Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Auto Club 400 – Auto Club Speedway
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Ford Finishing Order:
2nd – Brad Keselowski
3rd – Clint Bowyer
5th – Joey Logano
9th – Ryan Blaney
13th – Kevin Harvick
19th – Aric Almirola
22nd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
23rd – Trevor Bayne
24th – Kurt Busch
26th – Danica Patrick
27th – Landon Cassill
29th – Matt DiBenedetto
31st – David Ragan
CLINT BOWYER – No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Fusion – “It was just a good weekend. I appreciate everybody’s hard work at Stewart-Haas Racing. Having these teammates and having this group behind you, the organization and the teamwork, it’s just amazing to be a part of it at this point in my career. Thanks to Rush Truck Centers for making this possible. Gene Haas and Tony Stewart for giving me this opportunity. It means a lot to me to be in this 14. I have a lot of fun with these guys. Buga and all these guys mean business. It’s a confidence thing right now, a momentum-builder and we’re getting closer. Obviously, this is a good track for me. I wanted to win that damn thing, but to come home with the wild finish and everything that it was, we’ll take it.”
A GOOD RUN. “It was a good weekend for us. We never showed the speed in practice, but I wasn’t worried about it because I knew the car was really comfortable on the long run and things like that. I was proud of the effort that Buga and all the guys give me each and every week. I’m proud to have Rush Truck Centers on our car this weekend. It’s just a great sponsor and a fun guy. I’m just having fun again. That’s what it’s about.”
DID YOU SEE THIS COMING? “Hell yeah. It better be coming. When you’ve got a team like this that’s organized and as good as they are, it better be.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Auto Club Ford Fusion – “It was up-and-down for sure. Our car was really good on the short runs just like yesterday. Our car was good on the short runs and not good on the long runs. We would lose too much time. We tried to short pit them and got caught with the caution and got stuck down a lap with 20 to go or so. We were able to recover and at one point I thought we were gonna win the race and had some trouble on pit road and lost some spots again, but we were able to make some of them back up and end up with a top-5 out of it with the Auto Club Fusion. It was up-and-down to say the least for the whole weekend for me.”
YOU CAME UP FROM THE BACK FAST. “Yeah, I was able to drive up pretty quick to where we were in the top-10 and we kind of stalled out around seventh. We were good on short runs, but would fall off too hard on the long run. We got caught with the caution while we were trying that green-flag cycle with 30 to go or so. We lost our track position, but were able to get enough cautions and allow us to fight back into the top-5. I thought, ‘Man, we’ve got a shot at winning this thing.’ We were catching them so fast with a newer tire, but another caution came out and we lost some track position on pit road and then we battled back and kept fighting to get back to fifth. Overall, it was a good recovery. Two good recovery days, I guess because we had a short-run car. I guess we need to try to make our car a little bit better on the long run and smooth out some mistakes.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT BATTLING BACK? “It was a battle, but this place is a lot of fun. The track is so wide and tires mean so much. How crazy is it that we’re pitting with half-a-lap on our tires and we’re putting four more on. That’s pretty cool.”
KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Busch Beer Ford Fusion – “I feel like we won. Those are the days that championships are made out of right there. To wreck before we even get to the start-finish line, I don’t know exactly what happened in front of me, but, obviously, we got a caved-in grille. They did a great job fixing it. We got some wavearounds and made the car better and made something out of the day. That’s why these guys are who they are and won championships and races because they can make days like that happen.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “We struggled. We just don’t have the overall grip and speed in our cars, but we’re working hard. Everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports has been working really hard. It’s a big improvement from Atlanta. We gained on it when we went to Vegas and then we’ve kind of gotten flat and stagnant and we haven’t been making as many gains and strides since Atlanta, so we still have some work to do. I’m proud of the effort, we just have to dig deep. We have to keep working hard and get speed in our car and more grip in our car so we can go and compete.”
RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion — TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY OVERALL. “I thought we were not great at the beginning, kind of faded at the end of the first stage. I thought at the beginning of the first stage we were really good. We drove up there. In the early part, we seemed to fade late in runs. In the middle part, we had equipment leave the pit box and that put us in a big hole back there, but we did a good job fighting back, putting ourselves in a decent position to have a good finish and a decent shot at (the win). Most re-starts worked in our favor except the last one. We just got put three-wide there and kind of got hurt. Overall not a bad day for us coming back from that pit road penalty. That was pretty good.”
