Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
NSCS Ford EcoBoost 400 – Homestead Miami Speedway
Sunday Nov. 16, 2014
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion (PIT ROAD INTERVIEW) – “It was a heck of a race up there. I screwed up and hit the wall early and we were able to recover then had the mistake on pit road which didn’t give us enough time to recover from that. It is unfortunate. Execution was our strong point all year and we just didn’t do it tonight. For that reason we finished fourth after I think we scored the most points this whole Chase. We finished fourth in a season I feel we had a great championship run going. At the same time, we can’t hold our heads down. It is frustrating after all that to say you finished fourth when I feel like this team deserved a lot better.” GREAT EFFORT BY YOUR TEAM ALL SEASON THOUGH. “Yeah, I am proud of them but it is hard to be proud right now after coming home wherever we finshed in this race. I don’t even know what that is. I don’t even care. You don’t get shots at championships often. Hopefully we get another next year. This car had a lot of wins and a lot of top fives and it doesn’t mean a thing.”
TODD GORDON, crew chief, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion (PIT ROAD INTERVIEW) – A DIFFICULT ENDING TO A GREAT YEAR. “If you look at the whole deal, all the work, there is a lot to be proud of this season. Five wins and getting ourselves into the championship round are good things. I felt like execution would be the dictator tonight and we didn’t do that. That is the long and the short. We had issues and had them late enough that you can’t recover from them. We had a few and we just didn’t execute. We have to find a little more speed coming back and it is disappointing right now. It isn’t anything you want to smile or anything about but as you get back and get days in I think we will reflect back on the five wins and making it to the championship round and recognize it as a step forward in the second year with Joey and something we can build off of going forward.” WALK US THROUGH THE FATEFUL PITSTOP. “The jack slipped off the post and then unfortunately it happened late enough that the tires were off and the car was sitting on the jack stop. It is just one of those deals. I think that is the only time this year that we have had that happen. The guys have done a good job. It is unfortunate that you have your miscue that late in the race because there was no time to recover.” WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND AND WHAT DID YOU TELL JOEY? “What went through my mind? Hopefully that we would have cautions. I think there was 28 to go when that happened. I was hoping we would have a caution with 12 to go and force guys to a split strategy of how they were coming. We didn’t have enough guys come to pit road to stay out and make track postion. We had to find a way to do something they weren’t. We just never recovered from it.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion (PIT ROAD INTERVIEW) – “It was a good night. To have another sound finish and bring home the white deuce with a third is not bad. We certainly wanted to be able to win and Kevin made a great move on that next-to-last restart and got through traffic and by us for the lead. That was pretty cool to see actually. It was a solid season for everyone here at Team Penske. We had six wins and I think 17 top-fives, the most top fives and wins in the series and that is a lot to be proud of. It was a decent night. Not exceptional but a pretty good night. We end up third with some ups and downs and got caught on pit road under a yellow. The team did a great job recovering from that. It was a solid to finish to what has been a great year for us.” WHAT ABOUT THIS CHASE FORMAT NOW THAT IT IS OVER? “The fastest car all season won the championship. I think that is right. The most consistent car was probably Jeff. He finished sixth in points. We had the most wins and finished seventh. You can argue every case for a championship scenario but the reality is that we all knew what it took to win going in and Kevin and his team did it.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “I had a flat right-rear. I was having some fun racing with some of those guys. I went under Austin Dillon and I heard a noise and I thought, ‘Oh, somebody’s engine is blowing up,’ and it was my tire flapping and I just drove in there and backed into the fence. If I would have been just a little bit quicker realizing what was going wrong I think we would have still had a good finish, but I had a good time. We finished the race and got to race a little bit there at the end with Michael Annett and that was fun.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THESE LAST NINE YEARS? “Overall it’s just been an honor to work with everybody here. If it weren’t for Jack Roush and Ford and everybody that has worked so hard I definitely would never have had all the success we’ve had, so the 99 will always be a part of my life.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion – “It’s been the story of our year, just fighting and gouging and trying all the way to the very end. I finished all the laps here tonight and finished 23rd in points, so we’ll take it. It wore me out.” HOW DO YOU SUM UP THIS CHAPTER OF YOUR CAREER? “I’m just tired, to be honest with you. I’m feeling the effects of a hot night here in Miami. The car was handling rough and I was fighting it, but that’s what makes NASCAR so great. I’m gonna miss it, no doubt about it. It’s bittersweet for me, but I’ve got a lot to look forward to and a lot to be thankful for.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “It was a good year for us. We won a race. We made the Chase. We did all the things we set out to do this year, but we would be a dangerous race team if we could figure out how to get the speed out of our cars week in and week out. We do it some weeks and then other weeks we aren’t able to do it, so I’m sure this off-season all the guys will go to work and figure out how to make our cars better and we’ll hopefully have more consistent speed throughout next year. Hopefully we’ll go win another race and get this car back in the Chase. Now that we have a little experience with it we’ll be able to make the most of it.” HOW WAS YOUR RACE? “It was just a long night. We struggled with our car and we just never could get it right. We kind of fought the same thing we’ve fought the last two months, so we made the most of it. We ran all the laps and we’re ready to go home and get to work for next year.”
