Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Goodyear 400 | Sunday, May 14, 2023
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd – Kevin Harvick
4th – Brad Keselowski
6th – Harrison Burton
9th – Ryan Blaney
10th — Chris Buescher
11th – Todd Gilliland
15th – Ryan Preece
17th – Chase Briscoe
18th – Joey Logano
19th – Austin Cindric
20th – Aric Almirola
28th – Ryan Newman
33rd – Michael McDowell
36th – Brennan Poole
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang – “We had a good car all day. We just could never get up toward the front. Our Sunny Delight Ford Mustang struggled in traffic today, but we were really good at the second half of the run and just struggled at the beginning of the run. We had good track position and then had a bad pit stop under green, but had everything work out at the end. I didn’t have anything for WIlliam. The front is tore up pretty good, but they did a great job and just kind of kept ourselves in the game and you never know what’s gonna happen.”
KEVIN, HOW WAS YOUR DAY? “I think if you would have dropped us in first or second place we probably could have run there. The Fords struggle in traffic with this particular aero package and it’s hard to make up ground, and then we lost a bunch of ground on pit road under the green flag pit stop. Then we got toward the end and missed all the wrecks. Well, we came out the other side of the wrecks. We were in the wrecks, but just didn’t have any damage to the wheels and tires, just structural damage. WIlliam ended up being the only car that didn’t have damage and he just drove off, so still a good day for our Sunny Delight Ford Mustang and we’ll just keep plugging away.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol GTX Ford Mustang – “I felt like at the end it turned into a wreckfest and we got tore up and salvaged what we could salvage. Ultimately, we were a fifth or sixth-place car all day and ended up fourth. It was a real solid day. I felt like the whole team did a great job. At the end it just turned into chaos and had all those wrecks and I was in the wrong lane and got tore up and from there we were just salvaging what we could, but it’s nice to come out of here with a fourth, a lot of stage points and something to hold our head up high with.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang – “I felt like we kind of just bounced around 15th after we lost the top 10 track position early on pit road. That was a mixture of my fault and the pit crew, so it’s kind of nice we got the last caution and it was a chance for both of us to redeem ourselves and felt like we did that and got a decent finish out of it. I’m really proud of the DEX Imaging Ford Mustang guys and the Wood Brothers. It was a fast car. I mean, it felt relative to our alliance teammates at Team Penske. That’s been our goal as of late is to try and run with those guys and, relative to them, we were right there. It’s a good day for us and something to build on.”
HOW BADLY DID THIS TEAM NEED A GOOD FINISH LIKE THIS? “We really needed it. The last few weeks we’ve kind of been on the other side of it, where we’ve been fast and didn’t have anything to show for it. This week was kind of the opposite. We were probably a 10th-place car and finished sixth. That was just about execution at the end, restarts at the end and getting a decent finish.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang – “Track position was big. We got decent in the second stage. We long-pitted and I thought we made up good ground. We went from 18th to eighth and our car was pretty respectable there. but then the track went tight on us and we lost a little bit of speed and handling. We lined up there at the end and just got caught. They stacked up and destroyed the nose, so it was just one of those days.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang – “We worked hard today with our Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang to get it better. We got rolling pretty good and avoided the last two wrecks. We really wanted to see what we could do with those last 10 green flag laps to see what we could do with it, but just didn’t get that opportunity. The way this day started, we’d have taken a 10th if you would have told us we could get there. We still have a little work to do, but it’s such a track position sensitive race again. We were just planted and basically stuck and that’s why the restarts are as chaotic as they are.”
