BUSCH WINS IN FORD RETURN; CAPTURES FIRST DAYTONA 500 VICTORY
- Today’s win in the Daytona 500 is the 15th overall for Ford Performance in “The Great American Race.”
- Kurt Busch won his return race with Ford Performance, taking the checkered flag in today’s Daytona 500. The win was Busch’s first in the 500 and 29th in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup career.
- The win is Busch’s 15th with Ford after winning 14 times with Roush Fenway Racing from 2000-05.
- This marks the fifth time in the last nine years that Ford has won the Daytona 500.
- Today’s win is Ford’s 649th in all-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition.
- The win is Fusion’s 80th MENCS triumph since becoming Ford’s flagship vehicle in 2006.
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
1st Kurt Busch
2nd Ryan Blaney
4th Aric Almirola
6th Joey Logano
9th Matt DiBenedetto
10th Trevor Bayne
16th Landon Cassill
18th Cole Whitt
22nd Kevin Harvick
25th David Ragan
27th Brad Keselowski
31st Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
32nd Clint Bowyer
33rd Danica Patrick
KURT BUSCH — No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion (Finished 1st) — YOU ARE A DAYTONA 500 WINNER. YOUR INITIAL REACTIONS AND EMOTIONS? “There is nothing predictable about this race anymore and the more years that have gone by that I didn’t win I kept trying to go back to patterns that I had seen in the past. My mirror fell off with 30 laps to go and I couldn’t even see out the back. And I thought that was an omen. Throw caution to the wind. The more unpredictability that keeps unfolding at the Daytona 500, I predicted it. It just got crazy and wild and I am so proud of all the drivers at the end. We put on a show for a full fuel run and nobody took each other out and it was one of the smartest chess games I have seen out there. All the hard work that Ford and SHR put into this — this Ford Fusion is in Daytona’s victory lane.”
WHAT DID YOU KNOW ABOUT POSSIBLY BEING SHORT ON FUEL AND TAKE US THROUGH THAT LAST LAP: “I almost forgot to drive the line I was supposed to drive because I was shutting off all my switches, going to reserve fuel and saying a hail mary. It all turned out. Here we are in victory lane. I can’t believe it.”
MONSTER ENERGY IN THEIR FIRST RACE AND YOU CARRY THE MONSTER ENERGY COLORS AND HAVE FOR SEVERAL YEARS: “I tried not to put any extra pressure on my shoulders. I tried to rely on my teams strengths and not focus on what I have been through with Monster Energy the last six years. They are strong, big company and they have chosen to be the entitlement sponsor and I can’t be happier to do the job I am supposed to do as a Monster athlete, which is to win podiums and races. Here we are. We are with the Daytona 500 trophy. Thanks to Monster, Haas Automation and everybody at Ford. We are going to enjoy this one.”
TONY STEWART, co-owner, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion — “The look on Gene Haas’ face right now, that smile, make it all worth it. It has been a really long hard winter and I am so proud of everyone at SHR and Ford Performance. They really worked their tails off to get ready. Doug Yates and everybody at Roush Yates Engines brought unbelievable power all week. It was a crazy race, even crazier to sit and watch it from a pit box finally. If I had known all I had to do was retire, I would have retired 17 years ago if I knew it was what it took to win the race. Kurt did an amazing job. He doesn’t even have a rear view mirror. The mirror folded on him. His spotter, Tony Raines did an amazing job. That is the most composed I have ever seen Kurt at the end of a race. He deserved this.”
DAVE PERICAK, Global Director, Ford Performance — “We won the Daytona 500. What teamwork you saw today out on that track with everyone working together from Ford. We dominated early and then had some bad crashes that took some of our cars out but what a way to win it at the end. Ryan Blaney did a fantastic job and SHR in their first outing with Ford, to get this win, we could not be any happier as an organization right now.”
RAJ NAIR, Executive Vice President of Global Product Development and Chief Technical Officer — “What a great win to start off a partnership. It is so great with Stewart-Haas and to have Kurt win it, our last Ford champion, in his first race back with Ford. Everybody worked together so well. SHR, Penske, Wood Brothers with the Doug Yates power. We were so fast. We knew we had a good chance and Kurt hung in there after getting caught up in that crash. He didn’t give up. He didn’t have a rear view mirror but he didn’t give up. A great day for Ford, for Stewart-Haas and Roush Yates power.”
RYAN BLANEY — No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd) — “Well, it took longer to get going than I thought. I tried to make a move with 10 to go and I didn’t go anywhere. I thought we were kind of stuck. Luckily we had the 22 with us. I kind of helped him and he kind of helped me. Late there we got a big run into (Turn) 1 and we kind of all separated and I got a big pull. I got to second behind the 41 somehow and that kept us going the whole way. I laid back to the 47 thinking I’d get a good run and I was sputtering and running out of gas on the backstretch. It was a solid race. It was such a fast Ford. For (it) to be a backup car, that really means a lot for Ford and Motorcraft. Not what we wanted but a pretty good run and start to the season.”
