try to be ready for the race.” ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT STARTING IN THE BACK OF THE FIELD? “Yes and no. If you have a great car it works its way out. I am concerned with making sure we have a great car for Sunday’s race.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion – “We were just talking and I was really happy with our laps. We had good balance and they changed the car well. Obviously we wanted to be better than 11th but this is a 500 mile race and we have a good starting spot and we will work on this. We ran a little race trim today and we had a good test at Homestead this week so I think we should be good for Sunday but we just don’t know.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – “It was super fast in the first practice and we were top of the board a little while and ended up top-10 and I thought for sure we would make it to the last round here today like the spring. It was just too loose. It freed up too much with the sun going down. The jump it made before Cup qualifying was more than we predicted. I ran the first run there and got sideways in one and two. I finished my lap – probably should have shut down and saved my tires – but I finished that lap and we picked up on our second run which you should never have at Texas. We figure it is about three-tenths fall for tires and barely missed it. I think we have a good Motorcraft Quicklane Ford for Sunday.”
RICKY STENHOUSE Jr., No. 17 EcoPower Oil Ford Fusion – “We were just talking and you get really frustrated because we were 12th in the first round, 10th in practice but end up 18th here. The crazy part is that only eight one-hundredths or something like that separated us from eighth place. There are more spots than there is time. It is just so close. We needed a half of a tenth that would have put us in the top-12 so you get frustrated by that. Mike and I were just talking about that. We made an adjustment and we thought it was enough but it was just too tight. Our EcoPower Ford has a lot of speed this weekend and Doug (Yates) brought a good engine package. All our Fords are fast. I am excited because we were fast in race trim earlier today. We just have to keep it going in the long haul. That is the plan, to get it dialed in. I just get frustrated when I look at the times on the board.”
