NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Pocono Green 250 (Pocono Raceway; Long Pond, PA)
Friday, June 1, 2018
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
4th Austin Cindric
5th Cole Custer
8th Paul Menard
13th Ryan Reed
16th Kaz Grala
23rd Dylan Lupton
38th Chase Briscoe
COLE CUSTER, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang — Finished 5th
“We had a really fast Haas Automation Mustang, we just didn’t have really good long run speed. That was our biggest problem. We just got too tight at the end of a run. It was interesting to run the package and try to learn it throughout the day. I just think we needed a little more there. We were close, we just needed a little more long run speed.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 12 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford Mustang — Finished 4th
“It was awesome to be able to experience running up there against Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch and those guys. That is experience that I can’t give up. I love racing around those guys. Chase was saving tires behind us and that was a pretty cool deal. I gotta have more races like this and need to get some stage wins so that we can be be comfortably competitive come the playoffs.”
YOU KEEP BUILDING YOUR NOTEBOOK AS A RACER, WHAT IS YOUR TAKEAWAY FROM HERE GOING INTO NEXT WEEK AT MICHIGAN? “We have two more races with this same package and I think Michigan will be more of a pack race because we expect it to be wide open all the way around. Here, the detriment to this package is you had to get all the way out of the gas so it was still a handling race. I can’t complain because I had a really fast Mustang and it was a car that with track position it was capable of winning. When that is the case everything is in your hands and that is all a driver can ask for.”
PAUL MENARD, No. 22 LTI Printing Ford Mustang — Finished 7th
“It was an up and down day. We knew we had a good car even though we didn’t qualify very good. I actually thought that was a good thing because we got to drive up there and kept freeing up the car and got a stage win. We just wound up too tight at the end. We needed one more adjustment and we would have been good. We had a couple of good restarts and that last restart we got boxed in and lost a lot of track position and it was hard to get back up there.”
RYAN REED, No. 16 Drive Down A1C Lily Diabetes Ford Mustang — Finished 13th
“Overall it was just a tough day. We ended up 13th which wasn’t bad considering we started so far off after qualifying 20th. We knew we had challenges in front of us but all in all our A1 Drive Down Diabetes Mustang got a lot better throughout the race and we learned a lot about this package which I think is the main goal today. Get out of here with as many points as possible and move on.
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 60 Nutri Chomps Ford Mustang (Retired after two-car accident on lap 57)
WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR VANTAGE POINT? “The 5 got loose. That was the second time it happened. We didn’t have track position all day long and we were finally going to be good I thought. We were up to seventh or eighth on that restart. He just ended up getting loose and we had nowhere to go. I hate it for my guys. I feel like the 60 car hasn’t been able to catch a break all year long. I feel like I have been getting caught in other people’s stuff. That is part of racing but I hate it for my guys.”
HOW WAS THE RACING OUT THERE WITH THIS PACKAGE? “I don’t have any previous experience with this Xfinity Car at Pocono but to me it felt like the truck but we are going a little slower. Package wise, I thought it was good. I think it will be way better at Michigan because here at Pocono you have to lift still. I think it will be better at Michigan but from my end I thought it was pretty good.”