THE CAR SEEMED TO BE GOOD AT THE BEGINNING AND THE END, NOT SO GOOD IN THE SECOND STAGE. “We could fire off pretty decent and then we’d fade in the middle. Then it would start coming to us in the last 10 laps of a run. We got a little bit more consistent at the end of the race.”
PRESS CONFERENCE
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion – “We were tore all to hell. It’s unfortunate. Got tore up there real early in the race and went all the way to the back. We clawed all the way back up to second. I don’t know if we had anything for Kyle and those guys. The car was tore up pretty bad, so to get that kind of finish is respectable. Certainly, we want to win. I felt like we had a shot to do just that, but it didn’t come together. That’s the way it goes sometimes when you have a 36-race season. You’re gonna have some adversity and days that don’t go your way, and that’s a little bit of what today was for us, but we made the most of it so I’m proud of our guys for that.”
HOW DID YOU GET BACK TO SECOND? “I’m glad I’ve got the race on DVR so I can see it, but the last few restarts were obviously key for us. We seemed to get settled into about 10th there, maybe seventh or eighth and just executed the last few restarts. Good pit calls and so forth and good timing with the yellows, so we caught a few breaks for sure and made good adjustments to our car to make up for the damage, so it takes a little bit of everything, a little bit of execution, good work by the team and a little bit of luck on the last few yellows.”
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE START? “I got ran into the back of and it did a lot of damage to the car and we were in a lot of trouble and started to freefall through the field and then I got ran over again. I got ran over, so I’m not really sure who, why, what. I haven’t seen any of that.”
DID YOU GET BANGED UP AT ALL? “Yeah, I’m good. The car was a little tore up, but I’m as ready as ever. I’ll run another race. Unload the backup, let’s go.”
YOU SEEM TO LIKE THIS TRACK. “We really turned the corner here. The first few races I ran here we were awful and I think I learned a lot, the team learned a lot and have put together just a much more robust effort for this type of track. I like coming to places we run well, but beyond that I think it’s just this track is known for having great races and great racing and I think we saw that here again today. It’s fun to be a part of those races.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY AGAIN? “We got hit on the start and did a lot of damage to the car and I was freefalling through the field and then I got hit again, so the car was all tore up. The guys worked to fix it, but were only able to partially fix it with the yellows at the start, and when they finally got it as much repaired as they could, we were a lot more competitive and just kind of slowly clicked our way through the field and then at the end we made a few adjustments and fell back a little bit, put them back at the end and drove right back up to where we felt like we were capable of in the top two or three with those restarts. It was an up-and-down day for sure. A lot of adversity, but we were able to overcome that and I think that’s what great teams do, so I’m proud of that.”
DID THE TAPE AFFECT YOUR AERO PACKAGE? “I’m sure. The left-rear quarter panel on the car is destroyed and the quarter panels and fenders are critical to the car’s performance. It is what it is. We made the most of it, so I’m really proud of that as well.”
DID THE DAY BEING COOL HELP THE CAR COME TO YOU? “We had damage and were tore up and it was driving pretty evil all day, so it didn’t feel like cool track conditions to me. I can tell you that. The car was a handful, but that’s a good thing.”
CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE LAST RESTART? YOU CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. “The last two restarts we really hit pretty well. I don’t know if I would have had a shot at Kyle, but I would have liked to have seen. We came from third on that last one and a couple of three-wide passes and what-not. Kyle was smart. He picked the outside lane and kind of pinned me behind a guy that had older tires, so by the time I cleared everybody Kyle was just too far gone.”
HOW GOOD IS KYLE LARSON RIGHT NOW? “He’s on a really nice roll. It takes everything. This is a sport of speed, execution and luck, and when you’re on a roll like that you’ve got all three on your side and it’s a damn good feeling. He’s been on the other side of that, too, so credit to him, but those things come and go. That’s the rollercoaster of the sport. When you’re on the top, you just have to try to stay there as long as you can and when you fall to the bottom you have to recover as quickly as you can. It’s impressive to me, not that he’s winning races and running up front, but that he’s been able to sustain it for a handful of weeks here in a row to start the season.”
DO YOU LOOK AT HIM HERE AT AUTO CLUB LIKE HARVICK AT PHOENIX? “Yeah, you knew this was gonna be a good track for him. This is the type of track that I think suits his style the best, so you certainly knew this would be a really good race for him and all the Ganassi cars are running really well, so you put those two together and you get the breaks as well and everything comes together right.”
