NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FOLDS OF HONOR QUIKTRIP 500
FORD PERFORMANCE DRIVER – POST RACE QUOTES
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2020
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
1st – Kevin Harvick
4th – Ryan Blaney
9th – Brad Keselowski
10th – Joey Logano
14th – Ryan Newman
17th – Aric Almirola
19th – Cole Custer
20th – Clint Bowyer
22nd – Chris Buescher
23rd – John Hunter Nemechek
24th – Michael McDowell
25th – Matt DiBenedetto
27th – Corey LaJoie
34th – Josh Bilicki
38th – Joey Gase
KEVIN HARVICK RULES ATLANTA AS HE EARNS SECOND CUP WIN OF 2020
- Kevin Harvick won his second race of the season and 51st of his Cup career today.
- The win is Harvick’s 10th at AMS in NASCAR’s top three series combined (3 Cup, 5 NXS, 2 Trucks).
- The win is Mustang’s sixth of the season, most among manufacturers.
- Ford has won 4 of the 6 Cup races since NASCAR returned to action May 17.
- Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have two wins each this season.
- Harvick is now 12th on the all-time win list, three behind NASCAR Hall of Famer Lee Petty for 11th.
- This marks the 21st win for Stewart-Haas Racing since joining Ford (Harvick has won 16).
- Today’s win is Ford’s 692nd all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light For The Farmers Ford Mustang — VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW — WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND WITH THAT SALUTE AFTER THE RACE? “I didn’t get a chance to show very it good a couple years ago with my gloves on, so I made sure I took my gloves off this year. Obviously, my first win came for me here at Atlanta and this is just a race track that I’ve taken a liking to, and you always come back and have those memories and now you want to celebrate everything that Dale Earnhardt did for this sport. To come here and be able to do that with wins and go to victory lane is pretty special, so I just have to thank everybody from Busch Light. We’ve got corn all over our car this week, so Busch Light for the farmer’s campaign. Go buy those corn cans so we can donate $100,000.”
THIS CAR WASN’T A WALK IN THE PARK THE WHOLE RACE. WHAT DID IT TAKE TO GET YOU IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? “They had a great pit stop. We got a restart on the bottom and they got my car to take off. I was able to get track position and then once I could get through those first 10 laps and my car was freed up enough to where I could get in a rhythm and really start hitting my marks, and then by about lap 25 I could start driving away. I’m just proud of everybody from Busch Light and Ford, Stewart-Haas Racing. Thank you guys for everything. Hunt Brothers Pizza, Fields, Mobil 1, Jimmy John’s. I know I’m gonna forget somebody. Haas, everybody who helps us on this car and you the fans. We appreciate everything you guys do for us.”
HOW COOL IS IT TO GET A BIRTHDAY WIN FOR YOUR CREW CHIEF? “That’s pretty cool. We struggled most of the day with our car and he definitely earned his birthday present today. They did a great job adjusting on our Busch LIght Ford. I’ve got to thank everybody from Hunt Brothers Pizza and Jimmy John’s and Mobil 1 and Ford for everything that they do for this program. It’s one of my favorite tracks for sure and I love to win here.”
HOW ABOUT THAT VICTORY LAP? YOU WERE HOLDING THREE FINGERS OUT THE WINDOW. “There’s so many thoughts going through my mind that day and everybody was confused, and to be able to celebrate how much Dale Earnhardt has meant to this sport at a race track where I got my first win because he wasn’t in the car is pretty awesome.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang — “It was an up-and-down day for us. We kind of started off the race just a little bit too free. We adjusted the car in really well in the middle part of the race and then got too tight at the end. We just kind of missed it a little bit. I’m not sure exactly where I lost it, but the middle of the race I felt we were gonna win because we were so fast. Driving through the field after I got a pit road speeding penalty, which is a real bummer. I’m not real sure what happened there because I thought I was going slower than my lights, but apparently I wasn’t, so that kind of put us back. All in all, I don’t know if we could have beat the 4 car, but in the middle of the race I felt like we were right there with them. It seemed like he was pretty good there at the end, so it just didn’t come together for us today. Sometimes you run these races and you don’t have no practice and you say, ‘Oh, perfect. Don’t change a thing.’ And then sometimes you run them and you don’t have practices and you say, ‘Man, if I’d have just had one practice I could have dialed it in a bit better.’ It just kind of felt the later of the two, but some lessons learned and we’ll apply them and move forward.”
SOME GUYS HAD ISSUES WITH THE HEAT AFTERWARDS. HOW WAS IT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE? “It was pretty much what you would expect for being in Atlanta in June. It was hot and muggy. It could be worse, so I’m not gonna complain. I’m glad we’re able to race, so we’ll take what we can get there, but a long race — 500 miles, a tough track to get around. You’ve got to really work the wheel and probably the first really, in my estimation, hot race of the year. Usually, it’s the Coke 600 or some of that stuff, but the Coke 600 this year was unusually cool for May, so this was probably the first hot race we’ve had this year. Everybody just kind of feeling it a little bit. I’m good, but a couple of the others that weren’t, so maybe they need to eat some more steak and potatoes and drink some more Miller Lite. I don’t know.”
