Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Daytona 500 Qualifying – Daytona International Speedway
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Ford Qualifying Results:
3rd – Brad Keselowski
4th – Clint Bowyer
7th – Kevin Harvick
13th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
17th – Joey Logano
18th – Ryan Blaney
19th – Trevor Bayne
22nd – Kurt Busch
24th – Danica Patrick
25th – Aric Almirola
27th – Landon Cassill
29th – Matt DiBenedetto
38th – David Ragan
CLINT BOWYER – No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion – “It’s a great effort, considering everything these guys have gone through all season long, switching manufacturers and everything that goes with that. That’s a lot. That’s a huge undertaking and these guys did it without fail. I mean, it was right where they left off and we gained on it. The Ford bunch and the Roush Yates horsepower I knew was gonna be something we could lean on, it was gonna be an exception for us, and it was. Mobil 1 and all of our partners helping us with the technical side of the oil and everything that goes into a fast lap here, so everything was on point. We just came up a little bit short, but that’s two of our cars in the top seven. I watched Kevin in that Clash. I liked what I saw there. He could push and move the 2 and the 22. On a track like this those are your teammates and we’re gonna work together and win this damn thing. That’s what we’re here for.” WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY TO HAVE AN EFFORT LIKE THIS? “It’s Daytona. I know it’s no big deal, but it feels good to be competitive again. I was down here last year and we were way off the pace. It was crushing because you know deep down you don’t even have a chance, and when you’ve got a car like this – a hot rod like this and a team like this – I’ve got a chance.”
KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW FAR TO GO WITH THIS GOOD SPEED YOU’VE GOT? “I think we had that direction today from the race, just to know where the balance probably needs to be. We’re probably a little bit closer than where we started the day, so everybody has done a great job on our Jimmy John’s and Busch Fords getting them prepared, and it’s fun to have these Roush Yates motors underneath the hood. We’re really excited. We feel like we’re way ahead of where we were with our speedway program and that will make us sleep a lot better up until Thursday.” HOW CLOSE DO THESE TWO CARS FEEL THAT YOU DROVE TODAY? “There are some subtle differences just because of qualifying and the things that you do to the cars, but, all in all, I think they’re pretty close.”
KURT BUSCH – No. 41 Haas Automotive Ford Fusion – “Everything felt good up until that run. I thought we were gonna have more speed, but we know this race comes down to handling and strategic pit stops as well as drafting lanes. We’re gonna continue to work hard and give it the best effort we’ve got.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “I don’t know what to tell you right now because I’m a little bit confused on where the speed went. We were the fastest car in practice yesterday and don’t know what happened. We’ll have to take a look at it and see where we missed it. We have a couple of ideas why right now, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
DANICA PATRICK – No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion – “We would have loved to have been faster, but I’m not worried. The most important thing is that the car is good in the draft and the situations that I needed to be in as far as the ability to suck up to cars and my experience this morning with the Clash is that it was really good top-end, especially when we get drafting and really going, so I’m not really worried. We’re gonna spend a lot more time at a lot higher RPM and I think that the Fords have a lot of power there.” IS IT DIFFICULT TO TRANSITION FROM A RACE LIKE TODAY TO A SINGLE-CAR QUALIFYING RUN? “That was very easy. That’s the easy part of the day. Qualifying day at the 500 is usually the day that you plan everything else because it goes quick.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “Honestly, I’m a little disappointed in that. I thought after yesterday our car showed a lot of speed in it, so I was really happy and very optimistic about today. Then obviously the tech room, the room of doom and the restrictor plate and all that stuff is the great equalizer. What we had yesterday was not indicative of the speed we thought we had and, unfortunately, we qualified a little worse than what we had hoped for for sure. So we’ll have to go back to work and get ready to race. I think as you saw in the Clash where you start is not nearly as important as how your car drives, so qualifying here is all about trimming it out and making a lap, but then to get ready for the Daytona 500 you have to have a good handling car. So we’ll go to work on that the rest of the week and get ready to race the Daytona 500.”
RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – “I’m not really sure where our speed went, but we’ll have to go back and figure out where that went overnight. No matter. I think we’ll have a good handling car in the Duels, so we’ll just go racing there and see if we can start up front in the 500.”
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion – “I’m frustrated. I thought we had a shot at the front row there, so I don’t really know what happened. Ricky and I both had the same speed and yesterday we felt really fast. Obviously, yesterday you had a lot more tailwind down the backstretch, so you had a wind shift, but that affects everybody. I’m not really sure what happened there. We’ll have to go back and regroup and figure it out because I wasn’t ignorance is bliss yesterday. We really did have a lot of speed, so hopefully we can figure it out.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 38 Camping World Good Sam Ford Fusion – “We’re happy to have Camping World and Good Sam on our Ford Fusion. They’re a great company. That’s where I got my motorhome from, so that’s good. To have a sponsor and a new partner at Front Row Motorsports that we’ve done business with, I’m happy to have them for the Daytona 500 and several other races this year. We knew we weren’t gonna quite have the speed to contend for the pole, but our Ford Fusion is fast enough that we’re gonna be able to race really well. Handing comes into play so much more than what it did the last few years here, so we’re gonna work hard Thursday and Friday and Saturday to run in the pack some and get our Ford to where it’s comfortable and drives good. I think we’ll have a good shot to race well on Sunday.”
LANDON CASSILL – No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion – “I was pretty happy with it. I felt like we defended our time that we ran yesterday and I think the conditions yesterday were more favorable, so I think that works out alright and hopefully it means we have a good car for next Sunday.” WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CLASH? “I think it showed us a lot of the characteristics that we saw in last year’s Daytona 500. I think the Clash is just an abbreviated version of that because there are half as many cars, but it’ll be a handling show on Sunday and it’s gonna take some strategy to gain track position for sure.”
MATT DIBENEDETTO – No. 32 – E.J. Wade Foundation Ford Fusion – “Actually, it was really good. From the time we unloaded yesterday to the end of practice I think we picked up six or seven-tenths of a second in single-car runs. The team did a really good job. The qualifying lap went smoothly, so they just kind of massaged on everything that they could and maximized it also. So far it looks like a pretty good run.”
