Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Friday, April 12, 2019
EVENT: ToyotaCare 250 Post Race
COLE CUSTER, MIKE SHIPLETT & JOE CUSTER RACE WINNING TEAM PRESS CONFERENCE
YOU WERE SAYING THIS AFTERNOON THAT YOU MIGHT BE PEAKING AS THE SEASON GOES ALONG, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU MIGHT BE AHEAD OF SCHEDULE BASED ON TONIGHT:
COLE CUSTER: “Yeah, we have always had speed everywhere we have gone so far. I think we get better as the race goes on and we make adjustments and then when we come back to some of these tracks a second time we will be even better. We have the speed right now and I think we can get even better but we are definitely doing things right at this moment.”
WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE $100,000? “I don’t know. I wish I could say that I had something to put it towards that is cooler than a townhouse. It is good. I have never won one before so it is a really cool thing that Xfinity does. It is one of the coolest things that we do in this sport, to be able to race for 100-grand. That is huge for all our teams and the drivers. I don’t know exactly what I am going to do with it yet, but we will figure it out.”
AFTER STAGE 2 YOU CAME OVER THE RADIO AND WERE SAYING YOUR WINDSHIELD WAS SOAKING WET. NOW THAT THE RACE IS OVER, WAS IT REALLY RAINING THAT HARD OR WERE YOU EXAGGERATING? “It was pouring man. I don’t know how we even made it through the first corner, honestly.”
HOW MUCH MOMENTUM DO THESE EARLY SEASON WINS GIVE YOU? “It is huge. We have always won later in the year. I think when you get a win earlier in the year it takes a lot of stress off because you know your team can win and you are doing things right and it is just a matter of perfecting it. It just takes the stress off to be able to go out there and be aggressive and keep the momentum going and build up points for the playoffs.”
HOW MUCH URGENCY DID YOU FEEL TO GET THE LEAD BACK WHEN CINDRIC TOOK IT? “When we first took it after one of those cautions when we restarted eighth I was urgent because I knew whoever got to the lead first it was probably going to be their race. That last restart I tried something a little different and it didn’t work out. I knew I had like 25 laps but then it started raining a little and I didn’t know if we would even make it to the end so I knew I had to get by him quick. I was able to work the top on him there at the end. We just had a great car. I think we had the best car out there at the end.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN GO TOE-TO-TOE WITH CHRISTOPHER BELL THIS SEASON? “I think we are right there. We need to be a little bit better and I think we are going to get better as the year goes on as me and Mike work together and we go to these tracks for a second time. We get our cars better throughout the races. We just need a little bit more but we want to beat the 20 guys. Christopher is a great driver and Gibbs is a great organization but we have the capability of being the best team out there, so that is our goal.”
HOW DO YOU APPROACH TALLADEGA NOW? ARE YOU GOING TO BE AGGRESSIVE? “Talladega is different than anywhere. You have to go there and be aggressive. We have two wins now so we can kind of do what we want. You have to be aggressive and make the big moves and save some of it for the end. Also you have to make those moves to be comfortable with it at the end. It is a matter of keeping it up front and out of trouble but on that edge of being aggressive but not too aggressive.”
HOW MUCH EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE FORECASTING WEATHER?
MIKE SHIPLETT, CREW CHIEF: “Every time I told him it was going to rain he drove fast so I just kept telling him it was coming. I don’t know. Everyone wakes up in the morning and looks at the weather man report and it may say it is going to rain and it could be sunny. Seems you have a 50-50 chance. As you look at the radar there was a big blob of green coming and then it would dissipate a little bit and then you get in the little window. We were trying to calculate and they were saying it was five miles out so we were trying to figure how many laps that would be. We kept telling him it was going to be 20 laps or 15 laps and he kept driving fast. If it rained it rained and if it didn’t, it didn’t. It didn’t matter in the end.”
CHASE BRISCOE SAID EARLIER HE WAS REALLY LEANING ON YOU HELPING HIM THIS YEAR AS TEAMMATES. WHAT KIND OF HELP HAS IT BEEN FOR YOU THOUGH TO HAVE HIM? “It is all positive having a second car and being able to bounce information and driving notes off of each other and stuff like that. It won’t be a negative in any kind of way. I think it will get better as the year goes on and everyone gets more used to working with each other and everything. It has all been good. No setbacks. I think it will get better as we go.”