THE VIDEO MESSAGE BEFORE THE RACE SEEMED TO BE WELL-RECEIVED. ON THE FLIP SIDE IS IT TIME FOR NASCAR TO REVIEW THE CONFEDERATE FLAG ISSUE? “I only salute one flag and that’s America’s. I recognize that that flag might mean something different to different people, but it doesn’t mean United States of America to me. But I’m not gonna tell people they need to get rid of it. That’s not my right either, but I certainly don’t salute it or respect it, or probably anyone else who feels the same way, but, at the end of the day it’s not our call.”
THE CHOOSE CONE CAME UP A COUPLE WEEKS AGO. IS THERE ANYTHING NASCAR CAN DO ABOUT THAT BECAUSE THE GAMESMANSHIP SEEMS TO BE CONTINUING? “This is why it’s so hard for NASCAR because I just wish they went back to single-file restarts. That would be the best way to fix it. I thought that was a fair way or racing. That’s what our sport was brought up on and there weren’t any of those types of games, but what do I know?”
HOW HAVE THE EVENTS OF THE LAST 10 DAYS IMPACTED YOU? “I’m not gonna sit here and tell you I have all kinds of answers, but I think I can agree to listen and try to appreciate other perspectives and, more than anything else, just have empathy. I’ve been guilty and probably still am guilty a lot of times of not doing the best job of having empathy, but in these situations I think it’s really important and I can tell you that there ain’t no fun in seeing everything that’s been going on and I wish we could fix it. We’ve spent the last 300 years as a country trying to fix it and we still ain’t got it right, so I guess that means we’ve got to keep working. Will I have the answer? No, but I think it starts with kind of owning your own box, your own 10 square feet so to speak. If you can’t make a problem better, certainly don’t make it worse. Sometimes I think we make it worse and don’t know we’re making it worse and that’s why it’s important to listen.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang — “We started off pretty far off, to be honest with you, and just really, really loose for the first three or four runs of the day and really wasn’t going anywhere. We were kind of going backwards and then we finally started making some good headway there the second run of the second stage there and were able to close in and finish second in the second stage, which is good. We had a good pit stop and got us out fourth and from there on out just tried to manage our tires. I didn’t think I had anything for the 4 or the 19 or the 18. They were pretty good, but I felt like a fourth or fifth-place car and that’s where we ended up, so I was really proud of the effort in making our car a lot better throughout the day. That was really big gains that we did.”
HOW WERE THE CONDITIONS FOR YOUR TODAY? “It was hot. It was kind of muggy. All that stuff, but the sun wasn’t really beating down a lot today, but it was just kind of warm out. It’s a tough track. It’s a very demanding track. It’s worn out. It’s a long race, especially if you’re loose like I was. I’m kind of worn out, to be honest with you. It was a long day at the office, but it’s just a tough race being the length and how difficult it is to get around here, but, like Brad said, it could always be worse. It could be raining.”
THE VIDEO MESSAGE BEFORE THE RACE SEEMED TO BE WELL-RECEIVED. ON THE FLIP SIDE IS IT TIME FOR NASCAR TO REVIEW THE CONFEDERATE FLAG ISSUE? “It was really great for the drivers to get together and correlate putting that video out. Jimmie Johnson was a big part of that, along with Bubba and Suarez and everyone else who was part of the video. I thought it was really nice what NASCAR did today and had a moment of silence. I didn’t see what Steve Phelps said. I believe Steve was talking and I didn’t hear what he said, but as far as the confederate flags go, they had that trade your flag in and I think everyone has their beliefs. It’s tough, but I don’t really enjoy it because sometimes I feel like the people that wave them mean the negative when they wave them and that’s not cool. Yeah, I’d love to not see them at the race track, honestly, because it doesn’t make everyone comfortable, so that’s kind of where I stand on that. Bring your 50 stars flag. I think that would be way better.”
THE CHOOSE CONE CAME UP A COUPLE WEEKS AGO. IS THERE ANYTHING NASCAR CAN DO ABOUT THAT BECAUSE THE GAMESMANSHIP SEEMS TO BE CONTINUING? “I’d love the choose cone. At certain tracks I think it would be really neat. Maybe you don’t do it everywhere, but some of the places where it’s maybe dominant on one lane for the restart at least, you could kind of maybe have some people take a chance. I’d like to see it. I thought it’s a neat idea, for sure. We may not have it everywhere, but I wouldn’t mind it being in place.”
IS THIS AS MUCH OF AN ADVANTAGE OR DISADVANTAGE BETWEEN TWO LANES HERE AND BRISTOL, AND HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE IT WITH WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE AT MARTINSVILLE? “Especially on the 550s you’re gonna have, it’s a lot of the pushes and things like that and what you get. There are tougher places than others. Here it’s hard for the top lane to get rolling. It’s just kind of how the pavement is and it’s just slick compared to the bottom so you have jumble ups. The 550s have always been wild, but the choose cone, I think, is a great option that we can think on. I think it would be really neat. Maybe play with it for the All-Star Race. That would be pretty cool.”
