Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
New Hampshire 301 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway
NSCS QUALIFYING
Friday, July 15, 2016
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – Qualified 9th – POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE
YOU COME INTO THIS RACE WITH A LOT OF MOMENTUM. “It sure has been a good ride the last two weeks and that is all you can ask for as a driver, to be up front and have a chance to win races. We have had that and been able to capitalize on it. I feel really good about that. We need to keep it going and hopefully we can do that this weekend here at New Hampshire. It is a little early in the weekend to tell how all that will play out and there have been a lot of change since the last time we were here. I think we are seeing that all play out together. With all that said, I feel really confident and this track is usually a very good track for us. There is no place else I would rather be.”
IT TOOK SEVERAL TEAMS AWHILE TO GET THROUGH INSPECTION. DID YOU GUYS HAVE ANY ISSUES? ALSO IT LOOKED LIKE YOU MAY HAVE HAD A PROBLEM IN THAT LAST ROUND OF QUALIFYING. “We didn’t have any problems that I know of with my car. I did see a couple guys might have gotten through late but it is hard to say why or if there were any common issues. I just know we didn’t have any that kept us from being there on time. On our last run there we just tried to find a little more speed and it didn’t stick so we aborted and tried again. It is not what we wanted but that is how it goes sometimes.”
YOUR GENERAL REACTION TO DALE JR’S NEWS AND HOW YOU THINK THE SPORT HANDLES CONCUSSIONS AS A WHOLE. “Were you saving that question for me? Dale is a friend. Obviously he is the most popular driver in the sport with a lot of fans and probably the strongest fan base. I try to not wear that hat but wear the hat of someone that he gave me a big break in my career and I am thankful for that. He is a friend of mine along the way. I would say that I am disappointed for him and I am sure he is disappointed as well but I also understand what he was thinking in terms of having a lot of life to live outside of this world right here. Sometimes that is really easy to forget. Sometimes I forget that. I think sometimes we all forget that because we are so focused on what we are trying to do. That is not always a bad thing. I am hoping everything works out for him. We want to see him back. I like racing against him. I am hoping he will be back next week. I don’t know specifics of what all he is dealing with but I think my thoughts on that whole topic has been pretty well documented. I am not really looking to add any more to it. I might not be a doctor but I like to think sometimes I have a brain and that gives me the ability to have some perspective on it. A lot of people don’t. That is okay. I am happy with what I have said so far.”
WE KNOW YOU HAVE PASSIONATE FEELINGS ON THIS TOPIC. DO YOU HAVE TO AVOID THINKING ABOUT IT OR TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT IT? IS THERE CONCERN THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO GET INTO THIS DEBATE? “I am here to win three in a row, not argue about concussions. Obviously my opinion on the topic is probably vastly different than the majority of the opinions and I feel like I have said what I need to say there and there is probably more I could say but it is just a distraction. I am not really interested in carrying it any further.”
IF JUNIOR CAN’T RUN NEXT WEEKEND THEY WILL PUT JEFF GORDON IN THE CAR. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE THOUGHT PROCESS OF HIM DECIDING TO LEAVE RACING AND THEN POSSIBLY GETTING BACK IN? “I can’t speak for Jeff but I thought he left a window where he said he wasn’t completely retired. Maybe I am wrong. I don’t know. I guess I am good with it. I am cool with whatever he wants to do. It is his prerogative. Not that he needs my permission at all. I am sure someone in here will write something that says, ‘Brad Keselowski gives Jeff Gordon permission to race.’ I will get a tweet from a Jeff Gordon fan saying what a jerk I am. It is alright by me. I think it is cool. It is always nice for a race team to have that kind of depth. I don’t know what Jeff’s thoughts are on it. He hasn’t said anything that I am aware of. I think more important on the whole topic in general is just the context of Dale being healthy.”
HOW COMFORTABLE DO YOU FEEL GAMBLING HERE TO GO FOR A FIFTH WIN AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT RACING HERE IN LOUDON? “It is nice to have four wins. I wish they meant more. When it comes Chase time I have four stickers on my car and that is about it. Beyond that it is a confidence booster for the group when we come here to New Hampshire with a lot of optimism because it is a good track for us in a lot of ways. The reasons behind that is that we have just seemed to have great communication between my crew chief for what we need to run well here and I think that is critical anywhere you go but it seems like certain tracks just click for certain teams. It isn’t always easy to define why. Sometimes you think you have an idea and something disproves it. This has been a track that has clicked for my team and myself and we are proud of that and want to keep it going. There are a lot of things getting thrown at us this weekend to maybe throw that off the rails. A different rules package with the cars and the tire compounds are drastically different which throws the car setup for a whack. It isn’t a layup weekend for us. We are going to have to really fight hard to get on top here and I know we are committed to doing that.”
IS RACING FOR A WIN HERE THIS WEEK AND HAVING YOUR CAR IN SHAPE TO DO THAT THE SAME AS GETTING READY FOR THE SECOND RACE HERE? “I think the cars will be pretty similar. The guys that are fast this time around will probably be fast next time around when we come back here. That makes this weekend a pretty important weekend for us. You look at it in terms of car development and Phoenix is probably on the opposite end. You start in late February and come back in November and it seems like you have two completely different cars with development your team has put into it. It isn’t always a good indicator of who is going to be fast. I say that after Harvick has won there a bunch of times. You look at this track and I don’t know if there is another track in the Chase that races back to back so quickly, in such a short time span. That means that generally what works here in the first race carries over to the second race because the car specs and development cycle is relatively close. I think it is a good indicator for sure and important for us to run well being that it is in the Chase when we come back. I think we put a lot of emphasis on this race, as do all the Chase eligible teams so far.”
DO THOSE FOUR STICKERS ON YOUR CAR ALLOW YOU TO EXPERIMENT ON THINGS FOR THE CHASE RACE? “Yeah, somewhat. I think it is more for the crew chiefs to make bold calls than anything else. As a driver there is only so much you can really do, short of just wrecking someone. I feel like it is the opposite as a driver you have four wins and you don’t want to piss anyone off for when the race starts but the team is like, ‘No, we have four wins so lets put that part in we thought would break but aren’t sure.’ Or, ‘Let’s call that crazy pit strategy we don’t know.’ It is two different worlds but an interesting change once you’ve won a race.”
