Ford Performance NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Windows 10 400 – Pocono Raceway
NSCS Post Race Notes & Quotes
Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd BRAD KESELOWSKI
5th GREG BIFFLE
40th TREVOR BAYNE
41st RICKY STENHOUSE JR.
20th JOEY LOGANO
27th COLE WHITT
31st BRETT MOFFITT
39th SAM HORNISH JR.
18th ARIC ALMIROLA
33rd DAVID GILLILAND
GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 Roush Performance Ford Fusion / QUALIFIED 25th – FINISHED 5th
“My car ran so good today. That last run of the day I got tight and three guys got by me. We are really excited about getting the Roush Performance Parts Ford Fusion up in the top-five but we had a second or third place car there on speed but got really tight on that last set of tires. I don’t know what happened. It was the same air pressure but a little tight. It is a turnaround from where we were in practice and qualifying so we are good with that. We needed all those guys in front of us to run out of gas and have a good run and get a win there but it didn’t happen today. We will keep working at it. We need a win to get in the Chase. We won’t get in on points. We will have to get in on a win.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion / Qualified 3rd – FINISHED 20th
“I guess our numbers, from what Todd said, was good enough to make it by a half a lap. I was saving fuel just to cushion it. I thought I was going to be good and then I started running out and knew we weren’t going to make it. It was tough. We did everything right today. We had such a fast Shell Pennzoil Ford and got clean air and stayed up there and the pit crew did awesome on pit road and kept me up where I needed to. We keep getting so close to these wins and they don’t happen and it is so frustrating. The truth is that is if we keep racing hard and racing to the front we will win races. We were so close. You are counting down the laps in your head thinking you are going to make it but just didn’t do it. I am so proud still of what we did today and it was a great weekend and we are happy about the speed we have in our cars and the way we executed, we just have to figure out why we didn’t have enough gas.” IS THERE A WAY TO EXPLAIN HOW FRUSTRATING IT IS TO TRY TO SAVE GAS WHEN YOU HAVE THE 18 AND OTHERS BREATHING DOWN YOUR NECK? “You can only save so much and the 18 was doing the same thing. He had to push me and I had to start saving a certain amount. He would catch me and then I would pull away a little bit. We were playing cat and mouse out there. It is not the way you want to race. You want to go to the gas and race hard. These fuel mileage races are always exciting, usually more so when you are on the winning end, not the losing end.” THAT HAS TO BE INCREDIBLY DISHEARTENING. “Yeah, we have seen Pocono do this plenty of times and I really thought we were going to make it on fuel from the info that Todd gave me and I thought we would be good. Somewhere in there we didn’t get the mileage or didn’t get it full. Something happened. I don’t know the answer right now. We didn’t win the race. It is really frustrating over the last two weeks being so close and to keep finishing second. This time we were 12th but we were so close to the win. I don’t really know what to say right now.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion / QUALIFIED 23rd – FINISHED 40th
A PIPE WENT THROUGH YOUR RADIATOR. WHAT DID YOU SEE FROM THE SEAT? “Yeah, you don’t see that every day. I was going into turn one, wide open on the front stretch and the 7 car was in front of me and at the last second he darted and a tail pipe bounced up and went through the radiator so we lost water pressure and oil pressure and may have lost a Roush Yates engine here. It is really unfortunate because I felt we were getting or car better. We’ve had a rough month and I feel like we are getting back on track with the AdvoCare Ford and we probably had a top-20 car going so it is unfortunate but you will have that sometimes and today just wasn’t our day.”
SAM HORNISH JR., No. 9 Medallion Bank Ford Fusion / QUALIFIED 30th – FINISHED 39th
“It is one of those days. I missed a shift on a restart which wasn’t any good and then we had a tire come apart and then we got hit and then that deal right there. Kurt (Busch) was trying to hold on to it and I saw that he got it straightened back out and it is one of those things where everything stops smoking long enough that you think he has it back under control again and then it is just wobbling around on him. Unfortunate for us for sure. We might be able to get back out there but I am not sure on that. We will have to wait and see. I love coming to Pocono and I have had some good runs here and led laps and felt like we could win races but it just hasn’t been for us this year. Hopefully that doesn’t carry on to Watkins Glen next weekend.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Fusion / QUALIFIED 34th – FINISHED 41st (accident)
“Everything was happening real fast. I saw the 9 in turn three run up the track and I thought he just got loose and everything was fine but getting into turn one the car in front of me ducked out at the last minute and there was the 9 sitting and I got on the brakes really hard. I think it got on the splitter and couldn’t go left or right and just ran right into him. It is not a good day for us. I thought I had a car that could pass some other cars and we did that until that yellow and then we got shuffled back. It is a tough way to end the day that way. We thought we would have a better day than that. I guess the 9 missed a shift or something and I wasn’t aware of it until the 35 or one of the other cars pulled out real quick and there was the 9 sitting there. By the time I reacted it was just too late and I ran right back into him.”
