Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Good Sam 500 – Phoenix International Raceway
NSCS POST RACE QUOTES
Sunday, March 13, 2016
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
10th Ryan Blaney
13th Aric Almirola
18th Joey Logano
21st Greg Biffle
23rd Trevor Bayne
25th Landon Cassill
27th Brian Scott
29th Brad Keselowski
30th Chris Buescher
37th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Finished 10th)
“That wasn’t bad. We fought really hard all day. We got a lot better throughout the day. We didn’t start out that great and we just got better as we went along. The guys did a great job with two tires at the end and I thought about staying out but we wouldn’t have been on the first two rows I don’t think so we had to come in and get two and I think it picked us up one spot. It was a good day and a good job by everybody on this Motorcraft Quick Lane team and a top-10 car is all I could ask for.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion (Finished 18th)
“We just didn’t quite get the luck on our side today. We created our own luck as well. We need to clean it up a little bit. We need to clean up the mistakes we have had here at the beginning of the season on everybody’s front. We still have speed. We were close today. At times it felt like we were a third place car, and we were running up there around third. We just still have work to do to catch the 4 and 19, they were the class of the field.” HOW IMPORTANT WAS TRACK POSITION? “It was important. It was still tough to pass. It seemed better than what it has been in the past for sure though. It was fun. We were sliding around out there and it is the most we have seen this groove open up at this race track in a long time. I think that is a great sign and that was a great finish at the end. I wish this Shell Pennzoil Ford was involved in it.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion (Finished 13th)
“We battled all day and it was kind of a struggle. We just never could get the proper handle on the car. We fought balance all day and just struggled on pit road. That has been our Achilles heel all year and again it was today. We can’t lose five spots on pit road, especially at a place like this, it is too hard to make it up.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion (Finished 29th)
“We ran in that 10th place range pretty much the entire race until we cut the tire. That was unfortunate and we aren’t really sure why but there isn’t anything we can really do about it. It is hard to say really where we would have been if that hadn’t happened. The Alliance Truck Parts Fusion was probably about a 10th place car, but you never know how things would have played out without the tire issue.”
LANDON CASSILL, No. 38 Snap Fitness Ford Fusion (Finished 25th)
“The two tire call at the end was smart and we got good track position. Donnie did a good job all day giving me the adjustments I needed. We made the car better and took a wave around early and had to keep taking it but it ended up working in our favor just because the car was so good towards the end of the race that it made up for the lost time from the cautions not falling our way. It is good progress for our team and I am really happy with it.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion (Accident Quotes)
“We were really tight and I was having to use too much break and I think we got the tires hot and once we did that the right front gave out from having to use too much brake. The cars were a handful. They were fun to drive. We just didn’t quite have the Fastenal Ford dialed in like we needed to today. We were really tight, therefore we had to use too much brake.” DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING? “No, I wish I would have. I definitely didn’t want to do that going into turn one. That is just a product of using too much brake and getting the tire too hot. Bummer we didn’t quite have the setup like we wanted but we will go back and get ‘em next week at California.” DO THEY NEED TO GO BACK TO THE OLD DAYS OF BIGGER BRAKE CALIPERS? “We were on the brakes we felt were good enough. The brakes didn’t cause the issue, the handling of the race car was just too tight and we weren’t able to use less brake. That was our issue.” WHAT HAPPENED? “Our setup was pretty tight and we had to use a lot of brake. Therefore I was getting the right front tire hot. The Fastenal Ford just wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be today. We made good adjustments and were gaining on it, just not enough. We had to use too much brake. I feel like we got the tire too hot and blew it. We have to get it dialed in a little better next time.”
