Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes
TheHouse.com 300 – Chicagoland Speedway
Saturday, September 16, 2017
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
7th Cole Custer
10th Darrell Wallace Jr.
17th Ryan Reed
26th Ryan Blaney
COLE CUSTER, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
“I was happy with that today. That is the best speed we have had all year in the Haas Automation Mustang. It was really good. The four of us up front kind of gave it to the 7 car but that is how it is sometimes. I was happy with our run. I think we showed a lot of speed today.”
YOU AND THE LARSON HAD SOME GREAT BATTLES: “That was probably the most fun I have ever had in a stock car, doing those crossover passes. I have respect for him racing me clean there. That was a lot of fun.”
CONTACT AT THE END BETWEEN THE 22 AND 20 AND IT COLLECTED YOU A LITTLE, WHAT DID YOU SEE? “Erik (Jones) was just pushing it, I think he knew he was probably in a bad spot and tried to keep it in the gas and forced Blaney in the wall and I was right behind it and couldn’t go anywhere. That is how it goes though. I was happy with the speed.”
WHAT DOES THIS RUN DO FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE HEADING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “It is huge. The last few races have been kind of rough for us. We’ve had a lot of speed but didn’t finish it of good but this weekend we kind of put it all together, showed the speed, would have had a really great finish. It is a huge momentum builder.”
RYAN REED, No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang
“Everything kind of got jumbled up there on that last restart and the 98 – me and the 98 were going back and forth. He got on my door pretty hard in 1 and 2 and I had the right front out clear and didn’t expect him to bury on my door as much as he did and we got loose. Overall it was a decent weekend and I am really excited to go into the playoffs. We showed speed today with our Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang. That is the biggest thing we take away from here going to the playoffs. Having some confidence in what we’ve got is a big deal.”
YOU TWO BATTLED IT OUT QUITE A BIT OUT THERE. WAS THAT OVER THE TOP OR JUST HARD RACING? “Nah, I think it would be a different deal – I don’t know his side of it – I think it would be different if we were racing for a transfer spot. I know Bubba has a lot on the line and is racing for a lot. We were teammates for a long time. We have respect for each other but there were a couple times today that he was a little more aggressive than I would have been if I were him. But it is what it is. It is a one race deal for him and we will move on to the playoffs. We have more to focus on than he does.”
HOW STRONG IS YOUR TEAM? “I feel like we are strong. We are in front of a lot of the guys we will have to beat that are in the playoffs that we are racing. We are going to have to be better yet. Right now I would say we should confidently go through the first round and into the second round but to make it to Homestead we will have to be better than that.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
“We had a really good Mustang. We weren’t good at all early. We were terrible loose early. They did a great job getting us tighter throughout the day to compete. I sped on pit road after the second segment which was my fault. We drove back up to third and then got the lead on a restart. I thought our car was really good at that point. Then that last caution we came in and got tires and we lost a couple spots on pit road which hurt and made us line up second. The 20 got in there three-wide and we kind of got run into I guess. It stinks. We didn’t have a winning car at the beginning of the race but then we had the car to be able to win at the end of the race. That is really hard to get. It is all you can ask for. We should have been in victory lane. We were the best car for 25-30 laps. That part is unfortunate.”