IS THIS AS MUCH OF AN ADVANTAGE OR DISADVANTAGE BETWEEN TWO LANES HERE AND BRISTOL, AND HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE IT WITH WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE AT MARTINSVILLE? “I’ve never had too much of an issue on the physical wear. Yeah, you get tired a little bit. I was a little tired. I felt like I was swatting bees or out with Paul Bunyan chopping down trees all day. I thought it wasn’t too bad, but I agree with Joey. If you have been doing nothing during this pandemic, you might be hurting a little bit, but try to stay up on it the best you can and keep hydrating and try to be in the best shape you can.”
HOW HAVE THE EVENTS OF THE LAST 10 DAYS IMPACTED YOU? “It’s tough to really be in the shoes of people that have been discriminated against, not only the past 10 days but for a very long time. The best we can do is learn and I’m fortunate to have a lot of friends that have been growing up in a different part of town or haven’t been as fortunate as me, and I’ve learned a lot from them, not only the past 10 days but for a long time just understanding. I actually walked around in Charlotte earlier this week during the day with some buddies and was in a couple of the peaceful protests and just seeing and talking and learning about it. That’s just something that you want to get involved with and support your fellow human being. We all have to treat each other equally. It kind of disgust me when the race thing comes up and people hate a person for being a different pigment, and not judging them by their character. That’s just something that I can never understand, but it’s nice that I think a lot of people are really supporting it and it has a lot of traction behind it, and I thought today what they did on the frontstrech was a really good gesture to show how much we support them.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — HOW WERE THE CONDITIONS? “Slick. Atlanta. Like normal, which is awesome and a lot of fun. We started up front there and I was able to maintain some decent track position and then had a not-so-good restart on the top side, spinning our tires coming to the end of the first stage, which put us in a bad spot going down pit road. We hit and crashed with a car exiting their pit box aggressively and I was already three-wide on the bottom and had to move up to not get hit on the inside and ended up getting some damage in the right-rear. We tried to fix it and still felt like we kind of had a parachute, so we fixed it better and at that point we’re starting the final stage of the race and it’s really hard to pass. It was just a really good long run car is where we were at, so those last 20 laps of the race we were hauling the mail, just a little too little too late to get back up there. I know it feels like a long race, but I wouldn’t have minded another 100 miles to that one. I felt like I had a really good car and something I could probably go up there and compete, especially on the long haul, maybe not the short run, but on the long haul that thing was special. Just a little bit short. We still got a top 10, but wish it was better.”
THE CHOOSE CONE CAME UP A COUPLE WEEKS AGO. IS THERE ANYTHING NASCAR CAN DO ABOUT THAT BECAUSE THE GAMESMANSHIP SEEMS TO BE CONTINUING? “Do it everywhere, every track. It doesn’t matter. It’s necessary in today’s world or racing. That’s my opinion, and I think we can all do it because I know Blaney and I did it when we were like nine years old racing Bandolaros and Legends cars and we can handle it. I’ve been saying it for years. I’ve had the conversation multiple times, please, please. I think it’s necessary.”
IS THIS AS MUCH OF AN ADVANTAGE OR DISADVANTAGE BETWEEN TWO LANES HERE AND BRISTOL, AND HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE IT WITH WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE AT MARTINSVILLE? “I just think with the 550 package when you come to race tracks like here and Charlotte and those types of places there is definite lines that are better than others, and you’re gonna go to Martinsville and there’s usually a lane there better than any other one. No matter what track you go to they’re gonna have a dominant lane. What’s that worth? Put a choose cone there and that’s kind of a fun game at that point? Are you willing to give up two rows to start in the preferred lane? I don’t know. That’s a fun thing. It’s something for us to work on, that’s for sure. You’d have to study it. Do you take the risk and move up three rows and you take the shot of maybe finding a hole.”
HOW IS THE BODY REACTING TO ALL THIS RACING AND WHAT ARE YOU LEARNING AS FAR AS TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF? “I think that this whole COVID-19 thing, those who looked at it and said it’s a vacation, they’re probably paying the penalty at this point. The ones that continued to work and said, ‘We’re gonna show up better than we did when this whole thing started’ are probably the ones that are feeling good right now. We all knew we were going to be racing a lot in a short period of time, so having that on the forefront of your mind you can’t take a break over that period of time and fall out of shape.”
HOW HAVE THE EVENTS OF THE LAST 10 DAYS IMPACTED YOU? “Obviously, when something like this is happening the first thing you want to do is educate yourself. All of us are from different areas…
At so many protests people are just looking to be heard and all you can do, and basically what you owe them is to listen and learn, and understand what’s going on as much as possible. Like I said, I’ll never be able to completely understand because of the color of my skin or where I grew up – those type of things — but you can try to understand the best you can. And I guess that’s the impact of what’s going on for me is just, whether it’s talking to Bubba or watching the news, which is skewed six different ways depending on which channel you watch, but just trying to learn at this point is the biggest thing with an open heart.”