PRESS CONFERENCE
CLINT BOWYER – No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Fusion – “It’s a fun race track. I think I’ve been coming here 12-13 years now and it wasn’t always this way. I remember single-file around here, couldn’t really pass, ring around the bottom and now all hell breaks loose. On those restarts you’re trying to protect the bottom. They’re calling you outside, you don’t know if you’re three-wide, four-wide, 12-wide and it’s all because of a really wide, cool race track, fast race track and a lot of grooves. Five different grooves to race on all day long. It’s just a lot of fun to be out there. It’s a very challenging track, trying to balance those front tires, the rear tires and not push them off. You can overdrive your car and I did one run and the thing fell away. You learn from your mistakes and go on, but just to have the organization behind me. Everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, my teammates. To have these teammates like this at this point in your career and everything I’ve been through, you know how fortunate you are when you get this opportunity. Gene Haas and Tony Stewart, getting out of the car and giving me this opportunity, I’m just appreciative of everything. It’s awesome.”
WHEN YOU FINISHED THIRD TODAY DID YOU SAY ANYTHING TO TONY WHEN YOU GOT OUT OF THE CAR? “Good job.”
THAT’S IT? “Tony wins a lot of races. He’s won a lot of races. Anything less than a win, you know… He expects that. And I love that about Tony. You know, obviously I know he’s proud. He was happy with that. But that’s what you want in an owner. You know what I mean? To have that instilled in everything, in your DNA, I mean, this is the way I was raised. Anything else but a win is a bad day. You are miserable with anything less than that. I mean, it’s just the way we’re wired as a race car driver from five years old and on. The problem is, is everybody else on that race track is wired the same way (laughter). So there’s really only one guy happy and everybody else is pissed at the end of the day, is what it boils down to. To have an organization like that, to have owners like Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, I’m telling you, that’s what it’s all about. You say ‘attitude’. Yes, I’m having a blast. You know, I’m getting a little long in the tooth here in this career. To have this opportunity and the opportunity to go out and compete and win races, you know, and race for a championship hopefully, I mean, that’s what you’re here to do. I realize that these opportunities don’t come around every day.”
ANY IDEA WHY YOUR TEAMMATES STRUGGLED OR DOES THIS TRACK JUST SUIT YOUR STYLE? “You know, I love this race track. But, I mean, Kevin is so good here. You know, one thing that I didn’t see today that we’ve seen in years past is just that rim riding, ride around the outside. You saw it that first run. Man, I could get down and kind of split the apron in three and four. I could see that I was better than them down there. If I could keep that going throughout the run, you know, I knew that that was going to be an advantage when it comes down to these cautions and everything else, the restarts that we saw at the end. Everybody else catches on and figures that out. But that was something that was a little bit different from practice sessions and everything else. I mean, I don’t think I left, you know, the fourth and fifth groove in practice the whole weekend. I think the third groove was the lowest I was in practice, even qualifying. Then all of a sudden you start the race, and you’re straddling the apron and running on the bottom and everything else. That’s just what is cool about this race track. You got to be able to adapt, you got to be able to have the car free enough across the center you that you can throttle through the corners, not too tight, and tight enough that the rear doesn’t come out from underneath you. It’s a constant battle balancing those tires and taking care of those tires, as well.”
KIND OF LIKE A LATE-MODEL EXPERIENCE? “Yeah, I’ve got great teammates. We were all a little bit different going into this race. Some of us tightened up a little bit, some of us freed up a little bit. Track position, once you get that track position, you can’t believe how much easier your car drives and everything else. Once you’re mired back there in traffic, you’re in trouble. Those cautions started coming, helped a lot of those guys get up through there and take advantage of that. The 2 car, I went by him the first run, I just knew his day was over. I’ll be damned if he didn’t finish in front of me. How did he do that (smiling)? Did you see that?”
A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE FINISHED IN THE TOP 10 THAT WEREN’T THERE BEFORE THE CAUTIONS CAME OUT. “Tires, no tires. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. It’s one of those deals where some of us took tires early. You’re thinking, All right, that’s good. Then all of a sudden, Uh‑oh, caution comes back out. They took tires. Now you’re thinking, Where are we going to be on the advantage side of these tires? Seems like obviously your advantage is to have those tires. If it comes out right off the bat, it kind of levels the playing field. All of a sudden some of them that didn’t take tires took tires. Then they’re on the advantage behind you. I mean, it’s a constant mind game right then. You just got to scratch it out of your head, get off into one. That’s when everybody’s pushing hard, three‑wide, four‑wide. I mean, I just knew that I had to floor it and try to get across to the three quarter mark ahead of them, figure it out from there. That’s kind of what I did. Left it pinned till I got over there, lifted, hoped it turned, knock the wall down, and that’s what it did.”
