Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Firekeepers Casino 400 – Michigan International Speedway
NSCS Post Race
Sunday, June 12, 2016
LOGANO EARNS TEAM PENSKE’S 50TH NASCAR SPRINT CUP WIN WITH FORD
· Joey Logano’s win today is his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the season and 15th of his career.
· In addition, it’s the 50th series win for Team Penske with Ford.
· The win marks Logano’s second career triumph at Michigan (2013 – August) which was also won from the pole.
· The win is the 8th NSCS victory for Team Penske all-time at Michigan.
· The win is Fusion’s 74th NSCS triumph since becoming Ford’s flagship vehicle in 2006.
· Ford now has 642 all-time NSCS victories.
· Of Team Penske’s 50 NSCS wins with Ford, 23 have come over the past three years.
ALL-TIME TEAM PENSKE WIN LIST WITH FORD
1. Rusty Wallace……………………….. 23
2. Joey Logano…………………………. 13
3. Brad Keselowski…………………….. 10
4. Jeremy Mayfield………………………. 3
5. Ryan Newman………………………… 1
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
1st Joey Logano
4th Brad Keselowski
15th Trevor Bayne
17th Ryan Blaney
19th Greg Biffle
20th Chris Buescher
25th Landon Cassill
26th Aric Almirola
29th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
36th Brian Scott
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion – Finished 1st
“What a great race car. To win here in Roger’s back yard and Ford’s back yard, this is always a big win for us here. We appreciate the great car. What a crazy race with the low downforce and with more cautions and more opportunity to screw up pretty much. What a fun race, racing with Chase (Elliott) and Kyle Larson. It is fun to see the young guys up there racing. I am not alone up there as a young guy anymore. I have guys up there younger than me racing for a win.” WHAT WAS THE FEEL OF THIS LOW DOWNFORCE PACKAGE TO YOU? “It was not good in traffic and not really good by myself either. The cars didn’t have much grip and there was a lot of sliding around. Catching the traffic at the right time and knowing which lanes work best for you and understanding the cars that you are racing. We had plenty of opportunity to see what others cars were good on restarts and you kind of keep that mental notebook as you go.” WHAT WAS THE KEY TO THE RESTARTS THAT MADE THEM SO GOOD FOR YOU? “I think we got lucky I guess. I don’t know. There is a lot of thought that goes into restarts with this race team, from every angle. It all kind of came together.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – Finished 4th
“I am not sure the new package was everything we wanted it to be but it is a step in the right direction as far as putting the drivers in control of the racing but not in reducing the aero stuff we wanted. I guess we have to think about it a little.” WHAT IS NEEDED? “I think it is important to remember that these race cars have three dimensions to them. They have downforce, sideforce and drag and this is only a downforce reduction. It is a big chunk but I think we probably should think about the sideforce now a little bit because that hasn’t been tuned down at all. A lot of smart people will go back to the board and try to learn from today. I think it is an improvement but not the step we were looking for.” THERE WERE A LOT OF CAUTIONS AND DAMAGE TO RACE CARS. WAS THAT INTERESTING TO YOU? “Yeah, I think you saw that you have to really drive these cars. They are hard to drive and that causes accidents. I don’t think that is a bad thing. It just means everybody is on the edge. You could really see that today.”
RYAN BLANEY, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford — Finished 17th
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU HIT TO WALL LATE IN THE RACE? “It’s tough to get loose. I didn’t even get loose with someone to my outside. The 17 just came across my nose super fast and it completely took all the traction off my car and I slid all the way to the fence. It was the damnedest thing. That’s never happened to me before. EARLIER YOU PITTED ON GREEN RIGHT BEFORE A CAUTION. “Yeah, that stunk. It didn’t help us out. We had to start all the way to the back. Those things happen. We had a really good car on longer runs. We got really good and we were driving up there really fast. Unfortunately we got put in that spot.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion – Finished 29th
“We blew a tire there at the end. Our day wasn’t great. It went okay. We got good track position and stayed up there all day it was just bad luck there at the end getting a flat because we didn’t get the finish that we deserved. I thought this was a better race package though. Everyone was running closer which makes for better racing so I think it was good.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion – Finished 15th
“That was a long day. The thing was sliding around like crazy. It was a tough race and track position was huge. I had my hands full, that is for sure. We got a decent 15th place finish out of it but we didn’t run there all day, so we have some work to do for next time.” WHAT ABOUT THIS PACKAGE TODAY? “I think it is hard to judge a package at Michigan. It is such a big track that I think it is hard to judge it really.”
