Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
AAA Texas 500 – Texas Motor Speedway
NSCS POST RACE
Sunday, November 6, 2016
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd Joey Logano
12th Ryan Blaney
14th Brad Keselowski
16th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
18th Greg Biffle
21st Chris Buescher
22nd Aric Almirola
27th Brian Scott
29th Landon Cassill
30th Trevor Bayne
36th Joey Gase
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 AAA Ford Fusion – FINISHED 2nd
THIS LOOKS LIKE MAYBE ONE OF THE MORE DISAPPOINTING RUNNER-UP FINISHES OF YOUR CAREER. “Yeah, it is. We had a good AAA Fusion that was capable of winning the race. We just lost our track position on a green-flag cycle and got our balance off a little bit. We got it fixed and got it going and had a good restart at the end to get back to second but it seemed like we needed maybe five or 10 more laps to try to catch the 19 there. We were making up about three-tenths a lap when the caution came out. It is what it is. We are disappointed with second which is a good thing. I think we are in right now but it sure would have been nice to be locked in. It sure would make it easier next week.”
JOEY LOGANO POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN TONIGHT AND THE CHALLENGES PRESENTED BY THE WEATHER, NOT KNOWING WHEN IT WOULD COME. “Yeah, we had such a fast car. Especially in the beginning of the race. That thing took off and we drove out to a six or seven-second lead and I was feeling good about it. As the track changed we lost the handle a little and lost the lead. Went all the way back to fifth and then got our balance better where the car was getting going again and I had a good restart to get from fourth to second there at the end with a good pit stop there that got us a couple spots too. The team did a very good job executing when we needed to. We just didn’t have enough laps. It seemed like the momentum swung the other way with about three or four laps to go before the caution came out and I was starting to catch the 19 pretty rapidly. Unfortunately it just started raining and that was the end of the race. It is what it is. We are going to be close. There are a lot of cars close going into Phoenix. It will be entertaining. It will probably be the closest Phoenix race we have ever seen as far as points. It should be a fun one for sure.”
AT LEAST YOU DID MAKE UP SOME POINTS AND GOT CLOSER ON THAT END. ARE YOU MORE FRUSTRATED THAT YOU DIDN’T GET TO KEEP RACING AND GO FOR THAT OR DO YOU TAKE ANY SOLACE IN HAVING IMPROVED IN THE STANDINGS? “When you are that close to winning and you lead the most laps, second stinks. That is our goal every week, to win, and anything short of that is a failure. I feel like we were so close to that today but ultimately, like you said, we did gain some points. We are in right now and we were out going into this race. We did the best we can as far as leading laps and getting those two bonus points with most laps lead as well but we didn’t get the win part. That would have been nice.”
WHAT HAPPENED AROUND LAP 210 WHERE IT SEEMED YOU LOST A LITTLE SPEED? “We lost a little speed and some of that could just be that we lost the lead on that green flag cycle. Some of it could be as simple as when you lose the lead and cars pit one lap before you and gain three seconds and then you come out and there is another three cars that are in between you as well and you have to pass those guys and you are beating your tires up to pass those guys that the leader didn’t have to pass. It is a snowball effect. We needed a caution to catch back up. We had that and then we got back to where we were going to be faster again racing up front in the clean air but it was just a little too late.”
WHAT IS THE GENERAL FEELING ON RAIN‑SHORTENED RACES IN THE CHASE? SHOULD THERE BE A RULE YOU RUN IT TO COMPLETION? “No, the rule’s the rule. The rule is that you get past halfway and it rains. I don’t blame NASCAR for the decision they made tonight. We saw how long it took to dry this thing out. What are we going to do, make everyone stay here till tomorrow and watch it rain tomorrow? That’s probably not the right move. Again, it’s the rule. It’s been that way since I’ve been watching NASCAR racing at least. I don’t know how long that rule has been in place. It seems like forever. I don’t see a need to change it. It’s part of the game. We all knew it was coming. We all have cell phones that have radar on it. Everyone has the ability to see it. I knew we were racing till the rain. We weren’t going to make it till the end. I knew it was going to get aggressive. The last restart was going to be the money restart. Got one spot or a couple spots, but not the last one.”
I REALIZE THIS MIGHT BE POINTLESS, BUT DID YOU FEEL, HAD THE RAIN NOT COME, YOU WERE OPTIMISTIC YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A SHOT AT HIM? “We had a shot, yeah. We were catching him. I was in the car saying it was barely raining. Might have been a little biased to say it was barely raining. I am sure most of the field said it was pouring. I was thinking, I need to keep racing this thing until I can get to him. If that means we’re sliding out in the wet, then that’s what we had to do. But I think we would have had a shot. I would have loved to race till the end of the race. I think if we had another restart, my pit crew were on it tonight. They were freakin’ awesome. I would have loved to come down pit road again and give them another shot to get me on the front row and try to have another restart to clear him. It seemed like it was possible. The bottom and the top lane on the restarts were pretty equal. If you’re in the front row, you have as good a shot as anybody to take the lead.”
YOU SAID FRIDAY NIGHT YOU HOPE THEY NEVER REPAVE THIS PLACE. APPARENTLY THE REASON IT TOOK MORE THAN THREE HOURS TO DRY IT TODAY WAS THEY HAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH THAT TOP LAYER. WOULD YOU BE UNDERSTANDING IF THEY DECIDE THEY NEED TO REPAVE IT IN THE OFF‑SEASON? “I’d rather it just not rain (laughter). Is that possible? Start saying prayers. I don’t know. Talk to the man upstairs about that one. You know, I do. I don’t want to say I get it, but I do. You can’t have a racetrack that takes that long to dry. You can’t have that. I really like the way this track races right now. It’s a lot of fun. You can run the top, bottom. It’s bumpy. It’s just awesome right now. All but that one thing. So depends what everyone wants to live with. Pick your poison, right?”
