NASCAR CUP SERIES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2020
DRYDENE 311 – DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
FORD PERFORMANCE DRIVER – POST RACE QUOTES
FORD FINISHING RESULTS:
4th — Kevin Harvick
6th — Clint Bowyer
8th — Joey Logano
9th — Brad Keselowski
11th — Cole Custer
14th — Ryan Blaney
16th — Chris Buescher
17th — Aric Almirola
19th — Ryan Newman
20th — Matt DiBenedetto
24th — John Hunter Nemechek
26th — Michael McDowell
29th — Corey LaJoie
31st — JJ Yeley
35th — Joey Gase
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang — “I wasn’t very good all day. Overall, our Mobil 1 Mustang just never would turn and then we got it so it wouldn’t turn and too loose. We had trouble on pit road and had to come back in at one point, but everybody kept battling and doing everything that they could and wound up with a top five.”
IT WAS NOT EASY FOR YOU TODAY TO FINISH FOURTH. “We fought everything all day with our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang. We had a lot of trouble on pit road. We could not get the front of our car to turn up off the corner and at the end it started just sliding the back everywhere and it wouldn’t turn off the corner, so we definitely have some work to do. The guys did a great job hanging in there and battling back through all the adversity today, but definitely not where we wanted to be.”
YOU CAME THROUGH THE FIELD IN THAT FIRST STAGE. HOW DO YOU KEEP THAT KIND OF SPEED ALL DAY TOMORROW? “I think the first run of the race, even the second run of the race there after we got the penalty, our tight race car was okay when everybody else was really loose and then it kind of swung the other way. Everybody got a little bit tighter and we got even tighter yet than what we started, so we just have to figure out where to start our balance for tomorrow.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Wurth Ford Mustang — “It was a decent day. Nothing to write home about, but not bad. We kind of ran solidly in the top 10 all day. We had a really good restart there in the first stage and got us third in stage one and then was just kind of okay from there. We took a little shot at running long in stage two hoping for a yellow and didn’t get it — part of the deal, just trying and ended up ninth. There’s not a lot to say other than that. The Gibbs cars were pretty much lights-out faster than everybody and we did the best we could to get what we had out of our day.”
WITH THE SHORTENED RACE TODAY AND 750 PACKAGE DID THE RACE PLAY OUT THE WAY YOU EXPECTED? “Yeah, pretty much. Long green flag runs. There were one or two incidents. The tire Goodyear brought was very durable. I didn’t see any issues there. I would say it was your atypical Dover race.”
THE SECOND RACE WITH THE CHOOSE RULE. HOW DO YOU THINK IT WENT? “I probably liked it here a little better here than other places because at this track there’s such a gap between the top and bottom lanes. I thought that was interesting the choices that people made, so it’s growing on me for sure.”
WHAT KIND OF CHANGES CAN YOU MAKE FOR TOMORROW AT DOVER, WHICH IS MUCH DIFFERENT THAN MICHIGAN AND POCONO? “I’m aware it’s different. I think this track is maybe a little bit more sensitive to changes in the car. I know the knobs here are a little more sensitive for sure.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Mustang — “Our No. 14 Haas Automation Ford was great right up there until the final 40 laps or so, but we did what we needed to do today. We put some stage points up on the board and got a good finish. We are getting better each week and this is a great time of the year to do that. That was a lot of fun. Let’s do this again tomorrow!”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Digital Ally Shield Cleansers Ford Mustang — “There may have been 10 or 12 guys who had really good speed. You didn’t see a ton of cars on the lead lap even in a short race. We had good speed, but it was tough to pass for everyone. So, we just had to work track position and strategy. We’ll have to do the same tomorrow. But, I think we can take some notes to get some good adjustments into the Digital Ally Shield Cleanser Ford Mustang. We’ll need to have a good start and just grind to stay up there. We’re close, the result doesn’t show it, but I think we can have a good run on Sunday with just a few adjustments.”
