Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Date: Sunday, April 30, 2017
Event: Toyota Owners 400 (Post Race Quotes)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Richmond International Raceway (.75-mile D-shaped oval)
LOGANO WINS RICHMOND, FORD’S FOURTH WIN OF THE SEASON
Joey Logano’s win today was his first of the 2017 season and the 18th of his career.
The win is the 32nd for a Ford at Richmond International Raceway all-time.
The win clinches a spot in the 2017 NASCAR Playoffs for Logano, joining fellow Ford drivers Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski as those already clinched.
Today’s win is Ford’s 652nd all-time in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition.
The win is Fusion’s 83rd Cup Series triumph since becoming Ford’s flagship vehicle in 2006.
The victory marks the 57th win all-time for Team Penske with Ford and the 14th for Keselowski
Of Team Penske’s 57 MENCS wins with Ford, 30 have come over the past five years.
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
1st Joey Logan
2nd Brad Keselowski
4th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
5th Kevin Harvick
8th Kurt Busch
9th Aric Almirola
13th Trevor Bayne
15th Clint Bowyer
18th Danica Patrick
19th David Ragan
21st Landon Cassill
28th Matt DiBenedetto
36th Ryan Blaney
JOEY LOGANO (No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion) — Finished 1st
THE PIT STRATEGY THAT TODD CALLED, HOW BIG WAS THAT IN THE WIN? “I didn’t really discuss it much with Todd. My thought process was, ‘Oh no!’ right after we stayed out. But we were able to maintain the lead. I don’t think we would have been able to win the race and hold off Kyle (Busch) if it had stayed green. The caution came out. The boys had a great stop which gave us good track position to pass the cars that stayed out. We were able to have a good start, work our way past those cars and tried to take off the best I could. I knew the 2 was so much faster than everybody and I had to get out there as quick and as far as I could. He was on his way to catch me. I think he was catching me a couple tenths a lap. That was all I had inside the car and I burned them up early trying to go. I am proud of the effort of the team. We executed under pressure today and brought a car home that was a 5th-10th place car home to victory lane.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Fusion) — Finished 2nd
HOT DAY IN RICHMOND. DESCRIBE THE CLOSING LAPS AND PIT STRATEGY: “It was just hoping for another restart or the race to get extended for another 10 laps. I think we had a ton of long run speed today. That short run at the end…half the field came, half the field didn’t. I just got stuck in a lane of cars that didn’t go. By the time I did, he had a whole straightaway on me. I got it down to a couple of car lengths at the end. All and all I’m happy for Team Penske withe 1-2 finish. We’ll take it and move on.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. (No. 17 Fifth Third Ford Fusion) — Finished 4th
YOU HAD A ROUGH START TO YOUR DAY BUT BATTLED BACK. YOU HAD A GREAT BATTLE WITH KEVIN HARVICK FOR ABOUT THE LAST 20 LAPS: “Yeah, I want to thank Kevin for racing me clean. Man, we had to fight hard for this top five. I made a mistake early. I thought we had cap capable of running in the top five a lot. I just got loose into 3 and got into the fence and had to play catch-up for there. I was on the splitter. I couldn’t run my fastest lap until about la five or six. As soon as that caution came out I was like, ‘We have to stay (out)’. It worked out for us. Our Fifth Third Bank Ford was really fast. I want to thank the fans for coming out. It was a hot one.”
KEVIN HARVICK (No. 4 Busch Light Ford Fusion) — Finished 5th
“We had a good day. This has been a tough race track for us. We ran in the top-five all day and battled up front for the lead off and on. The last three runs we got tight in the center and loose off the corner and couldn’t find anything to make that better. Our Busch Light Ford team did a great job and we just keep knocking off those top-fives and the wins will come.” WHAT WERE THE LAST 20 LAPS LIKE? “The end of the race was so much different than the beginning of the race. We had all the long green-flag runs and then we are battling on restarts time after time and then wound up battle with Ricky (Stenhouse Jr). It was a lot of fun. That is what we want to be able to do, we want to be able to pass.”
KURT BUSCH (No. 41 Mobil 1 Annual Protection Ford Fusion) — Finished 8th
“We had to drop back and punt. We came down pit road a lap down, in the lucky dog position and just started throwing rubbers and went wholesale on it and made great improvements. We are somehow missing the balance but we were able to make changes today to improve the balance and be competitive enough to get in the mix. We got eighth and that is about as best as we could hope to attain.”
ARIC ALMIROLA (No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion) — Finished 9th
“It was a solid day for us. I am really proud of everybody on the Smithfield Ford Fusion here. We had a good day. We needed that. We typically run well here. This is one of our better tracks. It is great to get a good solid finish here in Richmond, Virginia, Smithfield headquarters aren’t far away and we had a lot of friends and family of employees at the race. It was a solid top-10 and I am really proud of the effort today.”
