Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Coca-Cola 600 Qualifying – Charlotte Motor Speedway
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Ford Qualifying Results:
1st – Kevin Harvick
7th – Ryan Blaney
9th – Clint Bowyer
10th – Brad Keselowski
12th – Kurt Busch
13th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
15th – Danica Patrick
18th – Trevor Bayne
23rd – Joey Logano
25th – Regan Smith
28th – Landon Cassill
30th – Matt DiBenedetto
31st – David Ragan
KEVIN HARVICK – No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion – “The cars in qualifying were a lot looser than they were in practice and just based on past experience here it was a handful through one and two. I just about lost it the first run, but the car was so good in three and four I didn’t want to overadjust on it and make it too tight down there because you get tighter as the lap runs, so the guys did a good job of making adjustments, but not making it so tight that I couldn’t carry the throttle like I needed to in three and four. So they just did a great job on our Mobil 1 Ford.”
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE VHT IN PRACTICE? “I never found any of it that worked. Everything is still right on the bottom. There’s really no speed right now in the middle or top of the race track even in XFINITY practice.”
CLINT BOWYER – No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Fusion – “It’s such a big race. Practice definitely didn’t go the way we anticipated and planned after getting in the wall and the guys working hard on the car. Truth be told, we should be happy with a top-10 starting spot. It’s a long race. You’ve got to be up in clean air and have to be amongst them. We’ll work hard and get it right for the race.”
DANICA PATRICK – No. 10 Code 3 Associates Ford Fusion – “I feel like it’s kind of been a day of hit-or-miss. We weren’t great in practice and then we got going better, and then in qualifying we weren’t good the first run, but then we got going better. We just have to make sure we hit it for Sunday.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “Brad and Denny had to go out. I didn’t care if one of them beat us, I didn’t need both of them to beat us. That’s a big improvement from practice, so that’s a positive. We’ll look at what we did there and apply it to our race trim for Saturday’s practice. I think our car drives a little better at night, so we’ll have to make sure that we can hang on during the day and get it done when the night falls.”
REGAN SMITH – No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion – “We were a little tight and just a little bit on the splitter, but we didn’t really have time to get out and make a second run. We were waiting for a clean lap the first run and the way that the whole session cycled through was kind of weird. Kasey got a lap there at the end and bumped us out of this whole deal, but I felt like our car was probably gonna be good enough to be somewhere around 15th on the next round with a little adjustment and getting to work just a little bit. These guys have done a nice job all week long. I’m not their normal guy. They’re adapting to me, I’m adapting to them and I feel like we’re gonna have a good day on Sunday. We’re gonna have fun representing the U.S. Air Force and driving the King’s 43. That’s pretty cool. Outside of that, it should be a fun day..”
