Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Brickyard 400 Qualifying – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Ford Qualifying Results:
2nd – Kevin Harvick
7th – Joey Logano
10th – Ryan Blaney
11th – Brad Keselowski
12th – Kurt Busch
18th – Clint Bowyer
21st – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22nd – Trevor Bayne
23rd – Danica Patrick
27th – Matt DiBenedetto
29th – Aric Almirola
30th – David Ragan
31st – Landon Cassill
KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion – IS THERE A PART OF THE LAP YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE BACK? “In the second round I was too tight through three and four, and I was good in one and two. We had way more speed when we were good through three and four and loose through one and two, but I got a little bit sideways coming off of one and I couldn’t put the throttle down like I needed to, and then I was probably just a little over-cautious on the entry to two because I didn’t want to miss that corner and keep stacking time up. Our goal was to run the same speed every time out and we accomplished that. I think that was the right approach because as I’ve done in the past with our Jimmy John’s Ford, I’ve tried to get too much in the last round and this is just not the place where you can overdrive the entry and make up for something. The problems compound fast here, but it’s good to have that speed and proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas for building another new car and we keep gaining on it.”
WHAT DOES A WIN MEAN HERE FOR A DRIVER AT INDIANAPOLIS? “It’s been a pretty cool week for me. I grew up in Bakersfield, California and this week on my radio show, on Happy Hours on Sirius we had Rick Mears on and to listen to him talk about how the car whispers for him and how a stock car yells at you and all the things he did here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was the reason that that win meant so much. I wanted to race at the Indianapolis 500 in an Indy car because that was my idol growing up, so it’s been fun coming here. I enjoy coming here every year and just know that you’re kind of living out a childhood dream.”
PRESS CONFERENCE – “For us I felt like in turn one I just got a little too loose and slid the back of the car from the center out of the corner and probably gave up a little bit too much in turn two just because I didn’t want to do it again and have the problem keep compounding, trying to make up time and you actually just cause more problems. Our goal was to run the same lap in every round and we accomplished that and where it fell it fell and today it fell second, so it was a good day of practice and qualifying and the car’s got speed. Hopefully, we can maintain that through the day tomorrow.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS NEW SCHEDULE? WAS IT AN ADJUSTMENT? “It really wasn’t. As you look at the way that qualifying shook out today, it was a little longer gap, but pretty much the same way our Friday would go with actually a little more practice than what we would have had on a normal Friday. So two short practice sessions together and I think as you look at a couple extra hours that didn’t really change much, but the extra day at home was definitely good for the team. It’s great to cut some of these days out of the weekend so that we can help improve the quality of life for those guys at home. We had a great fan day yesterday and I think having those interactions, what I would call quality interactions with the fans outside of the race track, just because of the fact that you’re not in that competition mode. It’s something that’s a lot of fun because you can kind of just relax and have a good time, and we got to play kids games, so I’m cool with acting like a kid every once in a while.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – “We made a big gain with it from where we were in practice, but of course it’s not where we want to be. We want to be first.” DO YOU WISH YOU COULD CUT HOLES IN THE FRONT AND PUT IN AIR DUCTS AND PUT ON A RESTRICTOR PLATE AND RUN THAT TOMORROW? “Not the restrictor plate, but the air ducts are the way to go, for sure. That was a huge gain and something I’ve been pushing on NASCAR for a while, so it’s good to see them do it and give it a shot over there.” DO YOU THINK IT COULD WORK ON OTHER TRACKS? “Oh, yeah. It’s a big gain at almost every track.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “Overall, we’ve made our cars faster and that’s something we should be proud of. It’s been hard lately. This is probably the best car we’ve had in a month-and-a-half, so we’ve just got to keep working hard at it and keep making gains like we are right now and get ourselves back up there in points. That’s and OK start. We’ve got to win. We can’t be finishing seventh. That’s not good enough, but it’s progress, so that’s good.”
KURT BUSCH – No. 41 Monster Energy Ford Fusion – “I was hoping to capitalize a little bit more in qualifying. Twelfth isn’t bad. We made the final round, but our car has good short-run speed. We have no long-run speed, so I was hoping to qualify a little better and try to make it work, but 12th isn’t bad. We’ll keep chipping away at it. We just get loose too fast and we might have overcompensated a little bit on that third run because we got tight off turn four, which we haven’t been tight all day. It’s kind of funny that the time it’s on the line we find a surprise, but, all in all, we’re happy.”
RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 Quick Lane Ford Fusion — “It’s not a bad starting spot. It’s a good place to go on Sunday. I thought we got a little better from the second to third round and that’s good. We slowed down and probably didn’t make the best adjustment after the first round. It’s good to start toward the front. That’s what we always talk about.”
