Michael McDowell on Kentucky
5 Starts
Best Finish: 23rd
“At Kentucky, it’s all about restarts, pit strategy and being aggressive. But you have to be really precise in your execution, as well. You see a lot of guys spin out when they get just outside the groove and that’s because you’re pushing so hard to get as much throttle time as possible, but it ends up backfiring. They’re applying PJ1 to the upper grooves at Kentucky this weekend, which I think will help widen out the racing and make restarts even more exciting. I’m ready to go out and get a good finish in our Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang and I’m excited to have Ark Encounter on the car this weekend, as well. My family and I have enjoyed going there when we’re in Kentucky so it’s great to have them aboard the No. 34.”
Matt Tifft on Kentucky
(Xfinity Series) 5 Starts | 1 Top-5 | 3 Top-10
Best Finish: 5th
“Kentucky used to be a completely different track before the repave and now it’s smooth as glass. We’re using a harder tire compound this weekend, which means that, because of the smooth racetrack, there’s not a whole lot of tire falloff but there’s a lot of speed. Essentially, what we’re looking for is a car that can run wide open, but you’re always trying to play with that last edge of grip, which is where the final amount of speed is. I’m excited to have Southwestern Trucking on the No. 36 Ford this weekend. We couldn’t do what we do every weekend without the kind of services their company provides, so I’m looking forward to getting a good result for our partners there.”
David Ragan on Kentucky
8 Starts | 1 Top-10
Best Finish: 8th
“Kentucky is a very similar track to Texas Motor Speedway, where we saw some good speed in our No. 38 Ford Mustang earlier this year. We’ll be able to use a lot of our notes from there and apply it to this weekend to get an even better result. It’s hard to be able to race outside of the groove at Kentucky, so hopefully we’ll be able to see multiple lanes open up in the later part of the race with the PJ1 compound. It’s really neat to have Long John Silver’s and their “Fish Yeah” campaign back on an FRM car this weekend. I’m looking forward to seeing the No. 38 flying the blue and yellow colors on track for a Saturday night race.”
Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart
Kentucky Speedway
(Sparta, KY)
Saturday, July 13
7:30 p.m. ET NBCSN, PRN
Qualifying
Friday, July 12
6:00 p.m. ET NBCSN
