Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
5-Hour Energy 301 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Ford Finishing Results:
2nd – Brad Keselowski
4th – Joey Logano
15th – Aric Almirola
17th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21st – David Gilliland
23rd – Ryan Blaney
27th – Greg Biffle
28th – Cole Whitt
29th – Sam Hornish Jr.
32nd – Trevor Bayne
33rd – Brett Moffitt
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – PIT ROAD INTERVIEW – WOULD THE LAST HALF-LAP MADE ANY DIFFERENCE WITH KYLE BUSCH TODAY? “No. It wasn’t in the cards.” HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR DAY OVERALL? “We had a really fast car. I’m proud of my team for the effort. It feels good to have fast cars.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI PRESS CONFERENCE – “We had a really fast car and led a lot of laps. I’m really proud of the team for bringing me two fast cars these past two weekends. It’s a joy to drive cars that fast.”
ARE YOU WIPED OUT, FRUSTRATED? “I’m ready to go home.”
SHOULD YOU HAVE TAKEN FOUR TIRES ON THAT LAST PIT STOP? “It probably didn’t matter, so it’s hard to say. It is what it is.”
WHY HAS PENSKE BEEN SO GOOD HERE THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS? “We’ve got really fast cars. That’s the backbone of performance in this sport is having really fast cars and we had an exceptionally fast car here today. I’m just really proud to have another one here.”
WERE YOU CATCHING LAPPED CARS AT THE WRONG TIME OR DID THEY NOT GIVE YOU ROOM? “Lap traffic was a bit of a struggle for everyone, just some more than others. It’s part of the game.”
KYLE HAS THREE WINS IN FOUR RACES. IF HE KEEPS THIS UP HOW HARD WOULD HE BE TO BEAT IN THE CHASE? “He’s good, but we’re a good team too and I feel like we can beat him.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “We had great execution with the Shell/Pennzoil Ford, just not enough speed. Todd made some great calls keeping us toward the front. We were good on the restarts and got a few when we could there. When you’ve got four tires you try to make something happen, but we just didn’t have enough speed in our race car to go up there and race with those guys. We’ll find a little bit more speed before we come back. It’s still another top-five. We’ll take these top-fives, they’re nice to have, but right now wins are the only thing that pays.” FOUR TIRES WITH 50 TO GO. TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY. “I like the call. We came back a little bit and passed some cars. We probably finished better that way than we would if we didn’t have tires, or just had two tires, so Todd made a great call there. We just needed a little bit more speed in the car. The same things we fought in practice were the same things we fought in the race. I think we made some progress, but I think we learned some important things for the next time when we come back.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “It was a struggle all weekend. I felt like we certainly made the most of what we have. We just have to keep working on our cars and getting our cars better. We just don’t have the cars we need to go and run up front, but everybody at RPM is working really hard. Trent Owens and the guys on this 43 team have been bringing me the best race cars they can, and we’ve been doing all we can. I’m proud of my guys and proud of our effort and we’re a top 15 race team. We show that every week, and that’s something to be proud of, but we’ve got to continue to work and get better.”
RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 SKF Ford Fusion – “We had a tough day. We had a loose right-rear wheel there and that hurt us and then I sped on pit road and that really hurt us even more. We were in position to get the lucky dog spot, we wouldn’t have ended up getting it, but we got loose under the 15 and got into him. That was all my fault there, but it was just kind of a series of events that escalated and got us worse and worse throughout the day. It was just unfortunate. I thought we were gonna have a good car. We fired off and weren’t very good. The heat of the day kind of threw us for a loop and we just weren’t very good. We’ll learn from it and go to Indianapolis.”
