Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
Food City 500 Qualifying – Bristol Motor Speedway
Friday, April 17, 2015
Ford Qualifying Results
2nd – Brad Keselowski
6th – Joey Logano
19th – Michael McDowell
25th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
30th – Aric Almirola
31st – Trevor Bayne
32nd – David Gilliland
33rd – Greg Biffle
38th – Chris Buescher
39th – Sam Hornish
42nd – Cole Whitt
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 Ortho Ford Fusion – YOU SPUN ON YOUR FIRST QUALIFYING RUN AND THEN HAD TO GO BACK OUT ON SCUFFED TIRES. HOW BIG OF A HANDICAP WAS THAT? “It was a pretty big handicap. The track just changed quite a bit. We made a change to our Ortho Ford Fusion. It seems like we go through practice and then sit back and that gives us time to work on it and look at it in the truck. We make adjustments to it and I think we went the wrong way. It was really, really loose. I could not get any grip. I saw the 48 car struggle with the same thing right in front of me and we were struggling with the same there. There was just no rear grip driving into three. One and two wasn’t bad, but in three and four there was no rear grip and that’s as fast as I could get it to go.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL – No. 95 Thrivent Ford Fusion – “It’s a great run for us. We had a fast car in practice and were 11th, but I got up on the track too early on my first run and got black flagged, so I had an extra heat cycle on the tires that we didn’t need. Our car is really good. Thrivent Financial has done a great job supporting us and giving us the tools that we need to make our race team better, along with Bob and Sharon Leavine. Bristol is a place where you can have a small team race well and I don’t think we’ll be the only ones you see that with on Sunday. We were hoping for a little bit more actually, but that’s how this sport goes. You always want a little bit more. I’m just proud of all my guys because qualified 39th at Texas and came back to qualify 19th here at Bristol. That’s pretty good.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Autotrader.com Ford Fusion – “It’s nice. On the outside is gonna be good. It’s frustrating when you win the first two rounds and then you don’t really make it happen on the third one. It’s frustrating because you feel like you’ve got the pole sitting right here with the Autotrader Fusion, but I just got too loose in the last round. Half the battle is you’re trying not to wreck and then you’re also trying to go fast. I felt like I lost a lot in three and four just trying to keep the back from spinning around. It’s still not that bad. I’m mad at sixth, so at least that’s a good problem to have.” THE TIMES ARE SO CLOSE THAT IF YOU SLIP UP JUST A BIT IT CAN MEAN A LOT. “We didn’t know what it was gonna don on the third run. We’ve never done a third round here before and we just missed it. We thought we were going the right direction, but we just over-adjusted and wound up sideways. It happens.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – PRESS CONFERENCE – “It’s still very, very early in the weekend and the track is really not indicative of what we’re gonna have to race, so as it continues to change you’ll see some comers and goers from what we saw today. Either way, we’re reasonably happy with our day to qualify second. You get that close and it seems to sting a little bit more because it didn’t take much to find the next place, but it could be worse and we’re thankful for a decent starting spot and hopefully a great spot on pit road to help us all day on Sunday.”
DID YOU NOTICE THE SAFER BARRIER ADDITION TO THE TRACK? “I didn’t notice it. If you wouldn’t have told me, I guess I wouldn’t have known. Somebody asked me the same question after practice and maybe I didn’t pay that close attention before, but I didn’t notice a difference.”
MATT KENSETH SAID YOU GUYS HAVE RACED PRETTY CLEAN SINCE CHARLOTTE LAST YEAR. YOU’RE ON THE FRONT ROW WITH HIM, SO HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE STATUS OF ALL THAT RIGHT NOW? “I don’t know I haven’t really thought about it. I guess my take is I don’t think about it that much to let it affect me either way. I focus on the task at hand of making the most out of this weekend and I try not to be very reflective once I get in the car and save that for when I’m out of it, but right now it’s not something I’ve put any thought into to be honest.”
