Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
All-Star Race Qualiyfing – Charlotte Motor Speedway
Friday, May 19, 2017
Ford Qualifying Results:
3rd – Kevin Harvick
5th – Kurt Busch
7th – Brad Keselowski
12th – Joey Logano
16th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion, held a Q&A session before tonight’s qualifying session to discuss this weekend’s All-Star Race.
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU SIZE UP THE ALL-STAR RACE? “It’s a race that’s always been about change. It’s about trying new things. It’s a good chance for the sport to expand its horizons and I think it’s gonna do just that with the new tire compound option rule.”
HAVE YOU ANALYZED WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO IN TERMS OF STRATEGY? “No, I’m a day away from that. I’m going to let Paul figure that out anyway.”
IS THIS A BIG RACE, A RACE YOU DEFINITLEY WANT TO WIN FOR YOUR CAREER RESUME? “To me it’s a marquee race. All-Star just naturally implies the best of the best. Even though the best of the compete against each other every week there’s just something special about it. I think the fact that if you win it you get locked into it for life is really cool and that means a lot. It’s the All-Star Race, so just by name alone it means a lot.”
IS THERE ANY PRESSURE TO WIN THIS RACE? “There’s always some level of pressure. There’s no season-ending pressure, but there’s pressure in the opportunity because I know I have a very quality opportunity to do it.”
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO LEARN IN PREVIOUS RACES THAT MIGHT WORK? “I don’t know. We’ve been good here every year and I don’t know if there’s been one thing that I would say we’ve learned. Nothing really stands out.”
QUALIFYING QUOTES (ROUND 1)
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – “I need to look at the stuff and kind of put it all together in my head, so it’s a little bit early because there’s a lot going on right there, but we obviously wanted a little more based on where we are on the board.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “Our car was loose, so it was tough to run a fast lap. We were a little bit off there. Then we had a slow pit stop and we didn’t have lugnuts on, so it’s kind of hard to qualify when you do all of that. That’s an area we’ve been really struggling in and it looks like we’re still struggling.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “We didn’t really practice at all with our car in race trim. We just kind of fought from behind most of the day having our issues in practice and it showed again today. I don’t know. I thought I was stopping in the right spot and as soon as I started stopping I realized I wasn’t in a good spot and wasn’t gonna make it.”
SECOND ROUND QUALIFYING
KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Busch Bucks Ford Fusion – HOW WAS ROUND 2 COMPARED TO ROUND 1? “That was really our goal. The car was looser, but I don’t think that was a huge deficit for us. As you look at the lap we probably could have run a couple tenths faster there, but, all in all, our goal was to not make any huge mistakes. I feel like starting up front with the way that the tires are and the way that everything is will be a huge benefit because of the fact of your average position and all of the things that have to happen. We just didn’t want to start in the back, so lugnuts tight, not sliding through the pit box, don’t miss pit road and don’t overdrive the car. We probably could have all done a little bit better, but all in all we didn’t make any huge mistakes and that was the goal.”
