Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
Folds of Honor/QuikTrip 500 – Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Ford Finishing Order:
9th – Brad Keselowski
10th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12th – Joey Logano
13th – Greg Biffle
15th – Aric Almirola
22nd – Trevor Bayne
25th – Ryan Blaney
28th – Chris Buescher
31st – Brian Scott
36th – Landon Cassill
38th – Jeffrey Earnhardt
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Autotrader Ford Fusion – “We seemed to have real good short-run speed, but not very good long-run speed and we didn’t get a lot of short runs. The ones we did, we were able to drive to the front and that was a lot of fun. It was beautiful weather and a beautiful day for racing. That race felt like I was in 1975. That was kind of awesome. I should grow my sideburns out after that one.” WHY DID IT FEEL LIKE 1975? “Just long greens. I thought that was cool.” HOW DID YOU LIKE THIS LOW DOWNFORCE PACKAGE TODAY? “I loved the way the cars drive. I understand that it takes more than my opinion to make the sport go round, but I thought it was awesome.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 EcoBoost Ford Fusion – “Our Ford EcoBoost Fusion was like I hoped it would be. Practice felt good and I was hoping that was going to correlate over to the race and we were exactly where we thought we would be. We weren’t real good for the first 10 laps of a run, but really good at the end of the run. We lost some track position there getting to pit road with the 95. That’s two weeks in a row they’ve gotten us on pit road, so hopefully they won’t pit next to us next time. But, other than that, we lost some track position there, where I feel like we may have got a seventh or eighth-place finish out of it, but, all in all, I’m really happy with all the hard work that these guys put in. It’s only one weekend. I hope to get consistent with that and I’m looking forward to going to Vegas next week.” THOUGHTS ON THIS PACKAGE? “I thought it was great. The tires being softer, Goodyear did a great job with the tires falling off a lot. It played a big role in the race. Cars would pass me early in the run, and I’d come back and get them late in the run. That’s really all you can ask for when you talk about racing, a race track and tires. It felt really good.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “I had a Shell/Pennzoil Ford that was really fast and probably capable of a top-5, but I just lost focus for a second and missed my entry point of pit road. I was trying to get everything set in my car and by the time I looked up I was past my point and I center-punched the cone. That pass-through penalty is what set us down one lap and when you have green flag runs that are a couple hundred laps long, it never gives you an opportunity to get the lucky dog to get back on the lead lap. One mistake cost us a possible top-5 finish and it felt like every bit of a top-5 car, and maybe even better than that. I’m just frustrated with myself after that one because we don’t make mistakes very often on this 22 team and I guess for making a mistake and having a 12th-place finish isn’t that bad, but it kind of hurts when you know you had a better car.” WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE PACKAGE? “It was fun. We were sideways, sliding around, the cars were moving. I think the real test is next week when you get to a race track that there’s not much tire wear, but I thought a faster car can pass the car in front of them, no doubt. We started 27th and we drove up into the top-5 without a caution, so you could show how fast our car was by how we were all capable of passing out there.”
RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – “We had an OK car all day and we were just trying to find some balance. Sometimes we were better than others and at the end we weren’t the best. We were gonna run 13th to 15th, which would have been an OK day. I didn’t know what happened initially, but I guess the 43 got a big run off the top and I was inside the 14 and got tagged in the back. That’s what they’re telling me and, unfortunately, that sent me around, which kind of stinks. We were just trying to salvage a decent day out of it and it just stinks to run all those laps and then get wrecked at the end of a race. There are some things we can learn to go onto Vegas next week and we’re excited to bounce back there.” WHAT WAS IT LIKE DRIVING WITH THIS PACKAGE? “It was a blast. It was a handful, that’s for sure. If your car wasn’t handling great, it was tough. My car would really fall off after about 20 laps and that’s when we would struggle. We were OK before then, but Vegas is gonna be a whole different deal next week. The tires don’t fall off as much, so we’ll see how it is there, but I think it’s a good direction. I felt like we could pass cars a little bit easier with this package, and I think it’s the right way to go.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “This was certainly not the finish that we had hoped for. This race was a game in tire management. The tire fall off caused our tires to slide all over the track and made it incredibly difficult to keep the car on the bottom. Once we fell a lap down, it was so hard to get back on the lead lap with how challenging it was to pass in a loose car. But we ran in the Top-20 all afternoon, and we had a competitive car. It was disappointing to have a wreck on the last lap, especially with how hard our team worked, but I know that we’ll be able to bounce back next week in Las Vegas.”
CHRIS BUESCHER – No. 34 CSX Ford Fusion – “We had a long day. It was a long race. It changed a lot throughout every run, but all the guys worked really hard to try to improve this thing and get better as we go. I learned a lot along the way and I’ve got plenty to learn from for next time. It’s not the finish we wanted, but we keep getting better.”
LANDON CASSILL – No. 38 FR8 Auctions Ford Fusion – “They just kind of wrecked in front of me. I had the car slowed down to where I felt like I was going the pace of the wreck. It wasn’t clear in front of me yet, but it was gonna be because it looked like he was gonna go to the bottom and somebody hit me from behind. It was a frustrating way to end the day because it was a handful anyways. At that point, we did have a position to race for, but you didn’t want to risk anything. We just wanted to bring it home in one piece and we didn’t get to do that. I have having a tore up race car, but maybe it will give us an opportunity to take a look at it and see what we can do to make it better.”
