Ford Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Ford 400 Qualifying (Homestead-Miami Speedway; Homestead, FL)
Friday, November 16, 2018
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
4th Brad Keselowski
5th Joey Logano
6th Kurt Busch
9th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
10th Aric Almirola
12th Kevin Harvick
15th Ryan Blaney
17th Matt Kenseth
22nd Paul Menard
24th Michael McDowell
25th David Ragan
26th Clint Bowyer
29th Matt DiBenedetto
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion — “We’ve just been off as far as getting the front tires to turn today in qualifying trim and that’s all we’ve done. The Jimmy John’s Ford was just plowing tight the first time we went out, chattering the tires. We made it better the second round and then the third round it was just too tight in one and two down there, where we were okay in the first two rounds. We got tight down there and still tight down there, so we’ll go to work on it. We didn’t qualify that good here last year either, so we definitely need to figure out what we’ve got to do in qualifying trim, but hopefully our race stuff is good.”
NEW TIRES ARE EVERYTHING, SO HOW HARD WAS IT TO TRY AND DO IT ON THE SECOND RUN? “It was kind of a waste of time (laughing). We got an A for effort. It’s definitely hard. After the third run they slow down and then the fourth run right off the bat your chances are slim to none.”
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
WE WATCHED GUYS COME FROM THE BACK HERE AND WIN THIS RACE AND A CHAMPIONSHIP. IS THERE A LEVEL OF REAL CONCERN FOR YOU AFTER QUALIFYING? “We qualified 12th, not last. It is not that big of a deal if we can get our car driving right for Sunday. We didn’t qualify well here last year either and hadn’t really drove well in qualifying trim all day today. We just have to get it driving right for Sunday.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion — “Our qualifying was just okay. We had a rough start the first couple of runs in practice and made a good change for the third run in the practice, and some good changes from practice to qualifying. That put us in a good spot to go out here and bust out a decent lap and we did in the first round. The second round we got a little off and the third round we were just too loose off of turn two. I think that is where most of the speed was. I will have to go back and look at it and look at some notes and see if I can learn a little bit for next year. At this point it is behind us and we will think about tomorrow and getting the car good for the race.”
WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR TOMORROW? “I think anything you can do to make your car versatile all over the place. To be able to run the bottom, be able to run the wall, be able to run close to the wall but not right at the wall. We need to have short run speed and long run speed. We need to find the balance between all of that. That will be the challenge. Most likely we won’t get all four of those things but if we can get three and get close on the fourth, that will be a good spot to be.”
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE — DO YOU GET ANYTHING OUT OF PRACTICE TODAY THAT YOU CAN TAKE TO THE RACE? “It is so different today than what it will be tomorrow when you get the tape off it and make more than one lap and the tires wear out. There might be some things in qualifying trim with changes that seem to be better but you never really know. It might only be better for a lap. I don’t think a whole lot transfers over. I think everyone was tuned in for one lap today.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion — “I was just looking at data and I thought we were probably good enough to be fourth or fifth, but I just got too loose in the middle of turn one and two. I’m proud of the effort. We’re still digging. This is a good opportunity for us to pretend like we’re in the final four, so that way when we come down here next year and we really are, we’ll have a little bit better understanding of what it’s like.”
KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion — “It was a good three rounds for us. We trended really nicely with our adjustments. I had a really good one and two, underdrove turn three, so I changed my line in turn four and that cost a little bit of speed. You’ve got to nail your lap. You can’t have any kind of lack of confidence going into it, and then once you complete your lap if you did something wrong there will be five guys that beat you, so we’ll take sixth and start from there.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU CAN BE A SPOILER ON SUNDAY? “I want to see how the car does tomorrow in practice. I told the guys, ‘Let’s treat this like we’re in this Championship Four. You might as well, you’ve come this far so feel that way, feel about it within your soul, within your body and go in there with that extra nerve to try to be a champion.’ Even though these guys don’t have a shot at it, I want them to feel like they are because they’ve done a great job this year.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Fusion — “I did good coming to the green I thought. I thought we were faster getting to the start-finish line. I probably should have ran a little higher in one and two. I tried to duplicate it, I just got in too hard and got up against the wall. Then I just got loose once I got up against the wall. Not my best lap. I really didn’t put together many good laps today but I am looking forward to tomorrow.”
IS THIS YOUR LAST RACE? “I am just going to make this an annual deal. Every year I am going to come down here and just milk it as long as I can.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Fusion — “We had good speed overall today, but I just missed the line a little bit in three and four. I probably had a pole lap, but was trying a little bit too hard. All in all, we’re competitive so far and hope we can stay that way throughout the weekend. We came here to win, so that’s the plan.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion — “I’m just bummed. We picked up on our third round in practice every round and we just got a little too tight there off of turn two that cost us some speed, so bummed about that, but, overall, to end the season with the two qualifying efforts we’ve had it’s definitely a positive that we’re bringing a little bit more speed to the track and now we’ve just got to put it all together in the race.”
