Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
NXS O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge – Texas Motor Speedway
Saturday, November 5, 2016
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd Brad Keselowski
11th Ryan Reed
12th Darrell Wallace Jr.
26th Clint King
28th BJ McLeod
RYAN REED, No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang – Finished 11th
HOW DID THAT EARLY DAMAGE EFFECT YOUR DAY? “Yeah, I don’t know that much about it. He just said we knocked the grille in a little on that initial start. I don’t really know what the damage did. If anything we lost some front downforce but we were free all day so I don’t know how much that would have helped or hurt us not having the damage. It was just a tough day. We couldn’t really get the balance right. We could get it tight or get it loose but we were really free on entry all day. It is just a tough one. I think it was one of those days where it isn’t going to make or break your season but once you get down to crunch time you have to have top seven or eight days to get into the final four. If that is all we can do we probably aren’t going to make it. If we can go to Phoenix and throw a Hail Mary and pull something off, that would be awesome.”
WHAT IS THE MINDSET GOING TO PHOENIX FIVE POINTS OUTSIDE THE TOP-FOUR? “Yeah, we are five points back so you just go out there and lay it all out on the line. At that point it is your whole season. There is nothing left to lose there. You aren’t points racing at that point per say. You have to go beat those guys by five positions.”
DARRELL WALLACE JR., No. 6 Leidos Ford Mustang – Finished 12th
“I actually thought we would be a little worse off from where we finished. Hats off to my guys on the Leidos team. I thought we would be a little worse off. We never got a handle on the balance and were kind of back and forth. The car was definitely a handful, even throughout the race. We were able to get it just kind of where we needed it to be and we were able to salvage a good finish. That was good for us. We were close to the 7 for a top-10. Coming out of this deal I thought we would be 15th or so. That was good for us. I am not worried about the points. It is great if we make it but no bummer if we don’t. We just need to bring better cars to put us in a spot to start worrying about points. We will continue to work. We have two more races. Phoenix has been a struggle bus for us. We need to study our notes and go in there. The Leidos team had a nice day and made no mistakes today.”
YOU HAVEN’T FARED WELL AT PHOENIX AND NOW YOU HAVE TO GO THERE AND WIN TO ADVANCE. “Yeah, you see the Cup guys that are in those spots to win to get in and I guess I have that title now. It is a long shot for us but you never know what could happen. We were kind of banking on some fuel strategy with that second to last caution that put us right at our window. Banking off last year we were one of the top cars to make it on a long run. We can’t hang our heads about that. We will continue to fight and go on.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – Finished 2nd – POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN TODAY AND TRYING TO CATCH KYLE (LARSON) AT THE END. “We had a really strong car and we made a major stride forward with this team and this program which feels really good. I am very happy about the speed we had and being able to lead a lot of laps and am disappointed to not be able to bring it home there at the end. All in all it was a good weekend for the 22 Discount Tire Ford XFINITY team.”
WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE TODAY? THE PUSH FROM ELLIOTT ON THE RESTART? “I haven’t seen the replay but from what I can tell, yeah. Whatever car got out front with the way the aerodynamics are is going to control the pace. It is so hard to pass because the aero is so important and the cars are so equal that way. I thought maybe we were a touch faster but without the track position you lose too much grip behind the guy to do anything.”
ANYTHING YOU CAN TAKE FOR TOMORROW’S RACE? “Always. There is always something you can take, my friend. But I am not going to tell you what and I know that is what you are going to ask but that is why I am here.”
HOW IMPORTANT WAS THIS PERFORMANCE FOR THE 22 PROGRAM? “It bodes really well for Ryan Blaney. What we really want to do is get Ryan to Homestead to have a solid day and win the owners championship and this puts him in position to do that. Of course we have to have a good week at Phoenix and we are hoping to get a win to do that but it still bodes very well for him. The confidence and momentum builds in the shop and with the team that hopefully spurs on to even greater things.”
DO YOU FEEL WHAT YOU LEARNED TODAY WILL BE SUBSTANTIAL TO YOUR RUN TOMORROW? “It is always hard to tell. I kind of feel like with these races you build a playbook and you might not need that play tomorrowbut it will come back somewhere. That expertise and knowledge that you get from these experiences always finds its way in somewhere. I hate to guarantee anything for tomorrow based off today but you would assume so, that something will carry over, for sure.”
