Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sunday, February 9, 2020
BUSCH CLASH POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
3rd – Clint Bowyer
5th – Ryan Newman
8th – Ryan Blaney
9th – Joey Logano
10th – Aric Almirola
13th – Kevin Harvick
17th – Brad Keselowski
RYAN NEWMAN, No. 6 Koch Industries Ford Mustang – Finished 5th
“I am proud of the effort that went into it. We had a good Koch Industries Ford. We had good speed and the car drove good. The strategy was good. We just didn’t have the alliance at the end to get that push. I blocked the 3 car but I didn’t see or know that Denny had the 20 lined up and a freight train coming on the outside. I knocked a left rear tire in blocking Austin. It was just unfortunate the way the timing worked out. I feel bad about the deal on the restart. There must have been oil or something on the track for all of us to do what we did there. Nevertheless we crashed and looked kind of stupid coming to the green. I guess that happens. It wasn’t the peak of stupidity today though, that is for sure.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEHIND THE WHEEL? “The car drove really good, we just didn’t have the drafting partners and teamwork that we needed there at the end. The rest of it was what we kind of expect here. We are used to that. Keselowski and I joked about it beforehand. He asked how many cars would be on the lead lap at the end and I said 10. He said he was going to take the under and he was right by more than I thought.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Pure Farmland Ford Mustang
“Man, what a shame. We had a really fast Pure Farmland Ford Mustang. All the Fords were really fast. Doug Yates always brings the horsepower every week but he really loves Daytona. It is a shame a Ford won’t win this thing because we dominated the race. All in all it was a good day for us. It isn’t the finish we wanted but it was productive with a new team and new crew chief and working through a lot of those things.”
WHAT ABOUT THAT WRECK THAT KNOCKED YOU OUT? “That is just part of it. That last wreck there in particular I don’t think was anybody’s fault. Denny (Hamlin) just had damage from the previous wreck and elected to not pit, which I get. I understand that. This race doesn’t pay any points or anything, so you can take that risk and if it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out. Unfortunately it tore up a bunch of really good race cars. I guess the damage got down on one of his tires and caused him to have a flat and he spun out it front of all of us. I felt like we were in the right spot to have a chance to win the race. I feel like we had a very productive day for our race team and I am really happy with the way things went with my new crew chief and how we worked through a lot of stuff. The big event is a week from today. I can’t remember the last time someone won the Clash and came back and won the 500, so if you have to give up one, today is a good one to give up.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang
“Well, I thought it was kind of boring to run around there single-file. Man, I wish we would have stayed that way. We are not capable of going two-wide. We tore the hell out of ‘em. You know it is going to happen though. Here is the thing. There were a lot of difference scenarios out there and shenanigans in a race like that where the Chevrolet’s were trying to make it and were on ultra old tires and that restart really showed it. It stacked everybody up and wrecked ‘em. That was unfortunate. I thought that was the end of our day and then it was just – I don’t know. The 9 and 42, those cars were the only ones with no damage. They should have won the race, but they took each other out. That was too bad. Fortunate for me though. Then I thought the 6 was going to win. I was going to get there and push him but I don’t know if he was blowing up or what. That is how the luck was going. I saw smoke flying out from him and I thought, ‘Oh damn, I need to go with someone else.’”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEHIND THE WHEEL? “Did you see that? What was it like behind the microphone. It was chaotic. I was screaming. When that stuff happens you start talking quicker and louder and I was doing the same thing.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light #PIT4BUSCH Ford Mustang
“That is just the way it goes here. We are just going to go burn a couple hundred thousand dollars of the owners money, load them up in the truck, head home and try again next week.”
WAS THAT TYPICAL OF WHAT YOU EXPECT AT THIS RACE? “There are five of 18 cars left. If we can wreck five more we will be in good shape. Typical speedway racing.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE FIRST INCIDENT WITH KYLE (BUSCH) THAT COLLECTED YOUR TEAMMATE? “Yeah, Kyle had a run. I blocked it to the bottom. I blocked it back to the top. I thought I did a good job blocking and he just got to the inside of me and there really wasn’t a hole there and he just hooked me around. That was the first crash. Then they wrecked on a restart, that was the other crash. We didn’t really hit anybody on that one. The last one, Denny blew a tire. Dang it. I almost made it through. I needed about three feet. Oh well.”
BRAD (KESELOWSKI) WAS CRITICAL OF THE BLOCKING AND HE WAS UPSET WITH YOU: “Apparently we all suck at this because there are only like three cars left right now, so I wouldn’t say anyone is really good.”
WILL YOU TRY TO MEND FENCES WITH BRAD? HE WAS LIVID AND THEN SAID HE WAS GOING TO DISNEY AND DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO TALK TO YOU: “Well, I am going to Disney too, so I will see him there (laughter). I am sure he is fine. We get along fine. I don’t think he is mad at me.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 MoneyLion Ford Mustang — YOU SEEMED PRETTY ANGRY AND ANIMATED ON THE RADIO: “I just got wrecked for no reason. Dumb, dumb racing. Dumb moves being thrown out there. Guys that don’t know what they are doing so they throw crazy blocks. It is just ridiculous. We shouldn’t be wrecking all these cars. I am not Tony Stewart, I am not as smart as he is and he can say it a lot better than I could but this is just dumb. We had a good race car. The MoneyLion Ford was capable of winning the race, led a lot of the race and we got destroyed for no reason.”
DID IT SURPRISE YOU THAT THIS WAS THE TYPE OF RACING OUT THERE ALREADY? “You would think these guys would be smarter than that. I get in wrecks all the time and I cause them, but the same one over and over again. It is the same thing. Somebody throws a stupid block that is never going to work, and wrecks half the field. Then goes, ehhhhh. I don’t know. Maybe we need to take the helmets and seatbelts out. Somebody will get hurt and then maybe they will stop driving like (expletive).”
TO BE CLEAR, IT IS YOUR TEAMMATE JOEY LOGANO THAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, RIGHT? “Yeah, it was just a dumb move. There is no reason to make that move. It was never going to work and it didn’t. Here we are. We are wrecked out of the race and now a Ford isn’t going to win most likely and a Toyota is. It was just dumb to take out the best car for a move that was never going to work.”
HOW MUCH OF THIS IS GUYS TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT? “There is only one driver in this race that has never ran this before. There is some experimenting but at this point you know what you’ve got.”
WILL YOU TRY TO TALK TO JOEY ABOUT IT? “I am going to Disney World with my family. I will worry about that later.”
