FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR NOTES AND QUOTES
Date: Saturday June 24, 2017
Event: Toyota Save Mart 350 (MENCS Qualifying)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Sonoma Raceway (2.52-mile road course)
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
6th Danica Patrick
7th Ryan Blaney
12th Kevin Harvick
13th Clint Bowyer
17th Kurt Busch
18th Joey Logano
22nd Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
23rd Brad Keselowski
25th Trevor Bayne
26th Billy Johnson
27th Matt DiBenedetto
28th David Ragan
31st Landon Cassill
DANICA PATRICK, No. 10 Code 3 Associates Ford Fusion (Qualified 6th)
“We haven’t exactly been sixth all season so this is good. It is really nice to do well for Code 3 here. The cars have really improved in the last few years on road courses from when I first came to the team. The guys do a good job giving us something we can hit curbs with and be aggressive. I didn’t do a perfect job out there. I hit a few curbs kind of hard and got a little sideways. I think we could have been third but I don’t know if we could have been first or second. That was owned by the Ganassi guys today.”
ALL FOUR SHR CARS SEEM FAST: “Yeah, we have a lot of experience on road courses on the SHR side of things so hopefully that pays off tomorrow.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Qualified 7th)
WHERE DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE MADE THE BIGGEST GAINS IN ROAD RACING? “Turn one through 11 here. That is a lot better than where we were last year. We were kind of lost last year. Me more than anything not knowing how to drive this place. You need a lot of finesse and last year everything was just so fast and I couldn’t slow anything down. I think when you get to race at a tough place like this and can sit back after and realize what you need to do different it makes a difference. We still have a ways go to to run for poles and wins here but it is nice to start where we can at least see the front. Last year we couldn’t even see the front. It is a nice start for sure and we have a whole race to move up. Hopefully we can stay up front the whole race and get this Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford a good finish here.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion (Qualified 12th)
WHAT STANDS OUT TO YOU MOST ABOUT YOUR LAP? “I missed turn two and then I missed the rest of the lap. I have had the final round yips the last three weeks. It is a huge improvement for us though. We haven’t qualified well here and we have had a really fast car. Our Mobil 1 Ford is really good in race trim and I am looking forward to having a good race tomorrow. All of the SHR cars are fast. I feel good about it. I think we have a really good car that is really good in race trim. I am excited. I think we have a shot to win.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Freightliner Elite Support Ford Fusion (Qualified 23rd)
“Just really tight. We were really loose yesterday and really tight today. It’s kind of frustrating. We usually qualify about 12th and don’t race that well so we’re hoping that we qualified poorly and gonna race really well. Trying to be on the sunny side. This hasn’t been one of our strongest tracks. I’ll try to find the positives.”
HOW WILL THE STAGE RACING CHANGE THINGS, ESPECIALLY STARTING BACK WHERE YOU ARE, 23RD? “The Stages are going to throw these races…the road course and tracks like Pocono where you can pit and not lose a lap…it throws these races a complete curve ball. I think you’ll see that here tomorrow.”
