Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Firekeepers Casino 400 – Michigan International Speedway
NSCS Qualifying
Friday, June 10, 2016
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion – Qualified 1st
“It feels good. Finally we were able to break through. The last two weeks have stunk for me and my team. We have won the first two rounds the last few weeks and qualified second. Now we figured out how to be second in the first round and first in the last two. That is a good move. I couldn’t be more proud of the team and the effort they put in to this new package. This is such an unknown showing up here so it is cool to show what all the engineers and simulation department were able to do to put together a good package off the truck. I am very happy to be driving this car.”
RYAN BLANEY, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford – Qualified 5th
WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR TWO ROUND-1 RUNS? “We were really loose the first run, just really, really free and that hurt us a lot. They got it a lot better the second run out. They did a good job of getting us better throughout the day. Unfortunately we had an extra lap on our tires. Who knows what would have happened with one less lap on the tires in the final round.” HOW MUCH OF A BENEFIT IS IT HERE TO START UP FRONT? “This track has always been a track-position track, but it’s hard to tell now with the new rules package. It might be different. You get a good pit stall and that can’t hurt.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion – Qualified 12th
“I think we had better speed in it but got a little tight there in that last qualifying run and got out of the groove and it was just a really slow lap after that. I am definitely proud of the adjustments the Fifth Third guys made today. We were a lot better than in practice. We were a 20-something place car in practice. I feel like we were a top-10 car there, maybe top-five if we hit it just right. We just got a little tight but it was a good qualifying effort and we will have better track position than we thought we would have coming into qualifying.” DOES THIS NEW PACKAGE SUIT YOUR DRIVING STYLE?“Yes and no. They say it is going to be looser and out of the track more but we have been tighter so far. We will see how it goes throughout the race and in traffic. We will try to get around some cars tomorrow in practice and see how that goes. We haven’t done that yet. I think we still have gains to make on our Fifth Third Ford. We just barely missed it out there.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion
“My car actually doesn’t drive that much different as far as balance between qualifying and race trim. My team did a good job loose to tight. The biggest thing is the corner speed is down and you have to slow the car down. The one area where the car is really hard to drive is into three and it gets loose and it is hard to catch it. On exit of the corner I feel like the car drivers normal. I definitely think it will be an interesting race. I don’t know how it will go exactly, but it will be interesting. I promise you that.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 34 CSX Play it Safe Ford Fusion
“I am proud of the guys for making it to the second round again. We are getting in a good habit of doing that. It is a good step in the right direction. We need to start making that third round now. I am pretty happy with our speed in the CSX Play it Safe Ford Fusion. It is good in race trim and holding on decent in qualifying trim here. It is hot out and sunny and we lost a lot of grip from practice. Speeds are way down. It is a handful. We are just trying to figure out how much I really needed to back up to get the speed the other guys are getting.”