JOEY LOGANO — No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion (Finished 6th) — “I just couldn’t get anyone to go for it at the end. Everyone was so conservative and I don’t understand why. We kept trying to go to the bottom and make a run down there and no one would go with us. We had three cars that kind of wanted to do it, but it’s a matter of getting the right run and getting the right cars behind us and we didn’t have enough of them and couldn’t get up to the lead pack. I don’t know why everyone was so conservative today.”
WAS IT MAYBE DUE TO ALL THE CRASHES EARLIER? “It got crazy there on that restart. I all but crashed a few times today and was able to get the Shell/Pennzoil Ford back home safely, but it got crazy and then it got calm at the end when the plate window opened, so it kind of got weird.”
DID ANYTHING THROW YOU OFF AT ALL? SO MANY CRASHES. “It was crazy to say the least. Right after the last segment it was like everyone turned up the wick a little bit and at the end it was like it burned out.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ALMOST GETTING IT AND BEING ABLE TO HOLD THEM OFF? “I felt like we were in good shape there with 20 to go or so and then we just got out and it’s just a matter of trying to get everyone to go with us and we just couldn’t get enough.”
MATT DIBENEDETTO — No. 32 E.J. Wade Foundation Ford Fusion (Finished 9th) — “That’s a heck of a way to start the year. Holy cow. We survived. We got in that one crash and we hit pretty hard. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s gonna be a long day,’ but the guys did a great job patching it up. It still ran fine. I had good speed. The motor ran great all day, so it was cool. We have the E.J. Wade Foundation on the car for the first time here and it’s awesome to get them a top-10 in their first outing, so it’s a great cause for what they do. I’m excited to be back racing and thankful to have a ride.”
ONLY 15 GUYS AT THE SHOP WORKING ON THIS CAR. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE A RESULT LIKE THIS? “We’ve taken the team and brought in some really good people. I’m so lucky to have my crew chief, Gene Nead, who came in and assembled some of the best guys we could possibly get, so we have some real quality people, some of the folks that were at BK with me. It’s amazing to have that tight of a group, where they are so dedicated to follow me and Gene wherever we go. That’s special. You don’t find that often, so we have such a great relationship and I think that’s where we’re gonna turn a lot of heads this year and surprise everybody. You’re only as good as the people around you and we have really good people. I’m fortunate to have them. We’re gonna turn some heads. We have 15 employees total versus some people who have 400-500, but we have 15 good, quality people and our goal is to overacheive all year.”
DID YOU KNOW WHERE YOU WERE WHEN THE CHECKERED FLAG FLEW? “No, I didn’t honestly. The whole race we were pitting multiple times just trying to make sure it was fixed properly and taking our time and we just kept picking them off one at a time and it turned out to be a great day.”
DOES THIS FEEL BETTER THAN THE BRISTOL FINISH? “It was definitely different. This one was a little bit more survival. That one was a little bit more racing up there, so I would say they’re different feelings, but being in the Daytona 500 in the first place is unbelievable, so I’m gonna say this one does feel really good just because it’s the Daytona 500 and it’s been my dream since I was five to even be in it, so to get a top-10 in it, I’m just checking off all these dreams come true.”
LANDON CASSILL — No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion (Finished 16th) — “It was a crazy race. The one wreck was okay and fair and square, and I was kind of in the middle of it all. We fixed the car real good, though. The car wasn’t that badly damaged. The second wreck I was clear of it and there was just one last straggler that hooked me and that was just too bad. It kind of killed the car enough to where we didn’t have speed and from that point we just kind of outlasted the field and got a 16th-place finish, which is okay.”
ARIC ALMIROLA — No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion (Finished 4th) — “It was a wild day. I can’t believe how many cars were involved in wrecks here and there. We were able to get through quite a few of them and our car just didn’t quite have the speed we needed to make the big runs and complete the big passes, but all in all it was a good day for our Smithfield Ford Fusion. I’m so happy for Ford Motor Company to get to go to Victory Lane. That’s so awesome for them.”
HOW IS IT WITH CARS RUNNING OUT OF GAS ON THE LAST LAP? “That’s one thing I think that maybe hurt our chances of having a shot to catch up to the lead pack and getting a good run. The 5 and the 27 were starting to run out of fuel in front of me and I lost all of my help to go get those guys. All in all it was a great day for us. We’ll take it and get ready for Atlanta. The Daytona 500, you always want to come out of here with a good start to the season.”
KEVIN HARVICK — No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion (Finished 22nd) — “We just got some cars up there that didn’t need to be up there and wound up doing more than their car could do. I’ve just got to thank everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Busch Ford for everything that they’ve done all week. We had, I felt, the fastest car in the field and right in contention for both segments and then it’s all tore up and it came to an end. What do you do?”
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO SEE SHR WIN AFTER THE TRANSITION TO FORD? “I feel good about it. I think that’s the fastest car I’ve ever had here, so it’s kind of disappointing.”