HOW EAGER WERE YOU BEHIND THE WHEEL TO MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN AT THE END? “Yeah, I mean, all day long, it was just kind of, you know, the temptation was killing you, you know. You could see it, you just couldn’t get it. My car was so good, but it was teeter‑tottering between too loose on the endings in and out, or in and off the corner, and too tight in the middle. You know, I wanted to free up, try to get it better across the center, but I was afraid to get too loose getting into three, because I was have having trouble there on the long run. I was kind of stuck in a box. This is one you’ll think about on the way home. Should I have freed up a little bit? What would it have done? Could it have given me an advantage that I didn’t have? But that’s racing. You know, I mean, there’s so much that goes into it. The teamwork, the communication. Buga, I went to his room last night, it was the most awkward. I’ve never went to a crew chief’s hotel room. Sat down at his desk. Liked at sim, throttle traces, all sorts of crap. Never done that before.”
HOW WEIRD IS IT TO HAVE TONY STEWART IN YOUR EAR? “It is weird still. You’re exactly right. I mean, me, included, look at him, he’s ready. You could put him in a fire suit. You know he’d go out there and get the job done in that 14 car. To give me the opportunity is super-cool. To have him on the box is really cool. It’s neat to see a smile on his face. I really believe he just looks happy. You know, he looks comfortable, you know, at ease. I mean, the guy, that’s a long time. That’s a long career to be in any kind of sport. He put his time in. He’s an owner now, still a part of it. That’s the coolest thing about his gig right now, is he’s still a part of this sport. Maybe in the biggest way he’s ever been.”
WE KNOW YOU HAVE STRUGGLED IN THE PAST, BUT NOW THIS YEAR YOU’RE RUNNING IN THE TOP-5 AND HIGHER. “Fixed it.”
IS IT BETTER EQUIPMENT? ATTITUDE? NEW TEAM? WHY ARE YOU DOING SO MUCH BETTER? “It’s just the opportunity you’ve been waiting on. You know, I mean, everybody knows the situation. You know, this opportunity, this is something I signed up for a year and a half ago. I’ve been chomping at the bit to be with an organization like this, to have an army of people behind you like this, the teammates, the sponsors we have, the manufacturer in Ford, all of that. It’s the total package at Stewart‑Haas Racing, which is why they’ve won a championship and win all these races that we see. That’s what you thrive to be a part of. Finally got my opportunity to be there.”
HOW WAS YOUR CAR SETUP COMPARED TO YOUR TEAMMATES? DID YOU STAY UP LAST NIGHT AND WATCH THE ACTION FROM AUSTRALIA? “All right. No, I didn’t stay up last night. I actually was a good boy. It was a school night. I went to bed. I remember thinking the same thing that they probably thought last week. Where were we? Oh, at Phoenix. The 4 car blew my doors off and went up and finished in the top five, wherever he was, ran in the top five all day. I was struggling to run 15th. I was thinking, Are these the same cars? It all comes down to the communication, the setup you put in them, the teamwork you have, the track position, the effort you put in all day long. We all have an opportunity to do that. All of our cars at Stewart‑Haas Racing, they’re all built by the same people, assembled the same way. Some days it’s your day, and some days it’s not. Some tracks suit you a little better than others. This has always been a fun track for me, always been a good track for me. It was like last night, Bug and I were sitting there talking. I overthink things anyway. Everybody knows me. I would just rather not think, just do it. That was what I told Bug last night. Hey, man, this is a good track for me. You got a good hotrod, you brought me a good car. Don’t overthink it. Go out and have fun. And we did.”
HOW DO YOU APPROACH MARTINSVILLE NEXT WEEK? “Another one of my favorite tracks. It’s 40 minutes from the house. You know, finally get home to see my family and everything else. To bring everybody up there, drive to the race track every day, sleep in your own bed, I mean, it’s just a fun, fun weekend. Fun race track. It’s old-school racing at its finest. I’ve been close so many times there. It’s one that I want to win more than anything. With this momentum and the confidence that we take from here, maybe we can.”
