NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
COCA-COLA 600
FORD PERFORMANCE DRIVER – POST RACE QUOTES
SUNDAY, MAY 24, 2020
BRAD KESELOWSKI GIVES MUSTANG FIRST COCA-COLA 600 WIN
- Brad Keselowski won his first race of the season today.
- The win is the 31st of his Cup Series career.
- The win is Mustang’s fourth of the season in seven starts.
- This marks Ford’s first Coca-Cola 600 victory since Mark Martin in 2002.
- Today’s win is Ford’s 690th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
- Of Team Penske’s 74 MENCS wins with Ford, 47 have come since rejoining Ford in 2013.
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Mustang — POST-RACE INTERVIEW — “It means a lot to me, but I can’t help but think about the Reep family and Donovan. I hope they’re watching. I know the race ran really late, but Memorial Day is about a lot more than racing, but we’re glad to be able to do cool things like racing because of the freedom provided by those willing to make the sacrifices. I feel like I’ve thrown this race away a handful of times and I felt we were gonna lose it today. I know we’ve lost it the way Chase lost it and that really stinks, and today we finally won it that way and I’m so happy for my team. I wish my wife was here. I wish my daughters were here. It’s a major. It’s the Coke 600 and this leaves only one major left for me, the Daytona 500, so we’re checking them off. I’m really happy for Miller Lite. I don’t know what’s gonna happen with them, if they’re gonna come back on the car or what, but it’s been a great 10-year ride with them and this is their only race of 2020 and we’re in victory lane. I know they’re really happy because Miller Lite goes with Memorial Day, but I’m happy for Ford and everybody who just works their butt off at Team Penske. We might not have been the fastest car today, but, wow, did we grind this one out. The pit crew at the end, the yellow right before the last had a blazing stop to get us up front and put us in position. All these things just came together and I’m tickled to death. It’s a little overwhelming to be honest.”
YOU GET TO ADD THE COKE 600 TO YOUR RESUME. “I’m tickled to death. One left, the Daytona 500. It’s been a great 10-year career I’ve had so far and I hate it took me 10 years to get this one. I feel like I’ve had cars and a team good enough to do it many times over and it just slipped through our hands and today it didn’t. I’m just really proud of everyone and persistence pays off.”
YOU STAYED OUT ON THE LAST CAUTION. DID YOU QUESTION THAT? “No, we’ve lost too many races that way and I knew we had to take the chance. If it didn’t work out, I knew it was the right call.”
Ford Finishing Results
1st — Brad Keselowski
4th — Ryan Blaney
6th — Kevin Harvick
11th — Chris Buescher
13th — Cole Custer
14th — Joey Logano
16th — Aric Almirola
17th — John Hunter Nemechek
18th — Matt DiBenedetto
19th — Michael McDowell
24th — Corey LaJoie
28th — Ryan Newman
40th — Clint Bowyer
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang — “We started towards the back and gained a lot of spots in the beginning, but we got boxed in on the first stop and lost all those spots we gained. I had to pass a bunch of cars tonight. I think we got that award. I thought we were in a good spot on the restart with 45 or 48 to go and somebody got loose on the bottom into three and we had to go all the way up to the wall to miss him in the middle of three and four. We lost a lot of spots right there and that really hurt us. That lost us all the track position we gained towards the end. I was feeling really good about it. We restarted sixth or maybe even eighth on the top and I thought we were gonna roll, but that dropped us back to maybe 12th and we had to fight back from there. I thought our car was pretty competitive, probably not the best car out there, but definitely a top-five car all night. It was a good call to stay out there at the end, I thought. We restarted fourth and gave us a chance. We would have come home with a decent day, but we passed a lot of cars and definitely had a long night working on it.”
WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND ON THE LAST RESTART WHEN BRAD TOOK THE INSIDE LANE AND YOU WERE ON THE OUTSIDE OF ROW 2? “I wasn’t sure where he was gonna restart. Honestly, the bottom lane, for some reason at this place, the restart zone has a lot more grip than the top. With us being on 35-40 lap old tires, I thought he was gonna pick the bottom. You’re in a precarious spot. You want to win the race and everything, but you definitely don’t want to push the 48 by him. I wanted to at least be even and for us to have a shot at getting a good finish, so you’re kind of in a tricky spot, for sure, but it worked out for us. Brad’s restart choice paid off and I figured he was gonna take the bottom, but I was happy with the top and just trying to get through one and two with momentum. It worked out all right for us.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang — “From the start of the day to the end of the day it was just a tough day. I was loose on the qualifying lap and spun, but was able to keep car from having much damage. We started in the rear and, on the pace laps, debris came out of the No. 11 car and damaged some of the splitter, so we had to make some repairs there later on. We battled both ends of the balance with the car all four stages and started to ease our way to the top-10 at the end before that final caution came out – then the restart didn’t go my way. The Coke 600 is such a long race and so much can happen. I’m proud we battled back up there, but didn’t get the finish we wanted. Luckily, we’ll be back here in a few days and see if we can get the Smithfield Ford Mustang up front the second time around like we did in Darlington.”
COLE CUSTER, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang –”Man, definitely a persevering night for the HaasTooling.com Mustang. I could’ve done better at the start of the race. We definitely got the car better throughout the race. We fought hard all night. We fought hard to stay on the lead lap and got our lap back that one time. To finish 13th in my first 600 that I’ve run was definitely pretty cool. I got a good restart at the end. We have some things we know we can do better when we come Wednesday. I can do some things better. I’m looking forward to it. We’re moving in the right direction with this package. We just have to keep grinding through it.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang — “Our No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang had a tough time getting over the bumps in Turns 3 and 4 to start today’s Coca-Cola 600, but Drew and my guys on pit road did a good job of making adjustments all race long to get us more competitive. Thankfully, we caught a lucky caution with 2 laps to go and were able to get back on the lead lap. It was great to have Love’s Travel Stops back on board with us and I’m proud to have been able to represent Sergeant First Class John Jarrell on my car. We’ll regroup at the shop tomorrow and look ahead to coming back even stronger at Charlotte on Wednesday.”
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHECK, No. 38 YANMAR America Ford Mustang — “It was kind of an up and down day, but overall, we had a good run in our No. 38 YANMAR Ford Mustang. We started off the night pretty free. Once we refired after the rain delay, we had a pretty tight race car for most of the night. Seth [Barbour] and the crew kept trying different adjustments to get our handling better and we managed to run in the top 20 for most of the last stage. We never gave up and got some good notes to come back on Wednesday. Thanks to our partners at YANMAR for coming on board with us this weekend and thank you especially to all the men and women who serve our country. It’s an amazing privilege to have the freedom to race because of their sacrifices.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil Delvac 1/#ThankATrucker Ford Mustang — WE SPECULATED IT WAS A RIGHT-FRONT TIRE THAT WENT DOWN. IS THERE A MORE HELPLESS FEELING FOR A DRIVER TO HAVE? “No, it pretty well sucks. It knocked the wind out of me there. I mean, we’re 100 laps into a 400-lap race and to be out already, you talk about a helpless feeling. The guys worked really hard on the Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Delvac Ford, but it just wasn’t meant to be. We’ll get ready for next Wednesday and we’ll be back at it. I’m gonna go somewhere and take this thing off and find somewhere where I can find a cold beer. I’m outta here.”
