Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
Hellmann’s 500 Qualifying – Talladega Superspeedway
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Ford Qualifying Results:
2nd – Brad Keselowski
5th – Greg Biffle
6th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
11th – Trevor Bayne
15th – Ryan Blaney
16th – Joey Logano
18th – Ryan Reed
25th – Brian Scott
26th – Aric Almirola
31st – Landon Cassill
33rd – Chris Buescher
38th – Bobby Labonte
41st – David Gilliland (DNQ)
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – “It’s good to qualify up front. I think it’s a good confidence boost. I feel like when we have cars that qualify well here, we race well. The Miller Lite Ford was really fast here in qualifying and hopefully it will stay the same for Sunday.” HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DO YOU HAVE WITH FOUR WINS HERE? “It’s been a good track for us, but past success is no guarantee. You have to go out and put the work in and I think we’re ready to do just that.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Zest Ford Fusion – “Our speedway qualifying has been really good the last couple of years. It’s really cool to see all of the hard work that the guys put in at the shop and Doug with the engines pay off. A lot of effort goes into trying to qualify well here because anytime you can qualify well here generally means you have a better drafting race car. I’m happy with our top 10 start. We’ll get a good pit stall selection and hopefully we’ll be able to keep our track position all day.”
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 Cheez-It Ford Fusion – “It’s great to start up in the top 5. We’ve got a decent car and my teammates are right around us, but it’s so tight up there. Just a little tiny gust of wind can make the difference, so we’re really close. The times are super-tight. I’m surprised.
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion – “It was an improvement. We qualified 13th two times in a row with this car and today we’re 11th, so we’re consistent with it and it seems to have speed I the race, so I’m pretty happy with our organizational speed at superspeedways this year. Jimmy Fennig’s group has done a great job and Roush Yates and Roush Fenway as a group have done a good job working on the superspeedway program. It’s a good effort for everybody and I’m looking forward to the race.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “We’re gonna go out there and race like we’ve been saying all week. Qualifying is qualifying, so now we’ll work our way up from there. It is what it is, but we’ll keep pushing.”
RYAN REED – No. 99 Lilly’s/American Diabetes Association Ford Fusion – “Our goal was to make the race and we did that, but you always get a little greedy. Yesterday I was like, ‘Man, we might have a shot for the pole.’ We brought a really fast Ford Fusion down here and I’m really stoked to put it in the show. I assume that will probably be around top 20 (18th), so I’m obviously excited to make my debut and can sleep good tonight knowing that we’re gonna be in the show and have some fun tomorrow.” WHAT EMOTIONS DO YOU HAVE RIGHT NOW? “For me it’s about being respectful of the Chase guys and understanding the challenges they have, and being courteous. From my perspective it’s just about running all the laps and staying out of trouble. I think if I go in with that mentality and play that game, then we’ll end up with a good finish and be proud of our result.” HOW MUCH DIFFERENT IS A CUP CAR VS. AN XFINITY CAR? “There’s a ton. The aero package is way different. Obviously, the Sprint Cup cars go quite a bit faster, so I would just say the biggest thing is the aero package. You can feel how much less the downforce is on the Cup car. There’s considerable less downforce and that’s the biggest thing I feel out there.”
NOTE: Reed will be making his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut tomorrow.
BRAD KESELOWSKI PRESS CONFERENCE
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – THIS IS YOUR BEST START AT TALLADEGA. THIS BODES WELL FOR TOMORROW. “I feel like qualifying well is certainly a very strong omen for Talladega and Daytona. I think all of the races I’ve won here we’ve had good starts and the races that we haven’t won or been super-competitive we usually don’t have any speed in qualifying, so it’s certainly a confidence-builder. It’s not a guarantee by any means, but a confidence-builder that you carry into this weekend and carry into tomorrow’s race.”
THERE WERE A BUNCH OF CARS BEING RUBBED ON AND TWEAKED ON TO GET THROUGH TECH. THREE OF THE TOYOTAS DIDN’T GET THROUGH THE CLAW THE FIRST TIME AND THERE WAS THE ISSUE WITH TRUEX. DOES THIS HAPPEN EVERY TIME WE COME TO TALLADEGA AND IS IT SOMETHING YOU REGARD AS THE NORMAL COURSE OF BUSINESS? “I think that question is probably better for Scott Miller from NASCAR and Travis Geisler, Team Penske’s technical director, because I don’t push the cars through tech so I know just enough information to say something to get in trouble. But I think in reality that seems to be a little bit of the culture of our sport for sure.”
