Ford Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Ticket Guardian 500 Qualifying (ISM Raceway; Phoenix, AZ)
Friday, March 9, 2018
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
5th Joey Logano
10th Ryan Blaney
12th Kevin Harvick
14th Paul Menard
16th David Ragan
19th Clint Bowyer
22nd Aric Almirola
21st Trevor Bayne
23rd Kurt Busch
25th Brad Keselowski
29th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
30th Matt DiBenedetto
31st Michael McDowell
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 5th
“I got a little free that last run. I had a decent one and two the first lap but washed up in three and four. Just chasing the back of the car. I slowed up the second lap and went faster. Just trying to get all you can. It is the final round so you risk everything for the pole. Just didn’t have a good first lap. Was able to salvage a good fifth place after that by backing it up the second lap to where I wasn’t everywhere, all over the place. It is a decent starting spot. Not first or the front row, but it is okay. It is consistent with where we have been lately. At least we are staying consistent.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 10th
“I look at making the final round as an accomplishment for me. My cars are always faster than the driver when we come to Phoenix qualifying sessions. Today was another Phoenix qualifying session where I messed it up. I got through one and two, where I had been struggling good and just got off the brake too soon and got it up the race track. We should have been a solid tenth better than that. Still a good day for our Jimmy John’s Ford. This is probably the place we feel we’ve lost the most over the last year just trying to get everything back to where we like it. We have everything else dialed in but this one has been a little bit of a challenge. Hopefully we make it better. We have been decent but compared to the standards that we expect here, they are pretty high. We will have a good weekend.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion
Qualifying Position: 29th
“We had two really good races here last year with a fourth and eighth and in the fall race we started last with flat-spotting our tires in qualifying. This time we had the issue in practice. The guys prepared our Fastenal Ford to get back here and qualify. It was pretty decent. That was a really conservative lap because we knew we were going to have to start last again after going to a backup car. We wanted to qualify decent to have a little better pit stall selection with the least amount of laps on the tires to start the race. I think we could have very easily made it to the second round in qualifying with the speed we have. I am happy about that. We will make a lot of laps tomorrow and get this car good on the long runs. That is where we excelled here in the spring and fall last year, the long runs that Phoenix tends to have. It will be tough starting last but we are ready to pass a lot of cars.”
