Ford Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
2018 NASCAR Playoff Media Day (Las Vegas, NV)
Thursday, September 13, 2018
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Ford Fusion — QUESTION INAUDIBLE: “It is really important to get started on the right foot here. I don’t really care about the underdog thing. That has been my whole life. That is what everyone labels this team as, which is fine with us. We will do our own thing. I don’t think it gives us any extra motivation. The motivation is there. We don’t really want to be the life of the party, we just want to do our jobs and do the best we can. Whatever happens, happens.”
HOW MUCH WILL THE HOT WEATHER PLAY INTO THINGS THIS WEEKEND? “It will be different from the first race. It is a lot hotter. It is supposed to be like 100 degrees on Sunday. That will be pretty warm. We will see how it is. The track will change. It will be different from the first race this year and I am sure we will move around the race track more. We will be running up the race track a lot. We will have to find out on Friday.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Ford Fusion — THREE WEEKS AGO COMPARED TO NOW. HOW MUCH HAS THE WINS IMPROVED YOUR OPTIMISM FOR THE PLAYOFFS? “Winning certainly doesn’t hurt but I think you try to temper that with the knowledge that other than the playoff bonus points it is more or less a confidence thing. It doesn’t count for much for the 10 weeks ahead of us. The 10 playoff bonus points are nice and you never know when you will need them but they are just 10. We are like 30-some behind those other guys. We will take it and are thrilled to death with it but beyond just the short picture of having won two marquee races in a row which is an incredible feeling, I think it doesn’t particularly mean that much for the playoffs.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE ENTERED THE PLAYOFFS IN A WORSE POSITION BEFORE? “No, I think this is about how we have entered the playoffs the last few years. Pretty similar. Almost identical to last year.”
YOU’VE BEEN ABLE TO TURN THAT INTO SOME REALLY GOOD PERFORMANCES IN THE PAST: “I feel good about this years playoffs, we just need to avoid the breakdowns and wrecks and those things. I think we can do that. The Roval will be really tough. It is an easy way to lose a lot of points and get caught up in wrecks. Talladega will be tough too. I think we are ready for that challenge.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU GUYS AS AN ORGANIZATION HAVE MADE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS SINCE THE SEASON STARTED? “I feel we are pretty close to where we started the season performance wise and still have room to grow.”
DO YOU FEEL ANY TEAMS HAVE MADE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS OR PRETTY MUCH WHAT THEY ARE WHEN THE STARTED THE SEASON? “I feel like the 9 and 48 have gotten better the last few weeks. Other than that, it has been pretty stagnant.”
WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST STRENGTHS, TRACK WISE, GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “I think there are three tracks that are strong for us, Talladega, Richmond and Martinsville. One of them is in each round and I think we can win all three of them.”
