Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Pocono Green 250 – Pocono Raceway
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Saturday afternoon’s inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Pocono Raceway was cut short due to rain, with Joey Logano the top Ford in fifth place. Aric Almirola came home 11th and Darrell Wallace Jr. 16 to give Ford three Mustangs in the top-20.
FORD FINISHING ORDER
5th Joey Logano
11th Aric Almirola
16th Darrell Wallace Jr.
33rd Ryan Reed
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 SKF Ford Mustang – FINISHED 5th
“We were trying to be off strategy. Our SKF Ford Mustang wasn’t as fast as it needed to be so we were trying to do anything we could to win it. The Gibbs cars were obviously really fast and they are having a hard time passing which I thought would be easier for them. It was interesting for sure. It would have been interesting to see what would happen if we were able to go back green.”
YOU TOOK 4 TIRES ON THE FIRST STOP AND IT WAS A LITTLE SLOW. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP THOSE GUYS OUT? “I don’t know. I don’t think there is anything from inside the car. You have to stop and that kind of pins the nose and that is part of the deal at big tracks, keeping the nose the best you can. It seems like maybe I got the right front in there a little bit. You can turn the wheel a certain amount to try to help that but I did that, so I don’t know what else is there.”
DARRELL WALLACE JR., No. 6 LoudMouth Exhaust Ford Fusion – Finished 16th
“This weather here is crazy. It seems like every year NASCAR comes up here it is on and off with rain. It was a really good recovery for us to get to 16th. It just hasn’t been our weekend but we are trying to make the most of it. Last weekend I let the emotions get the best of me and that kind of ruined our race at one of our best tracks. This is not our best track so I was trying to keep a cool head and not make it worse for us. My guys worked hard, we have all worked hard to get it better. It is a tricky place, the Tricky Triangle, and we just tried to have some fun with it and get out of here in once piece.”
RYAN REED, No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang – Involved in Accident on Lap 38
WHAT HAPPENED? “We had issues from the start. We started off getting strapped in the car and didn’t have any radio communication. I could hear the spotter but couldn’t communicate with that. We fire off and were on the splitter really hard so balance wasn’t very good. We were getting it better, using hand signals, and then we got racing with the 39 car and he got on our door and we got loose. I think when we got into him it got the right rear tire and eventually it went down. We had a little tire smoke but it went away and I thought it cleared up. We were racing with the 62 and he got inside of us and I thought it took the air off and we went into one and the tire let go and here we are. I am just thankful to Lilly Diabetes and American Diabetes Association for sticking with us. I feel like we are making progress. These days are really tough with adversity from the start. We will not give up. I was hoping to get our Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang in victory lane for everyone at home watching on their XFINITY TV, but it just wasn’t meant to be today.”
