Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Can-Am Duel #2 – Daytona International Speedway
Thursday, February 23, 2017
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd Clint Bowyer
3rd Kurt Busch
7th Danica Patrick
11th David Ragan
20th Ryan Blaney
CLINT BOWYER — No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd) — “Damn, this is fun again. Man, what a rocket ship. Hats off to all these guys that put all this hard work into these cars for Ford. This is going to be a great year. This is fun. Mike and all the guys on the 14 car, it is just – it has been a long time coming. It is fun to get out here on one of my favorite race tracks and run up front. I want to thank everybody. Tony (Stewart) and Gene Haas, Mobil 1, Haas Automation, Ford, Yates — how about that horse power man.” HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE UP FRONT AGAIN? “Good. We obviously want to win but I am super impressed with this team. This is the one we have been waiting for. Mike and all the guys put a lot of hard work into bringing a fast car and oh boy did they. It just creates more opportunities. You can play offense the whole time out there. That is the first chance I have had to practice the draft in this thing. There are some new gremlins I need to work on with handling and driving characteristics that are adjustable for my likings but I am really proud and happy to be running like that. This is going to be a fun year.”
RYAN BLANEY — No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Finished 20th) — HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT UNTIL THE CONTACT? “I thought it was going really good. I thought we were real fast. Our car was really, really fast. It showed a lot of speed and I was really happy with that. We were able to get good pushes and shove us towards the front. We kind of got back in the pack and were able to recover, which was really encouraging that we could be aggressive. We handled really good, so it’s not often you’ve got speed and handle well, so we’ll see how that goes on Sunday when it’s hot. Hopefully, we’ll be able to fix this. It just stinks to kind of be in that spot at the wrong time there, but I thought everyone did a good job of getting our car fast. Hopefully, we’ll be able to fix it. We’ll have to come from the back in the 500, but I think we have the speed to get up there.” WERE YOU ABLE TO PUT YOUR FUSION WHERE YOU WANTED? “Yeah, I could. We were fairly aggressive at the beginning of the race just to try and get some spots, and I was kind of content with riding for the last 10-15 before that competition caution. We gota car right before that. The 5 made a move and we were really aggressive after that — aggressive but safe — not making moves that weren’t too bad. I thought we made some good moves that got us back up there to be side-by-side with second. It was just an unfortunate event that happened to us.”
KURT BUSCH — No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion (Finished 3rd) — CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOU RUN? “I’m satisfied with it. We had a good run and it’s not on the wrecker. I just didn’t execute like I needed to. Me and and (Clint) Bowyer were like two brothers walking down the hallway looking at each and going in different directions. We just didn’t have a clean exchange. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, we just didn’t have a good exchange. I wasn’t able to execute to get to him back bumper and get to Denny (Hamlin) at the end.” YOU MADE A GREAT RUN NEAR THE END OF THE RACE. WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT YOUR CAR? “Good in the corners with the Monster Energy Ford. We just need to work on our straightaway speed for Sunday. I think we’re good. We have a good car to go race and try to win the Daytona 500.”
DANICA PATRICK — No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion (Finished 7th) — TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE: “It was nice to tell Edsel Ford that the Ford was really good. I told him I’ve had my best finishes in stock car racing in Fords. It ‘s been a good start. The car is in one piece. I feel like the car is more stable in traffic than it has been in years. I feel like the power is good. I feel like we have a really good shot on Sunday. The cars is in good shape and running well.” DID YOU NOTICE THE RACE BEING ANY DIFFERENT SINCE YOU WERE RUNNING FOR POINTS? “I’m not sure if it was in my head but it almost felt like the competition caution was a warm-up a segment because everyone got crazy before the caution. I think that might be something more to come, everything getting a bit crazy. There was a lot more on the line. I think it’s going to influence the competition in a positive way.”
