Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
AAA 400 – Dover International Speedway
Sunday, May 15, 2016
FORD FINISHING POSITIONS
8th Ryan Blaney
6th Brad Keselowski
10th Trevor Bayne
14th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
18th Chris Buescher
19th Landon Cassill
22nd Joey Logano
24th Brian Scott
29th Greg Biffle
31st Aric Almirola
35th Jeffrey Earnhardt
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion – Finished 6th
“This was one of those Dover races I don’t think anybody will forget any time soon. There was a lot of chaos and we ran really well. Unfortunately we got caught up running second and leading a lot of laps and tore up the car. I guess the car in front of me had a flat tire and it just happened all too quick for me to do anything. It knocked a lot of speed out of our Wurth Ford Fusion but we were still very competitive. I am proud of my guys to recover to finish sixth at the end.”
HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO RECOVER? “We caught some breaks with that big wreck which probably gave us five or six spots and then we clawed from there. We restarted ninth and drove up to sixth. It was very respectable.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – Finished 8th
“It was a long day. We got better throughout the day. I don’t know what happened to us in that last run, we weren’t nearly as good as we were the runs before that. I was confident we would finish better than that but we will have to look back and see what we changed and what happened. Not a bad day for us. It was a good solid run and hopefully we can start stringing together some of these good finishes.”
DID THIS SEEM A LITTLE MORE “EDGE OF THE SEAT” THAN USUAL OUT THERE TODAY? “It was for sure. Not really until the end really but it was. It got wild there for a while and there were a couple big wrecks. We missed the big one. I don’t know how we missed it but somehow we did. It was definitely a strange day and definitely a strange first Dover Cup race for me.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion – Finished 10th
“Sometimes we haven’t felt like this season we got the finished we deserved and today we didn’t get a finish we deserved but we will take it. The shoe was on the right foot today. It is nice to get a finish like that after not having a great weekend. We were really tight all day. That last run we were pretty fast at the end of it. We will learn from it, come back next time and count our blessings here and take a top-10 happily. I was on the edge of my seat out there for sure. It is a really grueling race track. You can’t let your guard down for a second or it will bite you. We saw that in practice and saw that in the race. I am just glad to get out of here without any wounds.”
LANDON CASSILL, No. 38 MDS Transport Ford Fusion – Finished 19th
“I feel really motivated right now to figure this car out. We have had good finishes and good runs without taking off yet. We are really motivated and communicating about what this car needs. I am excited about that. I am glad we got a 19th place finish because it keeps your attitude up while you keep your head down working on the car.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford Fusion – Finished 18th
“I feel like we made some progress through the race with our Dockside Logistics Fusion. We were on both sides of it and found some things that worked and some things that didn’t work. We had a lot of incidents to avoid and were in one when we got into the oil. It was a long day but in the end it was a positive result and I am proud of the guys for hanging tough today.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion – Finished 22nd (Accident Quotes)
WHAT DID YOU SEE HAPPEN? “That was the problem, we couldn’t see. When you are stacked up on the restart like that there isn’t much to be able to see at all. Unfortunately it looked like the 48 had trouble getting going and it stacked us up. I tried checking up and going to the bottom like we were going to miss it and got hit from behind and that sent me into it more. Now we need a new radiator. We have been the victim of circumstances the last few weeks. It is what it is. I am not going to say it was bad luck. We put ourselves in position to be back there on our pit stop. It is our fault. We have to smarten up and get a little better at every little area. We had a decent car. We weren’t the fastest car but we were a top-five car for sure. Things happen.”
GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 Kleen Performance Ford Fusion – Finished 29th (Accident Quotes)
“I didn’t see anything. I just saw cars stopped in front of me and there was just no way we could stop. The spotter was telling me to go low, which I am not sure if that was the right move either. I don’t know if there is anything I could have done. I just tried to stop as quickly as I could. There was just no time to stop I guess.”
THE 48 SAID HE JUST COULDN’T GO. WHEN THAT HAPPENS, WHAT KIND OF FEELING IS IT FOR YOU DRIVERS? “I don’t know. Maybe the engine wasn’t running or spun his tires. I mean, I don’t know if they got air lock in the motor or what. Guys run out of gas up front sometimes and it causes a big wreck but I don’t know what the problem was up front.”
HOW FRUSTRATING FOR YOU? “Really frustrating. We had probably a top-12 car there and it was going to be a good day for us. It was the first time we had run this well in awhile.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – Finished 31st (Accident Quotes)
“It just stinks we all got stacked up like that. I banged up my hand. I think I may have a broken finger, it is pretty sore and swollen. We worked really hard to get back on the lead lap and we were actually making a lot of progress it just took us all race to get back up on that lead lap. I hate that our day is going to turn out like that. That is a shame. Then to make matters worse I think I have a broken pinky finger. That isn’t very many is it?”
