FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR NOTES AND QUOTES
Date: Friday June 16, 2017
Event: Fire Keepers Casino 400 (MENCS Qualifying)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Michigan International Speedway (2.0-mile oval)
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
3rd Clint Bowyer
6th Ryan Blaney
7th Joey Logano
11th Kevin Harvick
12th Brad Keselowski
15th Kurt Busch
21st Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
25th Chris Buescher
27th Darrell Wallace Jr.
28th Trevor Bayne
29th Matt DiBenedetto
30th David Ragan
37th Landon Cassill
CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Fusion (Qualified 3rd)
DID YOU REALIZE YOUR CAR WAS THAT FAST IN PRACTICE? “Yeah, it was. I think we ended third in practice. Real proud of the guys. They did a great job. We had a little bit of a hiccup on the first lap and made some adjustments and got the most out of the second and third sessions. Real proud of everyone on the Stewart-Haas Fords. I think they’re all strong. (Kevin) Harvick must have gone for it and probably washed up on him. He was extremely fast too. Good day. I am really proud of the guys. We had a little bit of a mistake the first lap but after that the second and third rounds were really good. We were really good, have been good since we unloaded off the truck. The car has great speed. It makes good grip and that comes from downforce and hard work in the aero department. At a track like this, horsepower is a big thing. Everybody is chasing those two guys (42 & 78) to be up front. They just don’t wiggle around as much as the other ones. So until you can get yours to not wiggle around you will probably be following them in these qualifying sessions. I am proud of the Haas Automation Ford. It has great speed, is fast in race trim and I am looking forward to the rest of the season.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Omnicraft Ford Fusion (Qualified 6th)
YOU NEEDED TWO SECOND-ROUND RUNS TO ADVANCE. WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE SECOND RUN? “We made better adjustments for the second run. We didn’t adjust enough for the first run of the second round. We got really tight and tight around here is just scrubbing speed off and we couldn’t run as fast. W made a big swing to try to free it up and I thought we did a good job of getting it closer from the first to the second run in round two. We still lacked a little bit of speed overall. It wasn’t a bad last run with an extra lap on the tires.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion (Qualified 7th)
“We were okay. We are still making progress on speed overall. We were third in practice and kind of got through there and leveled off at seventh I thought. There was maybe a tenth out there in three and four that we missed. I got in there and just slid up a lane. Obviously that is not enough either. That would have just put us about fifth. We just need to figure out how to go a little faster. That is what tomorrow is for.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion (Qualified 11th)
“We just got really loose there in the last round. We were really good the first two but something changed. I like the speed in race trim. We have some work to do for Sunday.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion (Qualified 12th)
“We dialed up on it all three rounds. I missed one and two on my last run which is a bummer. We were definitely better than 12th. I was trying to get a little too much. Thought I was maybe not aggressive enough early and tried to go more aggressive at the end and didn’t get it. I am bummed by that. All in all, it is one of our best qualifying efforts here in awhile and we seem to race really well here.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion (Qualified 21st)
“We have a little ways to go. We learned a little bit in qualifying there that will help us in race runs so hopefully tomorrow we can kind of continue to dial it in. I think the race pace come Sunday slows down so much from practice here that you really have to make sure you set up for it and look at your past notes. We have good notes from here and will continue to work on it tomorrow and see if we can get a better smile on Jack’s face before the weekend is up.”
DARRELL WALLACE JR., No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion (Qualified 27th)
“I was really loose, pretty much wrecking free in practice and we didn’t get our second mock run in there due to the caution. We were shooting for the fences here and got too tight. We did a good job getting the loose out of it but we overstepped it a little bit for our Smithfield Ford. Like I said earlier, I am used to the Xfinity schedule and keep forgetting we get to go back and work tomorrow and get more practice runs. It isn’t over with but I would definitely love a better start than where we are. I feel the speed in our car is better than we showcased. I will try to keep my head up. We will work hard and get after it tomorrow.”
