Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
AAA Texas 500 – Texas Motor Speedway
Sunday, November 5, 2017
FORD FINISHING RESULTS:
1st Kevin Harvick
5th Brad Keselowski
6th Ryan Blaney
7th Joey Logano
9th Kurt Busch
12th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
15th Aric Almirola
17th Danica Patrick
25th Matt DiBenedetto
26th Landon Cassill
28th Trevor Bayne
30th David Ragan
36th Clint Bowyer
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW — “This feels so good. We have been qualifying well here and racing well ever since I have been at Stewart-Haas Racing and just never got it to work out to go to victory lane. Today we had to earn it. To be able to pass the 78 car for the win is something that is huge for our confidence and team knowing we need to go to another 1.5 mile at Homestead to race for the championship. I am really proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 FOrd. This thing was a hot rod today.
YOU SPENT A LOT OF LAPS CHASING DOWN THE 78. WHEN DID YOU KNOW THE TIME WAS RIGHT TO MAKE THE PASS? “I saw the 42 at the beginning of the race really driving into one really deep. For me, I knew I needed to do something different in order to get past Martin. I tried to just start driving it in there and we kept going faster and faster. I picked up like two-tenths. I kept driving it in there and one lap I got close enough to get the air off the back of his car. I actually got to the outside and was able to pass him on the outside. That is a credit to the race track for getting it rubbered up and all the things they have done to prep it.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – HOW AGGRESSIVE DO YOU NEED TO BE NEXT WEEK AT PHOENIX? “Obviously, we need to be really aggressive. We need to go try and win the race. That’s really the only thing we can do, so I’m proud of the effort by the team today. We didn’t start off very good and we got really good towards the middle and had one run where I was super-loose towards the end. I gave up like five spots. I got real loose and that was unfortunate, but we got our car a little bit better at the end. We kind of restarted eighth and ran sixth. Thanks to the effort by the Wood Brothers group and hopefully we’ll have a good Phoenix.” YOU GOT SOME STAGE POINTS TODAY. “I was happy with not being great the first stage and running eighth there and then getting better and finishing third in the second one. We had our car better and that effort was pretty good.” ONE SPOT AVAILABLE AT PHOENIX. “You pretty much have to go and win the race. That’s all we can do. It’s gonna be hard to point your way in because everyone is running pretty good. We’ll just try to win Phoenix and do the best we can.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion – “We had a pretty good car. Something happened on lap one and basically we started the race last and a lap-and-a-half down. That cost us a bunch of stage points, but we rallied with a solid effort to get back to fifth. I’m happy for that.” YOU ARE PLUS-18 GOING INTO PHOENIX. HOW CONFIDENT DO YOU FEEL? “I need more than that. I’d feel confident if we were locked in. These races you don’t know what’s gonna happen.” HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE YOUR DAY? “Long. It was a long day for everybody on the Wurth Ford Fusion team. This is the best we ran on a mile-and-a-half in some time, so I’m happy about that. I’m disappointed with the way the race started. It probably cost us 10 or more points, but I’m happy with the rebound.” WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF I TOLD YOU THAT A FIFTH-PLACE FINISH WAS COMING AFTER THAT START? “We’ll take it. I still want more. I hate to give up those stage points. Nineteen points isn’t terrible for a cushion. We’ll need to go and have a solid race at Phoenix next week and hope none of the other guys win. It’s doable, but it’s gonna be a nailbiter next week for sure.” HOW ABOUT THE WAY THE TEAM RALLIED. “It was a nice response for sure. That’s what you hope for. We’ve had really great efforts the last two weeks. We probably arguably deserve a little better result, but I’m still proud of the effort with strong, solid days with top fives. You take these Playoff races and get two top fives in the last round that’s pretty strong, I’d like to have a win, but we were in position to win last week and a top five this week. We just need to do the same or be a little more next week.” WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO NEXT WEEK TO ADVANCE? “We need to score some stage points. We really lost out on that today and probably have another top five effort. That’s kind of what we’re hoping for.”
KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion – “We had to rebound from when the lugnut got stuck behind the wheel — the right-front wheel to the brake rotor and all that. Man, We just still want more. We’re so close to being what we want, but we just still aren’t in that top five group right now. We’ve just got to find a little more. I’m real happy with our effort. We finished in the top-10 after a pit road mishap, so it’s a good day.”
