Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
Goody’s 500 Qualifying – Martinsville Speedway
Friday, October 28, 2016
Ford Qualifying Results:
2nd – Joey Logano
15th – Ryan Blaney
16th – Aric Almirola
19th – Brad Keselowski
25th – Greg Biffle
29th – Chris Buescher
31st – Trevor Bayne
33rd – Landon Cassill
35th – Brian Scott
38th – Jeffrey Earnhardt
39th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – PRESS CONFERENCE – THIS IS YOUR FIFTH STRAIGHT FRONT ROW START HERE. “So close to getting that fourth pole in a row. It would have been pretty cool to be able to say you did that, but it’s been a great streak. Like you said, it’s five. I didn’t even know that stat, so that’s kind of nice to have. Starting up front is important here at Martinsville. We’ve proven that before. We’ll be able to get a good pit stall, which is a lot of opportunity to take advantage of that here. It gives us a good start to get a good rhythm into this long race and get our car tuned up to where we want to, and get the grandfather clock when we’re done. We’re not in the business of getting poles, we’re in the business of winning races. A lot of times that takes winning the pole, but in general we want to win the race.”
THERE ARE A LOT OF FAST GUYS UP FRONT THAT HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED. ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT ONE OF THEM GETTING A WIN HERE? “I don’t know if worry is the right word, but we need to think about everyone out there because there are a lot of really fast cars that got knocked out last week. Let’s be honest, some of the fastest cars in this series got knocked out last week, and it proves that with Truex getting the pole today, so obviously they have a fast race car. They’re all out there trying to win. Just because you got knocked out doesn’t mean you’re out. You’re still out there trying to win races and making something out of it and they still have a lot to race for still. You expect it. I don’t really worry about it, I just expect to be out there racing against these guys. They’re fast race teams. They’re there for a reason.”
DOES IT MEAN ANYTHING TO BE THE FASTEST OF THE EIGHT GUYS LEFT IN THE CHASE? “I guess for the mental psyche maybe. It’s probably good for us. I guess it’s important. You want to be able to beat them throughout these next three races in every department there is, so we’ve got a good start at that. Obviously, that all can change on lap one, so it’s just qualifying and it’s so close. Look at how tight the field is from first to 25th or further back than that. It’s really close. We missed it by eight-thousandths-of-a-second and in the spring we won the pole by less than that, so everything here at Martinsville is so tight and so close.”
IS IT A CHALLENGE TO BE ON THE OUTSIDE TO START THE RACE? “What are you trying to say? Are you trying to say I’m gonna get passed on the first lap? (laughing) Now I’m out to prove you wrong (laughing).”
IS THERE A POINT WHERE YOU DON’T WANT TO BE BELOW A CERTAIN POINT IN QUALIFYING, WHERE YOU FEEL YOU MIGHT GET STUCK? “The thing that probably makes you nervous about qualifying at a certain point back in the field, and I’d say probably 20th makes you nervous. As you get further back it gets scarier because the leader is there in a heartbeat. The leader is taking off in clean air and if you watch these restarts here, as everyone tries to fight to the bottom it just checks that bottom lane up, which means you’re just going slower and the leader is out there in clean air and he’s going fast while you’re fighting like cats and dogs back there trying to get to the bottom and trying to get track position when you can. Meanwhile, while you’re doing that you’re also beating your tires up, so your long run is going to crap as well. It’s like a snowball effect when you’re back there. Everything just keeps getting worse, so you’ve got to get track position. It becomes very important in this race because it allows you to take care of your car. You’re not back there fighting and you have to fight back there to stay on the lead lap because, like I said, the leader is there before you know it.”
HOW MUCH EASIER IS IT IF YOU’RE IN THAT FRONT PACK? “It helps a lot, especially for the first couple runs of the race until the track rubbers up because it seems like tire wear is just more aggressive early in the race until the track takes in some rubber for whatever reason that is – it seems to be a trend. I think the first run of the race is usually where you see some cars really fall off really, really hard, and we were one of them in the spring. We took off from the pole and we were down a lap before the first caution, so the goal is not to do that again. I think we learned from that lesson, which is good. That happens a lot in this race. If you watch them all is all of a sudden one car that you thought was really good in practice you’re like, ‘Wow, what happened to him on the long run,’ and as the race goes it seems like it kind of mellows back out.”