TREVOR BAYNE — No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion (Finished 10th) — “What a day. The first-half was pretty calm. I was cruising in the back waiting for all the wrecks to happen and they didn’t. Then I got caught up with the 48; I’m not sure if it was my fault. I feel bad if it was my fault. I’m spinning and trying to hang on to it, and did. A few laps later we were running in the middle again and somebody hit me in the right rear. It was just nuts. It was like a pinball for a few laps. But at the end of the day we had a good finish, a top 10 finish at Daytona. Overall, we had a really strong car all speedweeks. This Ford was really fast.”
DAVID RAGAN — No. 38 Camping World Ford Fusion (Finished 25th) — “I felt like our Camping World Ford was really fast and drove really good. We had really good strategy that kept us up front. I thought that the race was pretty calm the first 60, 70 laps. The bottom lane stalled a little bit and the 17 had a really good run, I don’t know if I got checked up a bit. He was coming hard and touched me. I got a little loose and tried to chase it and he just couldn’t get off me and ran out of room. It was unfortunate to be in that spot but we got lucky that we didn’t get damaged any more than we did. There were a lot of wrecks all day. You always second guess yourself on things and hard your race. We owe it to our sponsors and our team and everyone involved. We had a good car. I’m glad we were able to work hard and get some spots there at the end.”
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE STAGES? IS THAT CAUSING THE ACCIDENTS? “I thought the stages were good actually and added a nice little element to the race. I didn’t notice guys being any more aggressive than usual. There were a lot of accidents but I would have to see the replays to understand why”
THE FORDS WERE FAST OUT THERE TODAY: “Yeah, the Fords did a really good job working together and establishing position which helped us avoid one wreck but we couldn’t avoid the 10 of them that there have been today. Our Miller Lite Ford Fusion was fast though, all the Fords were fast. Roush Yates brought some great power here to Daytona. It is exciting.”
DANICA PATRICK — No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion — INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 127 WHAT HAPPENED? “I don’t really know. I just know we were all three-wide and it looks like the 6 and 48 had something happened. There was nowhere to go. They just kept coming and hitting me. The left rear is broken. The bodywork damage isn’t that bad but I don’t know how long that takes to fix. The five-minute clock is an interesting new element. I don’t know if it is good or bad but we don’t want to go on track with stuff that isn’t safe. But when all these cars crash out you want to be able to get as many points as possible. Anyway, we are done. The Aspen Dental car was really fast today. The Fords were really fast today. We got organized and we were gone! It was the funnest 500 I’ve ever had. Well, probably not 500, more like 300 or 250. It is a real shame. I feel like we could have been a contender at the end, for sure we could have been an influencer.”
YOU HAD SUCH A GOOD SPEEDWEEKS “It was definitely the right race, week for us. We got a fourth, sixth, 10th and a fifth. We were having a really good weekend. I have no doubt that we would have been right up there contending for a great finish, if not a win at the end. The Fords are really, really fast, you saw that before we got to the end of the second segment. It was handling well. Like I said to Billy (Scott) my crew chief, I was like, ‘Man, it’s got some power and it’s got some handling.’ It’s a real shame. It was treacherous in the middle. I saw that the accident started in the middle. We even saw that the middle lane was the strongest at times, a lot of the times. That’s different for Daytona, a lot of times it’s better around the top. The bottom was strong and the middle wasn’t a mover. It was a good race. It was a fun race. So far the most fun that I had a Daytona. I really felt fairly comfortable instead of holding on for dear life and hoping that I didn’t get hit. It was fun.”
CLINT BOWYER — No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion — “Man I hate the way it ended. No way around it. We got caught up with someone else’s mess. Just really upset right now. We’ve had a good week down here and we still have a lot of racing left in 2017, so I’m pumped about the year. We had a really fast Mobil 1 Ford today.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. — No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion — “I’m not real sure what happened. We were two laps down because we had a couple of issues throughout the beginning of the race, but our Fastenal Ford was still plenty fast. We didn’t really have any damage and was finally in a position to where we could start getting some lucky dogs and get back on the lead lap. I felt like if we could have done that, we would have been all right. We were just running around the top and I just got hit in the left-rear. I’m not really sure what happened below us, but it was a bummer of a day. I thought we brought some really fast Fords down here and just hate that we didn’t really get a result to show for it. We’ll go on to Atlanta next weekend and get ready to go racing. WHY SO MANY ACCIDENTS? “We really didn’t have that many until here recently. I’m not real sure. They said Kyle may have cut a tire down, which is obviously one accident. They said Blaney was maybe trying to get off the race track, which caused the one I was in, and I guess we’ve had two since then. I’d say it was pretty normal racing for us. I thought the first half of the race went pretty smooth for everybody, but a couple little circumstances resulted in so many crashes.”
DOES STAGE RACING HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT? “Stage racing hasn’t contributed to any crashes. We finished every stage under green with no issues, so I would say stage racing was not the issue. A couple of them happened right after restarts.”
