Ford Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
AAA Texas 500 (Texas Motor Speedway)
Sunday, November 4, 2018
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
1st Kevin Harvick
2nd Ryan Blaney
3rd Joey Logano
7th Kurt Busch
8th Aric Almirola
11th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12th Brad Keselowski
13th Paul Menard
21st Trevor Bayne
24th David Ragan
26th Clint Bowyer
29th Michael McDowell
38th Matt DiBenedetto
KEVIN HARVICK DOMINATES TEXAS, CLINCHES CHAMPIONSHIP 4 SPOT
- Kevin Harvick won his eighth race of the season and 10th with Ford after today’s triumph at Texas Motor Speedway.
- The win clinches a spot in the Championship 4 for Harvick to be decided at Ford Championship Weekend.
- Harvick joins Joey Logano in the Championship 4 field, guaranteeing Ford will have at least half of cars in the four-car finale.
- The win marks his 45th career Cup Series victory and his 106th career NASCAR National Series win.
- Ford leads all manufacturers with 18 victories this season.
- This marks the 15th win for Stewart-Haas Racing since joining Ford last year.
- The win is Fusion’s 107th Cup Series triumph since becoming Ford’s flagship vehicle in 2006.
- Today’s win is Ford’s 676th all-time in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition.
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion – FINISHED 1st — VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW
“That last restart I knew I needed to pick the top. I wanted to be on the bottom to be safe because the top got such a good sidedraft getting into one and the outside groove got rubbered up. I thought if I could keep him from finishing the corner I could drive back by him. It all worked out. Everything went well today on our Mobil 1 Ford and we were able to get to victory lane.”
HOW BIG IS IT TO MAKE A STATEMENT HERE HEADING TO HOMESTEAD? “I think it is really just week to week. We don’t try to do anything different. We come to try to put ourselves in position to win with the equipment we have right now you need to take advantage of it. It might not be this way forever, so you want to take advantage of the situation and today we did.”
ON THE RADIO AT THE END, YOU AND RODNEY BOTH KEPT SAYING, EXECUTION, EXECUTION, EXECUTION: “It was a big day for all of us. For me on the restarts and to win the race on the restart late at the end. The guys on pit road had a solid day and gained spots on pit road and Rodney made great calls. All around, just a great day of execution.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Accella/Carlisle Ford Fusion – Finished 2nd
“We got by the 4 on that one restart but I just couldn’t hold him off. He was really good. I kind of missed one and two by an inch and he took advantage of it. We needed to be mistake free and then some and I just couldn’t be that. Then we had another shot at it. The last one, he took the top, like I knew he was going to and he motored around me. It was a strong showing by our Carlisle team. I thought we were a second place car all night really. I thought the 4 was head and shoulders above everyone else but I thought we were second best for sure. That was a fun race for sure. I really wanted to win one for Dewayne and his family. He passed away earlier this week and was a fabricator at our shop. We are thinking about him. I wanted to win for him. Maybe we will get one for that family here in the next couple.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 AAA Insurance Ford Fusion – Finished 3rd
“We had a top-five car. We got out front where we could lead laps for a little bit and just when the front tires would give up that is when the 4 was just stellar. He was stupid fast. He was able to do a lot. Congrats to them. That is two Fords in and two to go.”
ARIC ALMIROLA WAS NOT HAPPY WITH YOU AFTER THE RACE: “I haven’t talked to him. I don’t know what is going on. We were still racing at the end of the race and got hit in the left rear in thurn three. There is no outside lane in three and four. The tire that Goodyear brought here doesn’t allow a second lane to really work so I was just trying to hang strong up there. It is just racing.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion – Finished 8th
“We were a third place car and that restart there where we finally were in position we fought all day from the back and started at the tail and worked diligently all day to get up to the front and finally got ourselves in position to at least have a shot and race with those guys. The 22 just went down in turn three and put it right on my door and about wrecked us both. I am not sure. I will have to talk to him. He just continues to make things harder on himself. If that is the way he wants to race me when he is already locked into Homestead and we are out here fighting for our lives, that is fine. When Homestead comes around if I am not in, he will know it.”
HOW FAR WILL YOU TAKE IT? “I will just make it really difficult on him. He made it really difficult on me today which was really unnecessary. He could have run fourth, fifth, 11th, it doesn’t matter. He is still going to go to Homestead and race for a championship, it is just not smart.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PHOENIX? “I am fired up. Let’s go.”
KURT BUSCH, No. 41 State Water Heaters Ford Fusion – Finished 7th
“I just didn’t get the restarts nailed at the end. I was on the loose side. We thought we were going to be loose but each restart just got worse and worse and we had no right-rear grip. I don’t’ know what really leads to that other than just heat cycles on the tires.We are in a good position. There are a lot of other people I would like to be right here. We just didn’t have the speed the 4 car had today and hopefully we will get it next week.”