YOU ARE KIND OF A LONE WOLF UP THERE TO START THE RACE. DOES THAT PRESENT A PROBLEM IN THE OPENING LAPS? “It’s a challenge to get down. I’ll be honest with you, it’s hard. I’m out to prove Bob wrong at this point, but it’s pretty hard. It’s not gonna be easy to do (laughing). I’m keying up the radio if I get it done, that’s all I know (laughing). I’ve got a new goal. It’s gonna be hard because everyone sees that opportunity. You see that gap and they’re like, ‘Oh.’ They’re gonna take it and they’re gonna charge it in there and just try to keep you up there for the next corner and then obviously as you’re two-wide what does that do? The gap behind that person closes up because you’re going slower because you’re two-wide and then that guy catches up and it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re just stuck.’ We’ve got to take them when we can. We may have to be aggressive to get down and get in. That’s just kind of the nature of the beast here at Martinsville. It’s hard. You’ve got a few laps up there to make something happen. I don’ think it’s necessarily a penalty until you get to the third or fourth lap and you haven’t gotten down. Then it’s like, ‘Oh, they’re all lined up and here they come.’”
DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM IS THE SLEEPER IN THE CHASE? “We might as well try something different (laughing). I don’t really know if we’re the sleeper or the favorite. I don’t really care, actually. It’s kind of what we think, not what everyone else thinks that’s important. I think our race team knows that we’re plenty capable of winning a championship. We know that we have the speed to do that and that’s really all that matters in all honesty. I do respect everyone else’s opinion and I’m sure there are reasons why people think that way, but, for us, I think our way for a few reason. We do think we’re very good. We do look at our weaknesses and get them better, but we have confidence in ourselves and I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re successful.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion – IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WHEEL-HOPPED GOING INTO THE TURN AND THAT’S WHAT PUT YOU IN THE WALL. IS THAT WHAT HAPPENED? “I had a lot of wheel-hop. It was definitely not ideal in qualifying, but you’re always pressing the issue to try to qualify better and trying to get everything out of the car that you can and it just started wheel-hopping. As a lot of us drivers know, once it starts wheel-hopping it’s hard to save. I down-shifted to try and keep it out of the wall as best I could, but we weren’t able to do that. We’ll get this Fastenal back-up out and get to work on it tonight and make sure that we have it ready to go for practice tomorrow.”
RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 Virginia Tech Ford Fusion – VIRGINIA TECH WON ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD LAST NIGHT, CAN YOU FOLLOW THAT UP WITH A WIN ON SUNDAY? “I hope so. We don’t come out here to try to run 20th, but we’ll have a couple of race practices tomorrow and see if we can get a little bit better and work our way up during the race. Obviously, you’re not happy when you don’t sit on the pole, but I thought there were some things we could take away from it and try to apply them for tomorrow.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “That was a solid effort for us. We’ve qualified poorly pretty much this whole year, so to qualify up there in 16th is a very good effort for us. This is a really fun race track. This is a great track for our company. Obviously, Richard Petty has had a lot of success here, so every time we come to Martinsville we feel the pressure of all those wins the King has here. We want to perform well here. This is 30 minutes from the King’s backyard there in Level Cross (NC). We’re looking forward to the rest of the weekend. It’s been a solid weekend so far for us. I’m proud of all the guys on this Smithfield team and they brought us a pretty fast Smithfield Ford Fusion. Now I have to work on it the rest of the weekend to make it hold on.” WHAT WAS DIFFERENT TODAY IN QUALIFYING? “The cars are just better. When the cars will do what I want them to do we tend to go faster. When I turn the steering wheel and the car actually turns, and when I push the gas down the car drives off the corner good things happen. We’re working hard to try and continue to get better at doing that and today was a good example of that. The car responded to the changes we made and the things we were doing, so I was proud of Drew and all the guys on this 43 team. Our Smithfield Ford Fusion is running pretty good. I’m happy about it.”
