Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
5-Hour Energy 301 Advance – New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 21 SKF Ford Fusion, finished in the Top-10 of both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice sessions today at New Hampshire Speedway, including the third-fastest speed in happy hour. Blaney spoke about his chances of winning tomorrow’s 5-Hour Energy 301 and how it would make a great birthday present for team founder Glen Wood, who is celebrating his 90th birthday today in Stuart, VA.
RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 SKF Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT TODAY? “I think both sessions went pretty well. I felt like we were a little bit better in the second one than we were the first one today, which is good because you always want to end a little bit better than where you started. We were able to try some stuff. Some stuff worked and some stuff didn’t, but overall I think we have a really SKF Ford Fusion for tomorrow’s race. We’re not starting where we want to, but I think we have a solid enough car to drive up through there, so we’re just really excited to finally be here and racing on Sunday. I’m really excited about our race car, too.”
WHAT’S THE KEY FOR YOU TOMORROW? “We’ll just sit down tonight and try to figure out what we want to do tomorrow. The track is supposed to be a little bit hotter, so you always have to take that into consideration as far as where you think the track is gonna go so you can adjust your race car. You want to be the best you can at the start of the race, so that’s what Jeremy (Bullins) and I will sit down and talk about and hopefully figure out the best we can. The expectations are pretty high because we have a good race car, but we’re not gonna be down if we don’t finish well. We’re gonna take it in stride and do the best we can. That’s what we’re here for – to have fun – and it’s just great to be racing with these guys and it’s always fun to be at the race track.”
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE AGGRESSIVENESS YOU CAN SHOW THE LAST FIVE OR 10 LAPS IF YOU’RE IN POSITION TO WIN? “That’s the beauty of running part-time is you can go for wins and not have to worry about anything else. That’s what we’re here to do, we’re here to win and we’re gonna try the best that we can. Guys will be pretty aggressive the last handful of laps and we’ll be right there being as aggressive as we can, too.”
EDDIE AND LEN AREN’T HERE TODAY BECAUSE THEY FLEW HOME TO CELEBRATE GLEN WOOD’S 90TH BIRTHDAY TODAY IN STUART, VA. WHAT THOUGHTS DO YOU HAVE ABOUT GLEN TODAY? “It’s cool to see someone who is still around this sport and has done so much to shape the history of NASCAR. Unfortunately, we don’t get him to the race track as much as we would like. He only comes to maybe one or two a year, but hopefully we’ll get him out a little more. Eddie and Len aren’t here, but they’re flying back in tonight and it will be good to have them here tomorrow. I’m hoping to see Glen soon. I’d like to take a trip up to Stuart next week and wish him a late happy birthday, but I think we can maybe give him a cool birthday present this weekend. I think we’ve got the car to do it, it’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together.”