HOW INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING HAS THIS WEEKEND BEEN FOR YOU? “Yeah, it has been really bad. We started off really slow and struggling with the handing of our cars. We got it better at the end of final practice and made it up to 27th there during that caution and then we came in and took fuel and were coming back through there and get involved in that wreck. It is a frustrating weekend and a frustrating year but we will continue to work to get our cars better and continue to plug away.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion / Qualified 9th – FINISHED 2nd
YOU WORKED YOUR WAY UP AFTER TROUBLE EARLY. TALK ABOUT HOW YOU THOUGHT THINGS PLAYED OUT TODAY FOR YOU. “My car was really fast which was the highlight. Fast race cars are really a joy to drive and I think at the end it is hard to say. I think Kyle was maybe caught behind Joey and not able to show everything he had. By lap times where everybody could run, we were running the fastest laps. That was so much fun to have a car that strong. Unfortunately it is another race where I kind of feel like it didn’t all come together for us and we had the problems on pit road and sliding through the box and that dug a hole and we got a lap down with the penalty. The last restart somewhere around 60 or 70 to go we restarted 12th and were able to drive up to sixth and it looked like we would get to 5th and then the fuel came into play at the end and we were able to take care of it to bring home second which is a very respectable day. Certainly not where we were going to finish without the fuel but that is sometimes how it works. I think my teammate and his team did a phenomenal job. I am heartbroken for them to not win the race but that is how it plays out sometimes. It was nice to have a race like this that stayed green so long at the end. That was enjoyable to me to let the racing kind of play out on the track and not on pit road or restarts. I think it has been about two years since we have seen a race play out where there was a green flag pit stop and a full length green flag run at the end. It was nice to have that today. Sometimes that can create some of the best racing and best finishes and I think that is what we saw.”
WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT PIT STRATEGIES GOING ON, CAN YOU GUYS KEEP UP WITH THAT OR DO YOU JUST ZERO IN ON WHAT YOUR STRATEGY IS? “Yeah, my crew chief kept up pretty well. I think everybody could have probably pitted a lap or two later than they did there on that last stop but here, if someone pits a lap or two early and they are within two or three seconds they will jump you and get in front of you. In that case the air is so important you probably won’t pass them back. Everybody tries to pit one or two laps before their range, knowing that there haven’t been a lot of races where you get a full green flag run at the end. When one guy does it I think everybody kind of jumps over the bridge with him. That is what we saw today and of course the yellow didn’t come out and everybody got trapped one or two laps outside their window. It is really hard to keep up with it but my team does a great job and kept me pretty thoroughly aware of what is going on.”
DID YOU RUN OUT OF GAS? “I did, right as we were coming to the finish.”
JOEY RAN OUT WITH THREE TO GO AND YOU DID COMING TO THE CHECKERS, HOW WAS YOUR CAR WITH THE FUEL MILEAGE AND WITH FORD IN GENERAL? “I thought our fuel mileage was really strong. Joey was in a different situation leading with someone pressuring him. He knew if he let Kyle by and a yellow came out he essential lost the race because with a yellow everyone could have made it on fuel. Those two, looked like to me, raced each other out of gas. That is part of the sport too. I think our fuel mileage is pretty strong and pretty equal between all the Ford cars, it just didn’t come together for Joey today and it did for us.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE CONTINUED …
YOU HAD A ROUGH START TO THE RACE. DID YOU HAVE PEOPLE CALMING YOU DOWN, DO YOU DO THAT YOURSELF? HOW DID THAT GO FOR YOU TODAY? “I think if I was that great mentally I wouldn’t have made that mistake at the beginning of the race. There is always going to be adversity and that is part of what makes success worthwhile. It is overcoming that adversity. If we could have, quite honestly, not had that issue earlier in the race, I feel like we probably would have won today. That one is on me. I feel guilty for my team on that. I am glad we were able to rally to second.”
IN 2012 I ASKED YOU WHAT YOUR SIMPLE JOYS WERE AND YOU SAID IT WAS YOUR PHONE. YEARS LATER DO YOU WANT TO ADD TO THAT? “Yeah, probably the phone and the baby … and her mom! Actually, her mom first. I feel really lucky. I have a fast car, a fast car is a lot of fun too. How do you pick one thing? They are all a lot of fun and we are pretty lucky to be race car drivers.”
