FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR NOTES AND QUOTES
Date: Saturday, July 1, 2017
Event: Coke Zero 400 (Post-Race Quotes)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile superspeedway)
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
1st Ricky Stenhouse Jr
2nd Clint Bowyer
6th David Ragan
13th Matt DiBenedetto
15th Darrell Wallace Jr.
19th Landon Cassill
25th Danica Patrick
26th Ryan Blaney
27th Kurt Busch
29th Trevor Bayne
31st Brad Keselowski
30th Kevin Harvick
35th Joey Logano
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. GIVES FORD EIGHTH CUP WIN OF 2017
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. registered the second win of his NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series career with his win tonight.
The win is the eighth of the season for Ford, most among manufacturers and matching its win total from 2016. In addition, it continues a stretch that has seen Ford win three of the last four Cup events.
The win is the 137th NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series triumph for car owner Jack Roush.
The win is Fusion’s 87th MENCS triumph since becoming Ford’s flagship vehicle in 2006.
Ford now has 656 all-time MENCS victories.
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion (Finished 1st) — VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW —
“Wow, these guys. I kept my Talladega car and told them to build a new one. They build the Fifth Third Ford that was really fast. We won the Firecracker 400! This is awesome! I have been coming here since 2008. I actually came in 2006 one time with Bobby Hamilton Jr. and it is cool to put it in victory lane and get our second win this year. I love it! Thank you to the fans for coming out here. Everyone at NASCAR. What a great weekend. America. 1776. We are the champs!”
“This validates what we did at Talladega. I want to first off thank all the troops that have fallen for our country, for our freedom. That is most important right now. Thank the good Lord for letting me come out here and do what I do for a living and work with this great group of guys. We have been working hard at Roush Fenway and this pushes us further along. Fifth Third, Fastenal, Sunny D, Little Hug Fruit Barrels, GoBowling.com. This Ford Performance team has been amazing. Ford has been dominant. Roush Yates Engines and Doug Yates. I told him to bring his daughter in here because she is my biggest fan and I told her I would meet her in victory lane. I had a 4th of July party planned but it just got a little bit bigger.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. CONTINUED — WHAT WOULD THAT 3-YEAR-OLD VERSION OF RICKY STENHOUSE SAY ABOUT THIS? “He wouldn’t believe it. My dad has taught me for a long time that you just have to keep working hard. Sometimes when things aren’t going right you just have to keep working hard. You can’t give up. I wish they were here. My mom, dad and sister. They’re at the lake hanging out this weekend, but I can’t wait to see them and talk to them a little bit later.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd)
“Wow, what a night. A fun race. Our Mobil 1 Ford was strong. I got shuffled out on that second stage and that bummed me out. I wanted those stage points. It wasn’t that big a deal because I knew that we had a hot rod to get back up front. Man, it’s just every man for himself. You’re beating and banging Both sides are ground off my car. Good night. This bridesmaid deal sucks. I want to win. We’re in this business to win. That’s what Tony and Gene pay me to do. I’m proud of everyone on the Mobil 1 Ford team.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 Shriners Hospital For Children Ford Fusion (Finished 6th)
“I’m certainly proud of our effort tonight. Our Shriners Hospital for Children Ford was fast. We had a great day on pit road. Our car fast and and it drove really good. I give us an ‘A’ for the night. I missed my mark a bit coming to the white line. I zigged when I should have zagged. It’s tough to block two or three lanes coming to the white flag. I missed it on that run. If I couldn’t win I’m glad another Ford is is victory lane. Ricky’s a good guy and I’m proud for that team. I’m just disappointed that I couldn’t close the deal.”
DARRELL WALLACE JR, No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion (Finished 15th)
“That was fun. Probably the most fun that I’ve had at the Speedway. I missed three, four wrecks. Just a big chess game. Way different than Xfinity race yesterday. Just trying to plan out my attacks. It seemed like every time that I went ‘there’ I was supposed to go ‘there’. It was bad timing. Things you learn from. I hate that we got in that wreck late and put us in the back. A good rally to get to 15th. We keep improving.”
“I had a ball tonight. It was great to battle Ryan (Blaney) there for a while. I was wondering what the fans were tweeting? My rookie stripes came in a bit there when I started to follow him and I didn’t see where Jimmie was. All and all it was a good day for our Smithfield Ford. Great to have a Ford in victory lane.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Finished 26th)
“I am not sure what happened. I saw the 42 get turned and get up in the air a little bit. I just couldn’t miss him. I was already on the top and I hate that I t-boned him. I just couldn’t get out of the way. I thought we had a really good car. We were racing hard. Everyone was racing hard. We got kind of shuffled out. I didn’t pick a very good lane. We were working our way back forward when that happened. I can’t thank Motorcraft and Quick Lane and Ford enough for what they do. We had a super fast Fusion but it is just the way it goes sometimes. We will go on to Kentucky.”
KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Monster Energy Ford Fusion (Finished 28th)
“I was hoping to be a little closer to the front. I saw some crazy stuff happening on the high side. I was low and then we just got clipped in the wrong place at the wrong time. We didnt’ get the Daytona sweep. Looked like the 43 just clipped us right there. I am good though. The cars are very safe. I gotta thank NASCAR for that. We just didn’t get the job done for Monster and Haas and Ford. We were really hoping for the Daytona sweep but that is the way it goes. We are all kind of in a funnel and there is nowhere to go on the low side. I can’t go left because it will rip my splitter.”
DANICA PATRICK, No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford Fusion (Finished 25th)
“I don’t really know what happened. Not totally sure. We all went low down the back straight and then they got up to speed and we came around turn four and I am not sure what happened but having seen the replay it looked like Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) and Kyle (Larson) and then we ran out of room. I think maybe the 20 checked up or got hit from the outside and that hit me. That is why I don’t want to be on the bottom. I promised I wouldn’t be on the bottom when it came to the end and sure enough I go to the back saying I didn’t want to be on the bottom but you have to race and go where the momentum goes. It is what it is. It was crazy. All I can say is that yall are getting your money worth tonight. From lap one it has been crazy. It should be a full moon because that is how crazy it is out there. We got the car better early on in the race and were able to kind of get in there but still not quite enough. Not enough. We were in the mix though. Unfortunately it is another Aspen Dental Ford burnt to the ground.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion (Finished 32nd)
“We just blew a tire. I hate it for our Jimmy John’s Ford guys. That’s the way it goes. It just blew out right in the middle of the corner. I hate to wreck half the field. That’s a part of what we do.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion (Finished 35th)
“I saw four our five laps before the wreck that the 95 got into the side of the 18. I didn’t see any smoke off the 18, just a near miss. Then four or five laps later I think the left-rear popped on the 18 and around he started going and we were there. Wrong place at the wrong time again for us. It’s superspeedway racing. Sometimes you’re on the good side of it, sometimes you’re on the wrong side of it. That was the bad one. We’ll just move and head to the next race.”
CLINT BOWYER POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
WAS THERE ANY THOUGHT OF MAYBE TRYING TO LINE UP WITH PAUL IN THE LAST LAP AND TRYING TO MAKE A RUN AT RICKY, AND FOR PAUL, DO YOU WISH CLINT WAS A LITTLE BIT EASIER ON YOU? “Yeah, we were racing each other at that point. I knew it wasn’t any run coming behind me that I was in jeopardy of getting us both in trouble. It was kind of whoever ‑‑ we were racing for second at that point.”
I KNOW IT SEEMED LIKE EVERYBODY HAD A CHANCE THERE AT THE END, BUT WITH THE WAY RICKY HAD WON TALLADEGA, WAS HE KIND OF THE GUY TO BEAT OR WAS HE KIND OF THE GUY THAT YOU WERE WATCHING THERE? “Hey, let’s face it, you get down to the end of that thing and look who the fastest car was. He qualified ‑‑ where did he qualify, third or fourth, I think? I mean, he’s the fastest car right then. He did a good job getting it to the front, and she set sail. He does a good job of blocking. He’s learned a lot. He’s become a good plate racer. I remember when he came in, he was a little bit chaotic, but he’s not now. He’s got it figured out, and he’s won two of them. I mean, hey, it’s so hard. You do all that stuff, you block, you push hard, you do things that you don’t want to do because, hey, it works, and it’s a necessity. I mean, that’s part of it. You’ve got to block hard. You’ve got to cut people off. You’ve got to push hard. You’ve got to stick your nose in there where it doesn’t belong, all the things that you know are capable of disaster, but if you don’t, the next guy is going to, and nine times out of ten, it works. That’s just the nature of the beast.”
