Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
First Data 500 – Martinsville Speedway
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Ford Finishing Results:
3rd – Clint Bowyer
4th – Brad Keselowski
5th – Kevin Harvick
6th – Trevor Bayne
8th – Ryan Blaney
10th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
17th – Danica Patrick
18th – Aric Almirola
22nd – Kurt Busch
23rd – Landon Cassill
24th – Joey Logano
28th – David Ragan
39th – Matt DiBenedetto
RYAN BLANEY – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – “I felt the first half of our day was pretty good. We lost a lot of handle the second half after the second stage and really were struggling. On short runs I thought we were OK for 20 laps or so, but the last handful of restarts were just pandemonium. It was pretty ridiculous with everyone wrecking each other and running into each other. I thought we were gonna make it through the last one, but we just kind of got caught up off of four in all that stuff. At least we salvaged a decent day. Honestly, a lot of cars got torn up, but we’ll go on to Texas and see what we have.” WHAT DID YOU SEE ON THE LAST RESTART? “I have no idea. I just knew I was in a wreck too. We just kind of got caught up in three and four. That’s the thing, we would have finished third or fourth and got sandwiched there, but it was chaos. I haven’t seen that in a long time.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion – “I haven’t seen the video. I just knew I got in the corner and he was inside me and we had contact. I haven’t seen anymore of that to really have any clarity to it. The track is just real slick on the restarts for everybody. You saw that. It takes about five laps for anyone to get going or more, especially the leader, but there was a lot of hard fighting here because it’s a short track. That’s what short tracks are kind of about is rooting and gauging. You try not to take anybody out, but you’ve got to sometimes rub a little bit. But we had a really great Alliance Truck Parts Ford. We were able to lead laps and win the two stages and bring home a solid finish and that’s something to be proud of.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “I was passing the 24. I had a good run on him and the 18 sent it three-wide. I tried to give him room and he slid up. I don’t know. I have to watch the replay, but he slid up and got up in the left rear and cut it down.”
KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Busch NA Ford Fusion – “It’s just Martinsville. That’s what it’s all about. It’s championship time. It’s time to get physical. I’ve just got to thank everybody on my Busch Non-Alcoholic Ford, Jimmy John’s, Mobil 1, Outback, Hunt Brothers, Morton Buildings, Textron Off Road, everybody who helps this car go around the race track. I really want to help all of my guys at Stewart-Haas Racing. They built this car in two weeks and we were way more competitive than we were in the spring. Bent fenders, hurt feelings. I love it.” YOU WERE TALKING TO RYAN BLANEY AT THE END. WHAT DID YOU SAY? “I just told him I said, ‘Look, if you’re gonna park it at Martinsville, you’re gonna get hit.’ He didn’t like getting hit and I didn’t like the cheap shots, the brake checks and the hitting down the straightaway. It’s like I told him, I said, ‘If you want to race hard and you want to run into me after I pass you, that’s fine, but slamming me down the straightaway and brake-checking me is another thing.’ That’s the easy way to race.” WHAT A CRAZY FINISH. “Four races to go at Martinsville, playoff time and everybody is trying to get everything they can. It was a crazy finish. But for us our goal was to score stage points. I think we scored three stage points and get a top-five. My goal was a top 10. The goal was to not lose it today. I’m really proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing. They built this car in two weeks after our test.We were way more competitive here. And as you look at the results, they show it. We have bent up fenders but it looks like the whole field does.”
CLINT BOWYER – No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Fusion – POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE – “We had a fast Ford Fusion all weekend long. Our Haas Automation Ford was good. We qualified good and had a catastrophe in the pits. It seems we’ve been struggling here lately trying to get some consistency in there to say the least, but fell back and got back up through them. Then we had some more trouble and we’d gain some and lose some, gain some and lose some and we finally got there at the end. I don’t know. I wish they would have got into each other one more time and I just went ahead and finished the last one off if it was down to one, but it’s just a product of that situation. Those guys are racing for a lot, there’s a lot on the line and you know on a green-white-checker at a place like this all hell is gonna break loose. The only thing I can say is why we don’t race at night is beyond me here. You should definitely utilize those lights for something other than a green-white-checkered because it’s pretty damn cool under the lights.”
WHAT DID YOU SEE ON THE LAST RESTART? “I was hoping they’d wreck each other. I got loose getting in and kind of got my whole rhythm screwed up for the last lap, but Martinsville is short-track racing. This is what put this sport on the map is racing like that. It’s been a while since we’ve seen that and it’s a breath of fresh air to get back to a short track where it can breed some of that and put on a show for the fans.”
SHOULD THE 22 HAVE PITTED WITH THE TIRE RUB? “That’s hindsight that reaches up and slaps you in the face afterwards, but you’re in that situation and you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. You’ve got to try. You’ve got to give hope a chance. Maybe a caution comes out. You know what I mean? Yeah, you’re in trouble and you know it and it’s a bad situation, but most of the time it only gets worse and it did for him, but at the end of the day he’s not really racing for a championship. A win was the only thing.”
THE 2 MIGHT HAVE WON. “Coulda, woulda, shoulda. I haven’t watched the race. When I go home and watch the race maybe I’ll agree with you, but I was competing in the race so my philosophy was I was hoping all them Toyotas would wreck and a Ford would win. That was my philosophy if you want to be a philosopher.”