DAVID RAGAN — No. 38 Camping World/Good Sam Ford Fusion (Finished 11th) — “I was trying not to push the 21 too aggressive because Jimmie was side-drafting him pretty hard. When you’re pushing someone in front of you, it’s hard to push straight and when someone is side-drafting that hard, I was trying to lay off the 21 as much as I could and I think Jimmie just was tight and I just barely caught him in the right-rear quarter-panel and right-rear bumper cover and got him a little loose. It’s just part of racing hard. He was being a little risky side-drafting that hard and I was being a little risky pushing the 21, but you’ve got to race like that. If you don’t race aggressive in the top five or six, they shuffle you out pretty quick. It was fun to race up there with those guys. Our Ford was fast and the Camping World Good Sam team did a great job on pit road to come in fourth and go out fourth, and that really helped us out a lot.” YOU MUST FEEL GOOD FOR SUNDAY. “Yeah, I think it’s very important to have a clean 500 miles. You can’t have pit road penalties, you can’t have damage on the race car, so you definitely race a little more conservative on Sunday, but our Ford handled well. Our spotter did well and the communication with everybody for our first race went really well, so if we can work on it a little bit Friday and Saturday and get it to handle under the sun, we can have a car that could win.”
CLINT BOWYER POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
HOW DOES TONIGHT GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE FOR SUNDAY? “Well it is a confidence booster. That is our first time drafting, practice or anything. We didn’t run the Clash, so to be up there with those guys racing that had that under the belt made me happy. The car is fast just like it was in qualifying trim and gives you a lot of confidence going into the 500. I knew right off the bat that immediately you go to the thought in the car of needing to get to the end in one piece because you need this in the 500. That is what makes this race so tricky. They added the points to give you some incentive but this is my bullet. I needed this thing in the 500. It has been fast since we unloaded and if I tore it up and didn’t get a chance to run it, it would be a shame. I am happy to get it to second. I am happy to be giving this interview. It has been a long time.”
DO YOU THINK MANUFACTURER CARS WILL WORK TOGETHER SUNDAY? “Oh yeah. The 500 is a lot longer race with a lot different circumstances than you see in the Duels. You don’t have all your dancing partners in one Duel. We got together with Kurt and tried to help as much as possible, it just seemed the way momentum was going you could go sometimes with your teammate and it would help you and then you couldn’t other times. If you did it would probably hurt you and maybe both of you. That is the tricky thing. I learned way back from Kevin that if it helps us both go but it hurts you to help me, then you probably should go on. The 500 is a lot different though. You get lined up, you get acclimated to that. It seemed like when Junior got us single file on the top you are just kind of running along but the moves were getting dicey and there was some blocking going on that was creating opportunities to either gain or lose and I think we got kind of jumbled up and did away with the teamwork aspect of it a little bit.
CLINT BOWYER CONTINUED — AFTER LAST YEAR, WHAT DID IT FEEL LIKE TO BE IN SUCH A STRONG CAR TONIGHT? “Well, you knew it was going to be. You move over here to SHR with everything they have done and accomplished over the years. You are in plenty good equipment and to be honest with you, you are just concentrating right now — I have a lot of things I want to work on and perfect a little bit with the handling characteristics that will help me in the 500. That was my first chance at-bat. We didn’t have the Clash or anything. There were some gremlins in there that I want to work on that will help me smooth in and be a little better in the 500 and a little more comfortable. That thing has been a rocket ship since I got here and that is what you expect out of these teams. All the guys on the 14 car are exceptional and it is a hell of a lot of fun to drive it.”
YOU SAID THE OTHER DAY YOU HAVE HAD A YEAR AND A HALF TO DREAM ABOUT THIS. WAS IT AS GOOD AS YOU DREAMED? “Yeah. It is exactly what I dreamed. One position off obviously. Denny (Hamlin) over there with the Monster crowd is looking a little better than I am in here with you. Just you in particular. But you know, yeah it feels good to be talking to you guys and in here talking about speed on the race track. Kevin was fast. I watched it on top of the box. It is just going to take time. I know there will be bumps in the road and we will move into Atlanta and the west coast swing, to be honest you are already thinking of that and hoping you have the same success there. What a great opportunity to win the biggest race of the year that I have here. This Fusion is fast. Roush Yates horsepower is awesome and everything I thought it would be. The dream, yeah. All these things are adding up to the reason I was chomping at the bit to get in this car.”