CLINT, WITH THE PLAYOFFS QUICKLY APPROACHING, DOES THIS RUN PROVIDE FOR MOMENTUM OR FRUSTRATION FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM? “Well, it’s definitely a momentum thing. Look at the last two weeks, we’ve been second, runner up. Second sucks, but it’s better than third. You know? We finished second two weeks in a row, so that’s a huge confidence booster for our team, but nonetheless, the pressure cooker is turning up. You’re sitting there looking up there that green‑white‑checker coming to the green there, and you’re thinking, oh, no, somehow, some way, I’ve got to get up there and keep one of those guys that are going to be first time winners out of this thing. That’s real, it’s alive, and it’s something you’re going to have to pay attention to. You hope you keep riding this wave and turn one of those seconds into a win.”
A LOT OF DRIVERS SORT OF SAID THE SAME THING, THAT THIS WAS A WILDER DAYTONA RACE THAN NORMAL EVEN BY DAYTONA STANDARDS. DID YOU GUYS GET A SENSE OF THAT, AND WHY WAS THAT? “I think for me, I think part of it is you come from Talladega, our last time we were plate racing, and you’re able to run three wide, four wide, relatively easy, and then you get here and you’re thinking, three wide is kind of the norm, being at Talladega. But at the end of the day, you’re three wide because you can, and then all of a sudden somebody starts slipping up off the corner or something like that, checks up, stacks everybody up, late block or something, and the rest is history.”
YOU GUYS SET A COUPLE RECORDS TONIGHT, 14 CAUTIONS AND ALSO THE LONGEST RACE TIME EVER FOR THIS EVENT, SO I WANT TO KNOW WAS IT DIFFICULT TO SET ANY KIND OF RHYTHM OR WITH THE AMOUNT OF YELLOWS THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THE EVENING? “Well, just the sense of urgency with those cautions, every time you stack them back up, somebody will put them three wide and then you’ve got to get up there, you’ve got to block it. Seemed like if they got you three wide on the bottom or the outside and you lost that momentum, the rest was history. I mean, that second ‑‑ are we under attack? I think they just blew every firework all at once. It was a malfunction. I bet my wife is pumped right now as she’s got a six-month-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old screaming. Sounded cool, though. I don’t know, it’s fun. We finished second. Third, we did a good job, we didn’t crash, didn’t flip. I’m hot. I want a cold beer. Are we done?”
CLINT, SO NEAR, BUT THAT FIRST WIN IS CLOSE. BUT DID YOU SEE HOW CLOSE THE KYLE LARSON CAR CAME DOWN OUT OF THE AIR AND YOU MISSED HIM I’LL BET BY FIVE INCHES. IT WAS RIGHT THERE. DID YOU SEE THAT WHEN YOU WERE GOING THROUGH, HE WAS TO YOUR RIGHT JUST BARELY WHEN HE CAME DOWN OUT OF THE SKY? “I ducked. I’m not going to lie. I may have flinched a little bit. I ducked until the HANS caught. That was as far as I could go. Yeah, that was ‑‑ glad he kind of endo’d it a little bit, got his rear end up in the air so I could go under him. I appreciate that. That kid is pretty talented. He didn’t flip, did he? Yeah, it was close.”
CLINT, WITH FORD SWEEPING ALL THE RESTRICTOR PLATE EVENTS SO FAR THIS SEASON, WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE FORD RESTRICTOR PLATE PROGRAM? “Well, tonight we just survived, and let me tell you something, at the end of that thing you’re looking over there, but with every caution you’d look over and there would be a few of your partners over there in the pile, and you’re like, uh‑oh, and then the next caution there would be a few more Fords over there, and then the next thing you know it’s kind of me and Ricky there at the end. Let me just say this: Those Roush Yates engines are phenomenal. Doug does such a great job, puts a lot of emphasis on this plate stuff, takes a lot of pride in it, and he should. Those things run amazing. They take a beating out there. At the end of that thing, I was overheating, blowing water, doing all the things that you know are going to happen when we get like that. I mean, I was pushing him all the way down the back straightaway all the way through 3 and 4. It was just kind of one of those deals. We were up against the wall, and I was shoving, and the water temperature was pegged and blowing water. But it’s just ‑‑ those things are phenomenal. It’s amazing any of these engines make it through this stuff. I’m just blown away if you really think about it and look at the mechanics of what those on in them things each and every week, you’re looking back at last week, all the rpms and everything that turns, I’m just proud to have that Roush Yates power under our hood.”
CLINT, SECOND PLACE AGAIN. I MAY HAVE MISSED YOU TALKING ABOUT THIS, BUT HOW BAD DOES IT SUCK TO GET SO CLOSE TO THE WIN? “Well, I guess I can say as long as I get out of here before Ricky gets here, it’s pretty good. He finished third, so I need to get out of here before Ricky does, and he’ll go back to sucking.”
