Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Date: Saturday, March 4, 2017
Event: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (NXS Post Race)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd Brad Keselowski
4th Kevin Harvick
6th Darrell Wallace Jr.
10th Cole Custer
18th Ryan Reed
19th Aric Almirola
DARRELL WALLACE JR. (No. 6 Leidos Ford Mustang) – Finished 6th
“We like to lay low. I am all about that. I was frustrated as hell that first run but I told myself that this was exactly what we had talked about and we would come back. And we did. We have a new attitude at the shop and we are all about not giving up. Watching Ryan (Reed) last weekend spin out twice – I wish I had the luck he had last weekend – he spun out twice and came back to win it. It was about not giving up. Don’t give up on the team or the car and things will hopefully play out in your favor. We were able to capitalize on that restart and make the most of it. We didn’t have the speed to run with these guys so we really had to work for it there. We had a bit enough cushion because my car was falling off fast. I used it up. I got a little excited. I can’t thank my guys enough. The pit crew was on it today and picked up a lot of spots each and every stop. Leidos coming on. This is a good finish for them. This is what we needed for our season, so we will take this on to Vegas.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang) – Finished 2nd
“It was a good race today for the Discount Tire Ford team. To get second is kissing your sister but it is still better than nothing I guess. We had a really good car today and some good adjustments at the end to pick up a little speed. I thought the 41 was class of the field and I don’t know what happened there to mix him up. Kyle and I had a great battle there at the end. It was just a matter of kind of catching the breaks in traffic and making the right moves. I thought we were a tiny bit faster than Kyle but I kept catching traffic in the wrong spot. That was a bummer but still a solid effort and a good day and I am proud of my team.”
KEVIN HARVICK (No. 41 Textron Off Road Ford Mustang) – Finished 4th
“Yeah, that is kind of a characteristic here at Atlanta. You get stuck on the outside there and have a lot of trouble with wheel spin. I want to thank everybody from Stewart-Haas Racing for our first race out, leading laps and racing for the lead there all day was quite a credit to the team. We got really tight the next to last set of tires. It was like the race track went away from us and kind of came to everybody else. We made it better the last run. I want to thank everyone from Textron Off Road, Ford Performance and Hunt Brothers, everyone that is putting this Mustang on track this year. It was a great opening week for us. I wish we could have won, but all in all I think it was a great week for us.”
COLE CUSTER (No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang) – Finished 10th
“We had a really good Haas Automation Ford Mustang and we just started out really good and went forward, got up to sixth and then we just didn’t have the short run speed from there. We got that penalty which set us back a little bit and fought hard to get back up there. We end up 10th, so it was a solid day. I gotta thank everyone that has worked extremely hard at Ford and Stewart-Haas, it has been an awesome start of the season for us and I think it will go up from here.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI RUNNER-UP PRESS CONFERENCE
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang) YOU DIDN’T GET THE WIN BUT THAT WAS AN IMPRESSIVE MOVE THROUGH LAP TRAFFIC CHASING THE 18. WALK US THROUGH THAT PROCESS. “It was part of the battle. That is how these races go in the Xfinity Series. You have a lot of diversity as far as speed in the cars out there and that is not a bad thing. When you catch those slower cars it is always a game of cat and mouse. Sometimes it feels like chicken. I kept catching them all in the wrong damn place and I thought that kept me from having a shot at catching Kyle there. I caught one with three or four to go and it killed my run off four. Right there I needed to pop that bubble but kept losing one or two car lengths every time through traffic. All in all it was a good day for us. We were super competitive with the 22 Discount Tire Ford and we are proud of that but we want to get wins too.”
WE SAW DRIVERS SPINNING TIRES ON THE OUTSIDE LANE, WILL THAT BE A CONCERN TOMORROW? “Yeah, it will be a big concern. It should be a huge hindrance tomorrow. That is one of the major flaws in the whole double-file restart thing, that there is not a lot of equality there in lane choice. You know that and hope it doesn’t affect you at the wrong time.”
OTHER THAN WHEN THE 41 GOT UP THERE IT FELT LIKE THE DAYS OF OLD OF YOU VERSUS KYLE. “I don’t know if I look at it as rivalry, I just want to win. We had a good shot at it today but came up a bit short. Would like to have another crack at that one but all in all we were right there knocking on the door. If we do that consistently we will win races. I don’t know. It is hard to say when you look at the Gibbs cars versus the Penske cars. Gibbs has three cars, three very well funded cars and I think they put a lot of energy and effort into this series for Kyle. Not that Penske doesn’t, but we are not interested in that level, we are interested in developing our people. We had our development pit crew and teams out there today. There are two different theories behind the efforts and it sets them apart. For those reasons, I am proud of the days we have like this where we are equal to them or better.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST THING YOU WILL TAKE FROM TODAY TO TOMORROW’S RACE? “Just sharpening the axe. Another race on the track, another chance to think about and run everything through my head. Procedures and all of that. Nothing really that I am going to share technically.”
WILL YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO TALK TO YOUR TRUCK DRIVERS BEFORE THEY START? “No, I am here with you. They are out there craving my help as young drivers trying to make it and instead I am here with you. There goes their career. (laughter)
“It is hard to explain but when my career was getting started I didn’t like a lot of people talking to me. I think sometimes you need to ask the questions that you need to know and you get 10 or 15 people in your ear trying to tell you what to do and you can’t make any sense of anything. I don’t really tell them what to do. I don’t tell my truck drivers what to do. I let them come to me with questions. I will give them the best answer I can every time and do what I can to help them but I am not going to run to them and tell them what to do because some of those things you have to learn and figure out yourself. The best lessons in life are the ones you learn yourself. Sometimes you learn the hard way, but those are the ones that stick. That has always been my theory with them and I think it has worked out well. Looking through the field and my spotter said this to me before the Xfinity race at Daytona, he said, ‘In front of you is Tyler Reddick and behind you is Daniel Hemric and both of those drivers drove for you and now they have graduated to the next level, that is a pretty darn good feeling.’ And it is. Seeing Tyler and Daniel and Ryan Blaney all kind of graduate to the next level is a real thrill for me. That is what that program is supposed to be about. I am happy about that and hoping to see it continue to grow. There is nobody out there putting drivers in the ranks more than BKR has and hopefully we continue that with Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HAVING GREG ERWIN BACK ON THE PIT BOX? “Greg’s a solid guy. He’s been around this sport and knows the ins-and-outs. He’s a really a rock that we can build the 22 Xfinity team around. There’s so many development guys. I walked through the trailer yesterday after practice and it felt like I was at a party and getting introduced to everybody. Half the team is brand new this year. I need everyone to wear name tags. Having a guy like Greg who can be a source of stability is good for those guys. He’s had a good career at the Cup level and he’s going to keep having it. That’s good to see. I think the program is in good spot with that. Looking further at the rules package, I think the softer tires with the lower downforce is a hit. The cars are a little bit less aero-sensitive behind each other. I would say that we lost 20, 30 percent of aero push. There’s still a big chunk to gain by those numbers. A pretty good step in the right direction. I’m proud of the Xfinity Series and the officials for the need to do work in that area in this series as well. The cars weren’t that much harder to drive and I think that’s a compliment to Goodyear for bringing a softer tire to offset the downforce. All and all I think a net gain for the series and for the sport.
