Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
Citizen Soldier 400 Qualifying – Dover International Speedway
Friday, September 30, 2016
Qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway was rained out, so the field will be set according to the rulebook. As a result, Brad Keselowski will be on the pole. He stopped by the infield media center to talk about starting first.
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – YOU MUST LIKE THE FACT YOU’RE STARTING UP FRONT ON SUNDAY. “It’s great and my team guys were the first to tell me that we earned it because we obviously have been having a great season, maybe not with what we had done on track today, but with what we had done throughout the course of the year and scoring a lot of points and winning races. So it’s certainly still something to be very proud of to be this far into the season and being the points lead, so these are the perks you get when you’re in that position. We’ll take it. Of course, being up front gives us a very advantageous pit road selection for this race, which I think is very critical, so we’ve got a lot to smile about and be happy, but also a lot of work left to do.”
WITH ALL 16 CHASE DRIVERS UP FRONT DOES IT MAKE IT ANYMORE DYNAMIC OR CHANGE THE COMPLEXION IF EVERYONE WAS STRUNG OUT THROUGH THE FIELD? “I think it makes it more fun to watch, at least at the start because you’ve got the 12th and 13th-place car right next to each other. That should be compelling to watch. I won’t get to see it, but you will. That will be fun to watch. Other than that, those things have a way of working their way out – the good teams and the best cars on that particular day, or the worst ones will find their way to the back. But at the start, it will certainly be very compelling.”
WERE YOU GUYS ABLE TO DO ENOUGH TODAY TO MAKE YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE GOING INTO SUNDAY IF YOU DON’T GET TRACK TIME TOMORROW? “Yeah, we did two race runs and our second race run was, I thought, really stellar. So I’m encouraged and I feel very positive to move on if we’re unable to get on track anymore before Sunday’s race.”
IF BOTH PRACTICES ARE RAINED OUT TOMORROW DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM WOULD HAVE ANY SORT OF ADVANTAGE OR DISADVANTAGE? “I don’t know if it benefits us as a team or hurts us. I think it’s pretty equal. There were a couple of teams I saw that did race runs only and a couple teams I saw did almost all qualifying stuff. I feel like we’re probably right in the middle.”
Ford Starting Positions:
1st — Brad Keselowski
5th — Joey Logano
16th — Chris Buescher
20th — Ryan Blaney
22nd — Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
23rd — Trevor Bayne
25th — Greg Biffle
27th — Aric Almirola
31st — Landon Cassill
34th — Brian Scott
38th — Jeffrey Earnhardt
