Ford Performance NSCS Notes & Quotes:
AAA Texas 500 – Texas Motor Speedway
Sunday November 8, 2015
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd Brad Keselowski
18th Aric Almirola
19th Greg Biffle
21st Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
24th Sam Hornish Jr.
27th Cole Whitt
29th David Gilliland
30th Brett Moffitt
34th Michael McDowell
39th Trevor Bayne
40th Joey Logano
43rd Ryan Blaney
BRAD KESELOWSKi, No. 2 WURTH FORD FUSION (FINISHED 2nd)
“The 48 car had mega turn that last run and I couldn’t keep the turn and it kept pushing real bad. I did everything I could to hold him off but he was way faster that last run. Their team did a hell of a job and found speed and my team did a hell of a job too. We led 300-some laps and these debris yellows always favor someone and it wasn’t our day for them to favor us. I am still very proud of our effort today. We will have a great shot at winning next week. We really needed to win this one and I know I gave it my all.”
YOU IMMEDIATELY WENT TO TALK TO THE 78, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO SAY TO TRUEX? “I didn’t know if I came up into him or if he came down into me. Either way we got together and it probably didn’t help either of us. It was a hell of a race. The 48 was so fast that last run and he made it count.”
TALK ABOUT THE PRESSURE YOU WILL HAVE ON YOU NEXT WEEK IN PHOENIX IN A MUST WIN SITUATION. “It isn’t pressure, it is opportunity and I am happy to have those opportunities with a great team.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 AAA INSURANCE FORD FUSION – (FINISHED 40th) – POST RACE INTERVIEW
“It was just part of it. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. We will be ready for Phoenix. This team is strong. We didn’t take any wind out of our sails today and we showed how fast this thing was even after we crashed. I am very proud of our team.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT A MUST WIN SITUATION NEXT WEEK IN PHOENIX? “Same as this week. This was a must win situation as well. If we finished second today we would be in the same boat going into Phoenix. I feel great about our chances at Phoenix. It has been a great race track for us in the past. I felt like this track was a great one for us as well. It is unfortunate that we finished how we did.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 AAA INSURANCE FORD FUSION – Involved in single car incident on lap three when left rear tire blew – IN RACE INTERVIEW
DID YOU HAVE ANY INDICATION THE TIRE WAS GOING DOWN? “No, it just blew apart off of turn two. The left rear tire came apart and shredded everything inside the car. It did a lot more damage than just the tire blowing apart. I don’t know. We needed to win. We aren’t out of it though. This team isn’t quitting yet. We will go out there and gain a couple points, which don’t mean anything but we will go to Phoenix and try to win that one. It is unfortunate. It just wasn’t in the plans today.”
HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT TO SIT HERE AND WATCH THIS TAKE QUITE AWHILE TO FIX, KNOWING YOU ARE LOSING VALUABLE POINTS. “It isn’t about points for us. Points don’t mean anything right now. It is all about wins. That was our goal today going into the race. The car didn’t take off bad and we were going to get to lap 25 and make some adjustments like everyone else would and I thought we were in the ballpark at least. I thought we were a little better at the 18 at the time, we just needed to get around him. It just came apart. It seems like there are a lot of issues right now. I don’t know what the deal is with everything coming out of the blue. I am not sure what happened to the 11 and the 21 and it looked the the 4 just blew one out too.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 SNAP-ON TOOLS FORD FUSION (Finished 43rd)
Involved in single car incident on lap 26
WHAT HAPPENED? “We had a good car and we were driving forward early and I got into the wall off four trying to pass somebody and cut a right front tire down. Hit the wall pretty hard in one and two and ruined our day. It is all my fault. I hit the wall all by myself and ruined a very fast race car. That is really unfortunate. I think with how we started out today it is kind of a good thing with what we learned and really makes you look forward to Homestead.”
HOW FRUSTRATING IS THIS ON TOP OF THE BAD LUCK YOU GUYS HAVE HAD THIS SEASON? “Yeah, today was 100-percent driver error so it is a little bit different than what we have been dealing with all year. That was all me there. These guys do too good of a job to deserve that. It is definitely not what they deserve. Hopefully we will make up for it in a couple weeks at Homestead.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 WURTH FORD FUSION (FINISHED 2nd)
YOU LED 312 LAPS, BRAD. YOU’RE NOW SIXTH IN THE CHASE. TALK ABOUT THE LAST LAPS AS JIMMIE MADE THAT MOVE UP TO THE FRONT. ”Yeah, it was a good race at the end. We led a lot of laps. There is a lot to be proud of. We came up one spot short, which is unfortunate. But still we had a great day. Just one step short of having the awesome day we needed to have. But we know if we keep running like we have the last two weeks, you know, we’ll win races. We need to win the next two. I understand that. But I think we have a great opportunity to do it, as well.”
