Ford Performance NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Quicken Loans 400 – Michigan International Speedway
NSCS Qualifying
Friday, June 12, 2015
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
3rd Brad Keselowski
5th Ryan Blaney
11th Joey Logano
20th Trevor Bayne
21st Greg Biffle
26th Aric Almirola
30th Sam Hornish Jr.
32nd Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
34th David Gilliland
37th Brett Moffitt
39th Josh Wise
40th Cole Whitt
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion (Qualified 3rd) – “It was a good lap. This is one of our weakness tracks here at Michigan International Speedway. We are working on it and trying to get better. I honestly didn’t think we would qualify this well. We came with some new stuff on the car which seems to be working. I am proud of everyone at Team Penske, Ford and Roush Yates engines for that.” IS EVERYTHING THE WAY YOU WANT IT FOR SUNDAY? “I always want more power and always want more aero. The key is I want more than the competition and that is the important thing.” HOW ABOUT PRACTICE TOMORROW? “Tomorrow morning is probably the worst practice of the year. You can’t take much from it. The track will be so cool and have so much grip that it isn’t indicative of the race. We will take that for what it is worth and hopefully have speed in the second practice tomorrow and that will be the one that really counts.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcrraft Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Qualified 5th) – “It’s really all you can ask for to bet better and better in the three rounds. Everyone did a great job. Jeremy (Bullins) did a great job of getting us better. We didn’t adjust enough for the last round. The tires got tighter than I thought they would be. I didn’t adjust track bar as much as I wanted to I was a little worried about being too free. It was a good effort for us. We needed it. We’re excited about Sunday. I’m just happy we were able to qualify to be honest with you. The preferred line varies with the driver depending on what their car is doing. I straddled lane 1 and 2 through turns 3 and 4 and that seemed to be working well for us today. Track position is pretty important here and qualifying well gives you a good spot in the pits. That’s what we wanted. It sets up your whole weekend. The Motorcraft/Quick Lane car was really good from the first laps. It just shows the preparation from all these guys at Wood Brothers Racing. They do a good job preparing these cars and I think it showed today.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion (Qualified 11th) – “I don’t know where we missed it there to be honest with you. We had a good thing going in the first two sessions but we definitely fell off there the last session and I really don’t know what it is. We were just talking about it as a team, we need to go back and look at some things to see but this place has been pretty good to me lately so we will go for it on Sunday.”
GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 Safety-Kleen Ford Fusion (Qualified 21st) – “We were tight. We haven’t really had speed since we got here. We were definitely too tight there. We will keep working on it though and we will get there. We didn’t do any race trim stuff today, just made qualifying runs in practice, so we will see tomorrow where we end up in race trim. My guys know what we need at this track, we have had good success here over the years, we will have to wait and see where we stack up tomorrow.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion (Qualified 26th) – “We were just really loose right there. We didn’t have the grip we needed. We will come back and come up with a plan Saturday in race trim. Our cars have been driving pretty good on Saturdays and then we get to the race on Sunday and we have pretty good races. It has been disappointing to show up with not the right speed that we need on Friday but Trent and all the guys, they work their guts out and are trying to give me the best car they can on Fridays. We have been struggling. They will come up with something. I am sure we will have a lot better car the rest of the weekend but the ole Smithfield Ford was a handful right there.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion (Qualified 20th) – “I thought it was a fairly successful day for us, a step in the right direction. Today, my car seems to be on top of the track. It gets a little loose in and I put more wheel to it going to the middle it gets tight and then steps out again. We need to calm the back down the most and then I think we can make more speed but we made good gains all day. The 29 on our second run wasn’t bad. I think another couple tenths we could have made it to the last round. We are going the right way. We could have worked on our balance a little more and been there.”
RYAN BLANEY PRESS CONFERENCE
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcraft Quick Lane Ford Fusion – TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN OUT THERE TODAY AND HOW THINGS ARE GOING FOR YOU. “Things are going really well. Everybody at the Wood Brothers shop has done a great job getting us a great car this weekend. We were really fast right when we unloaded. That is all you can ask for. That is a product of them getting me a good race car and they do a great job at it. All of them being here for the first time, Jeremy and everyone with the Cup car, it was good. I am really excited to qualify well and really excited to get qualifying in. It wasn’t looking too good earlier today and so that is just really kind of a bonus. We are really looking forward to race practice tomorrow and being able to race in Ford’s backyard on Sunday.”
DID YOU DO A NO-RAIN DANCE TODAY? “I don’t dance too much but I was hoping. Luckily it cleared out for us. It was funny the way it played out. It looked like two cells coming at us and a small slit in the middle of them and we passed right through that slit. That was just kind of lucky for us. Like I said, it would have stung knowing how good of a car we had in practice if qualifying rained out. We are fortunate to get it in and it is a bonus to have a good race car in it.”
WHAT ARE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING SUNDAY? HOW COMPETITIVE CAN YOU BE WITH GUYS LIKE THE 78, 4 AND 41? “You look at those guys and they have been the class of the field all year. You can throw the 48 in there as well. We go in to each weekend, no matter what series it is, myself and my team guys thinking we can win the race. That is the mindset you have to have if you are going to be competitive. Everyone with the 21 team is really excited. We have had good runs this year but haven’t gotten the finishes we deserve but we have gotten better each race. We had a really good car at the 600 and didn’t finish it. It gives the team a fire in their bellies to go out and compete and motivates me as a drive knowing we have really fast race cars each week. I think our chances of winning Sunday are as good as any with the combination of race car and how good our pit road guys have been. All the products are there, it is just a matter of putting a whole race together. You have to go in thinking you can win the race and that is what everyone’s mindset on the team is.”
HOW MUCH BACK AND FORTH DO YOU HAVE WITH BRAD AND JOEY TO GET YOU UP TO SPEED? “I talk to them a lot before race weekends. They have been great to me. I have been fortunate to have those guys helping me out a lot, especially Brad, being able to drive for him a few years. That carries over to this side. I have leaned on him a lot. I was able to test this car here last year for the Wood Brothers when Trevor was in Mid-Ohio so I got the chance to be on this track in a Cup car before. It helped, even though they are different cars, it helps when you are running 200 mph into one, it helps to know what the car will do. Those guys are a big help, but driving this car here in practice last year was the ultimate help.”
THREE TIMES YOU’VE HAD ENGINE ISSUES THIS YEAR. HOW FRUSTRATING IS THAT FOR YOU? “It is frustrating in the moment when it happens, very frustrating. Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of the positives of the situation but you always have to go back and look at it. We were running really well in all the races we had trouble in. That is what you have to focus on. You can’t dwell on the bad stuff too long. Everybody at Roush Yates have been great to us in telling us what has happened and they have fixed the program so I am confident with everybody over there. They are a great company and been great to us. If we just get rolling a little more through this season I think everything will smooth out and we will get the finishes we deserve.”
