Ford Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Pennzoil 400 Cup Qualifying (Las Vegas Motor Speedway)
Friday, March 2, 2018
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
1st Ryan Blaney
2nd Kevin Harvick
3rd Kurt Busch
7th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
8th Brad Keselowski
10th Joey Logano
11th Clint Bowyer
12th Paul Menard
15th Michael McDowell
23rd David Ragan
24th Trevor Bayne
29th Aric Almirola
30th Cole Custer
32nd Matt DiBenedetto
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 1st
“I thought our Ford was pretty good over three rounds. The second and third round were really good. They made really good changes to our race car and got us where we needed to be. It is nice to know we have some good speed and now it is about getting it racing well. We will work on that tomorrow. Hopefully we will be set up for Sunday.”
WHERE DO YOU NEED TO WORK ON YOUR CAR STILL? “It is difficult. The bumps through one and two are getting pretty rough. You want to make sure your car can get over those pretty good but you also get really loose into turn three. It is a balancing act of which corner you want to prioritize. We will focus on the bumps in one and two and make sure I am not spinning out in one and three.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 2nd
“You never heard us complain about our Fords. I gotta thank everyone from Ford and Stewart-Haas Racing for giving me a fast Fusion. I knew I kind of blew it coming to the green. I had to lift off the throttle late around the corner just trying to get to the green and I wound up getting the car too tight and it was where it was needed to be the rest of the lap, on the edge. All in all it was a great qualifying effort. This isn’t a place we have qualified well in the past. That will definitely help our day on Sunday.”
KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 3rd
“I was hanging on for those three laps. One of our first times starting out in just Q trim. When you go after it hard right away in practice, it hit me on the loose side. We had nothing to loose in that third round and we are still a little on the loose side but that is a good trend for race trim. Once you get into those long runs you build up toward tight on the air pressures. How about those three Fords up top again.”
PAUL MENARD, No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 12th
“We’ve had a really fast Ford all day. Qualifying was up and down for us. We were the quickest in the first round and I probably overdrove it in the second round. I had to make a second run which put another heat cycle on our tires which affected qualifying for the third round. We’re learning and looking forward in getting some more laps on the car tomorrow in practice.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 8th
“We had a really good first round and I felt like I kinda messed up there in the second round when I just couldn’t quite hit the line right and that got us behind but with a top-10 qualifying spot we should be okay.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 10th
“I just missed the middle in the second to last run there. Got really tight and couldn’t hold the bottom. I hit the bumps and it was pretty ugly. We swung at it. We tried. It is just lessons learned.”
Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 15th
“It was a great run. I am happy for everyone at Front Row Motorsports. We are making good gains. It is fun to be disappointed with 15th. I just overdid turn three a little. I think we could have made it to the third round. I just tried to get too much and missed the bottom a bit. I am proud of everyone. Thankful to Love’s and all our partners that let me do this. Hopefully we can make gains every week.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 29th
“We were off in practice and just struggling to find the stability in the car that we needed. I am not really sure. We will just have to lick our wounds and debrief and figure out what we are missing or what is going on. We have been super loose all day. I don’t know. We have some work to do. We have a great group of guys here and we will get our Smithfield Ford Fusion tuned up and ready to go for tomorrow.”