YOU LOOKED STRONG UP UNTIL THE VERY FINAL PIT STOP. DID YOU ALL MAKE ANY MAJOR CHANGES AT THAT FINAL PIT STOP?“You know, I’m not sure. I have to ask my crew chief on that. Yeah, we had a great day. I thought we were definitely the fastest till that run for sure.”
DO YOU THINK YOU COULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING DIFFERENT TO HOLD OFF JIMMIE OR WAS HE TOO FAST? “I’m sure we could have done something different. I don’t know if I could have, but we could have. We’ll have to go to work and try to figure it out.”
THE WAY THE POINTS ARE SITUATED NOW FOR YOU AND JOEY, IT’S PRETTY MUCH ONE OR THE OTHER AT PHOENIX. IS THAT GOING TO MAKE IT TOUGHER? DOES THIS MAKE THIS HARD TO SWALLOW? “Yeah, I don’t know. I haven’t really had enough time to look at that to digest it. Certainly we’d like to get both cars in at Phoenix. I don’t think that’s impossible, but it doesn’t look favorable. We’ll go there and do our best to make it happen.”
CONSIDERING WHAT’S HAPPENED OVER THE LAST THREE WEEKS, WHAT WAS YOUR PHILOSOPHY AS FAR AS HOW MUCH CONTACT YOU CAN HAVE WITH PEOPLE IN THOSE LAST FEW LAPS? “I don’t think I changed any concerning the last few weeks. It was pretty clear before and remains clear, that you can race hard for a win, make contact that’s reasonable, kind of prudent for the situation. I don’t feel like that’s changed.”
YOU WERE SO DOMINANT MOST OF TODAY. IF YOU ARE ABLE TO ADVANCE TO HOMESTEAD, DO YOU FEEL CONFIDENT ABOUT THAT? “Yeah, exactly. As strong as we ran today, if we carry that over to Homestead, good Lord, watch out. We know we need to win the next two to win the championship. The good news is we have that opportunity. That’s the way I look at it.”
YOU AND THE 78 BARELY TOUCHED THERE WHEN YOU WERE RACING LATE. DID THAT HAVE ANY IMPACT ON THE REST OF THE RACE FOR YOU? “I don’t know. It certainly is never helpful when you make contact with another car, your own car or theirs. As far as whether it hurt my car or not, I couldn’t answer that.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE KIND OF LOST THIS ONE? THAT YOU LET IT SLIP AWAY? “Yeah, I’m not sure exactly how to feel about it at the moment. The 48 car had so much speed them last 10 laps. As I sit right now, maybe I’ll change my mind. I don’t know what I would have done differently or could have done differently.”
DOES THAT CHANGE YOUR LEVEL OF DISAPPOINTMENT? “Certainly, yeah. I mean, there’s always something you can do better. But not knowing what that might be at this moment makes it a little bit easier to digest.”
WHEN YOUR TEAMMATE JOEY LOGANO HAD HIS TIRE PROBLEM EARLY IN THE RACE, WERE YOU MAYBE GETTING NERVOUS OR AFRAID SIMILAR THINGS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU? DID YOU ALSO SPEAK TO YOUR COLLEAGUES FROM THE 22 CAR? “I would defer to Paul because I didn’t speak to anyone on the 22 team about it. I haven’t had an opportunity. The first one, certainly, when you see your teammate have an issue, not just my teammate, sounded like there were three or four other cars that had an issue, you know the faster you go the higher the odds are you’re going to have that problem as well. It certainly was on our mind all day.”
IT LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD A PRETTY CLEAN RACE AS FAR AS NO TIRE ISSUES. PIT STOPS WERE PRETTY CLEAN WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE LAST ONE. TALK ABOUT HOW PROUD YOU ARE OF YOUR CREW. “Yeah, we had damn near a flawless day. Great pit stops, fast car in qualifying. Never ran a lap in race trim, and the car was just flying in the race. My team I feel like did an excellent job all day long and has a ton to be proud of.”
