Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Overton’s 400 – Pocono Raceway
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Ford Finishing Order
2nd — Kevin Harvick
5th – Brad Keselowski
6th – Clint Bowyer
16th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13th – Kurt Busch
15th – Danica Patrick
20th – Trevor Bayne
22nd – David Ragan
27th – Joey Logano
29th – Landon Cassill
30th – Ryan Blaney
37th – Matt DiBenedetto
38th – Aric Almirola
KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE LATE BATTLE WITH THE 18? “Well, the only chance the I had (to keep the 18 behind me) was to get into the corner correctly. I got in there and was loose all the way through the corner on entry and just kept holding the brake down, holding the brake down, holding the brake down and finally, I’m sure he thought I was going to go and I didn’t accelerate. I was trying to stay on the bottom to park the thing to get going and he had a good run. Guys on the Mobil 1 Ford did a great job. Kyle (Busch) had the class of the field all weekend. His car was really, really fast. He got the pole. Got the wn. Pretty much just charged through the field. We definitely have a little bit of work to do. I feel like we got closer and closer. I feel like we raced around all the Toyotas all day. Just proud of everyone on the Mobil 1 Ford.”
HOW BIG IS YOUR SMILE KNOWING ALL THE HARD WORK THE STEWART-HAAS TEAM HAS PUT INTO THIS CAR? “I wish I could explain to everybody how big the workload has been switching to Ford and doing all the things we’ve done and trying to race and progress at the same time. They’ve done a really good job. Luckily we have great people to help that progression. It covers up a lot of things that is going on. We keep getting better. I know we’ll get better as we go into the playoffs. Just keep battling, that’s all you can do.”
POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
WALK US THROUGH YOUR RACE TODAY: “Yeah, there was no battle. He was way faster than we were. In the lap he happened to catch me, in my head I was thinking, All right, we just need to stay on the bottom. I got sideways going into three. Tried to park it. He was going to the throttle about the same time. Got in the back of me a little bit. That was just me trying to keep it on the bottom.”
It looked like there was some hard racing there about 20 to go. When Kyle got to you, Kevin, the two of you worked together to get around Denny Hamlin, as well. How was it trying to pass out there? Seemed like it was hard at times, but when you had a run on someone, you could get around them:
“Well, I mean, the 18 just had a really good car. He could get through traffic. I got hung up by a couple lap cars. “Took me a while to get around the 11. Everything took a lot longer than what it took him.
I think it’s a number of things that happened there in the sequence of not getting out and getting going the first couple laps. He just made up tons of time there having clean track, then he had fresher tires. It all just kind of piled on there.”
Could you comment on what you thought of qualifying and racing on the same day?
“I thought this weekend was really good just the way that the schedule was laid out for the teams. I know how much the guys appreciate being able to stay at home. That’s really what it’s about, it’s about quality of life for the team guys, giving them an extra day. If we can add that up 10, 15, 20 weekends, that’s two or three weeks that you can keep those guys at home and let them spend some time with their families and kids and wives.
Everybody is just gone so much, it’s almost becoming harder and harder ‑‑ it is becoming harder and harder to hire people because it is such a grind. I thought it went well.”
Kevin, this is your fourth runner‑up finish in the last seven races here. Is that something that’s frustrating? Are you just happy you’re running well here? Kyle broke through. Do you think sooner or later it’s going to be your turn?
“I came here for 15 years and I don’t think I had a top 10, so I learned a long time ago not to complain about finishing second or third or running good because it’s hard to do. Sometimes you can’t do it. I’ve been on the other side of that where you can’t do it. It’s fun to win races. It’s fun to be competitive. I’m never going to sit up here and complain about finishing second because, you know, it’s a good accomplishment. The team has been through a lot, switching over to Ford, doing all the things they’ve done. As competitive as we have been, I think it’s a huge credit to great people.”.
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion – “A strategy day for sure. Our car was okay. I thought we had the best strategy out there, we just needed a little bit more speed.”
CLINT BOWYER — No. 14 Nature’s Bakery/Feeding America Ford Fusion “It was a big pit strategy day for sure and you know that going into a race like this. Our car was good all weekend. We unloaded a fast car. This is the best car that we’ve unloaded in quite some time. A little bit different build. Hopefully this is what we’re looking for, what I’m looking for and build on this.”
KURT BUSCH – No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion – “I thought we did a good job on strategy based off the pace of our car. We were just kind of welded to 15th-place all day. We weren’t close enough to gamble and pit while it was under green conditions and the Stage breaks. We just kept chipping away at it. Restarts for us were 50-50; some were good, some were bad. Overall, we experimented with some suspension and we know not to do that again.”
ARIC ALMIROLA. – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – WALK US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED DURING THAT LAP 1 ACCIDENT: “I have no idea. Our Smithfield Ford Fusion was really good to start off there. I had passed about seven cars the first two corners. I was making a lot of progress and then we got to Turn 3 and everybody just stacked up. I saw some smoke. I saw some cars stopped. I got piled in from behind and just drove into the accident. I haven’t seen a replay and have no idea what caused the wreck. Sort of a bummer not to even make a whole lap. Not our day.”
