FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR NOTES AND QUOTES
Date: Saturday, July 8, 2017
Event: Quaker State 400 (Cup Post Race)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Kentucky Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
8th Joey Logano
9th Kevin Harvick
10th Ryan Blaney
11th Darrell Wallace Jr.
13th Clint Bowyer
14th Ricky Stenhouse Jr
15th Danica Patrick
24th David Ragan
25th Matt DiBenedetto
26th Landon Cassill
27th Kurt Busch
37th Trevor Bayne
39th Brad Keselowski
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil/Autotrader Ford Fusion (Finished 8th)
“We got a P8 out of a car that was probably not much better than 13th or 14th. We just have to get faster. The 78 and 18 were just – we aren’t even close. What I am trying to say is that we were really slow and need to get faster. That is the biggest thing. We need to pick up some speed. We just were scrapping, trying to get what we can. The team did a good job at least trying to scrap up something out of it but we just have to get faster than that.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Fusion (Finished 9th)
“I guess I just tried to push it too hard on pit road and wound up getting a speeding ticket at the wrong time. Luckily there were only nine cars on the lead lap and we were able to salvage a top-10 finish out of the night.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 , No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion (Finished 10th)
“It was a long night for sure. I thought we started off okay but we just lost the handling there pretty early and lost track position. I made it worse by speeding. We made a good call to stay out and get some track position back but we were falling off the pace pretty bad. We fought hard and never gave up though and ended up 10th. Not the night you want by any means. We need to go back and try to improve on it a lot. I think we battled back and the finish is not bad for how the night went.”
DARRELL WALLACE JR., No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion (Finished 11th)
“That was cool. We kept improving. Each and every time on the race track, each and every race. We kept improving, I kept improving. I am getting more and more comfortable with these cars. When we fired off there and ended the race I was like, ‘Hell yeah, we are eighth or ninth!’ I forgot we were a lap down and was like, ‘damn’. I was pumped. It was a good run for our Smithfield Ford. We had a lot of fun tonight. We just fell off a lot, a lot more than the other guys. We are trying to balance that out. We took a two-tire strategy there that kind of hurt us. We fell back on that one restart. We were able to manage and maintain and work out some track position on that green-flag stop and we were 14th and fired off right around there for the last restart and was able to hang on. It was a good day. I am having a great time in the Monster Energy Cup Series. Hopefully there will be more.”
FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR NOTES AND QUOTES
Date: Saturday, July 8, 2017
Event: Quaker State 400 (Cup Post Race)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Kentucky Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
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DARRELL WALLACE JR. CONTINUED: HOW IMPORTANT WERE THE RESTARTS? “So big. I learned my lesson at Michigan running halfway aggressive. I didn’t give anybody any breaks on these restarts. I may have pissed a couple people off but oh well. I needed to do what I needed to do to keep our track position. The repaves make it really tough for passing so you want to get all you can on restarts.”
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS NOW? “I am going to drive up to Michigan in the morning. Amanda is having a family reunion in the morning. It will be cool to hang out with them. I don’t know what is next for next weekend. I might get a call, I might not. If not, best of luck to Aric and the 43 team. I will play a lot of golf and try to get better at that. I will be on some phone calls trying to get something. I won’t be gone too long, at least I hope not. It is a bittersweet moment.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Fusion (Finished 13th)
“Our night wasn’t all the best. We needed to be better. We struggled off the truck. I wasn’t exactly pumped about the handling but we fought hard. Bugga and all the guys worked hard to get me fixed up for the race. We got some track position there and showed some promise and then the start of that last run, those last two runs I as junk. Total junk. I just lost too much track position. It is like you adjust to be up front in the clean air and free up and get better and keep freeing up to get better and get in better air and then all of a sudden you get in the back, adjusted to the front and you are in big trouble.”
KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion (Finished 27th)
“I sputtered off of Turn 4 and when I looked at the fuel gauge, it was fine. And then it was like everything was welding itself together. I was just trying to nurse it home and it just didn’t quite get all the way back. I think it just shucked the pinion and it had now power after that. It burned up a gear one lap from the finish. I hate that I’m that guy that jukes up the whole system with throwing a yellow with one to go. It was long green flag run and I thought we were going to be okay with our Haas Automation Ford. Just a bummer. We didn’t need that one.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 6 Roush Performance Ford Fusion: Accident on lap 94
“I hate that that happened. We were making our way forward with our Roush Performance Products Ford and were knocking on the door of the top-10 before we got all that damage. I hate that we won’t get the result we deserve but we will recover and rebound. This team never gives up and we will get after it again next week in New Hampshire.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion: Accident on Lap 87
WHAT HAPPENED? “I just got in an aero wake and it pulled me around. I knew I was in a bad spot. I was trying to lay up but there is only so much you can lay up here because you get ran over from behind. The air pulled me around. It sucks. I feel bad for everyone on the Miller Lite Ford team and I think I tore up two or three other guys and that sucks for them. I don’t know. It is kind of a tough spot to be in on these tracks where they are kind of one groove. You can’t just lay up everytime. You give up too many spots or get ran over from behind. If you drive in with someone close to you the car just spins out. It just sucks but it is what it is. We have to find a way around it and we didn’t today.”
“I just wrecked it. It stinks. I got loose into three. I was underneath the 14. I was trying to lay up and give room but just spun out as soon as I got anywhere near the corner. I wrecked myself and a bunch of other guys. It is part of it I guess, but not a part that you have to like. It is part of the deal when you race at these types of tracks where it is one groove with this car and the way it is designed. You have to find a way around it and I didn’t find a way around it.”
YOU SEEM VERY FRUSTRATED: “It is frustrating. We weren’t as fast as we wanted to be today. That is always frustrating. I am probably as much frustrated with myself as I am frustrated with the situation and frustrated with the sport that we can’t design a better car than this that you can race without having to do everything on the restart. That is all part of it I guess. It is where we are right now.”
YOU SAID ONE GROOVE, DID THE TIRE DRAGON HELP AT ALL? “They made a good effort. It was better than nothing but there are limitations. The way this car is, it needs a lot more help than a Tire Dragon. It is a poorly designed race car and it makes racing on tracks like this very difficult to put on the show we want to put on for our fans. You do what you can to gauge and claw on the restarts and get everything you can get. You have to put yourself in bad situations to do that and that is where we were. If you don’t make those moves on the restarts, then you run in the back. Or you have a bad day. The scenario that the car design, more than the track.”
WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST? “It is time for the sport to design a new car that is worthy of where this sport deserves to be and the show it deserves to put on for its fans.”
