Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Saturday, March 30, 2019
EVENT: O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Final Practice
Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford Mustang, had the fastest time among Ford drivers in today’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session. Blaney was third overall on the single-lap speed chart and will start 13th in tomorrow’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford Mustang – DID YOU GO UP TO THE VHT AT ALL? “A little bit. I saw a couple guys go up there and I don’t think it will be as effective today with it being so cold and cloudy. I think tomorrow is supposed to be like 55 but sunny, and just the ambient temperature on the track is gonna help that. The Truck race it looked like it was an option last night. It looked like you wouldn’t struggle really bad up there. You could pretty much hang, but I hope tomorrow it’s sunnier and we’ll be able to go up there. In three and four you could run two to two-and-a-half lanes up pretty easy. One and two, I feel like that will be better tomorrow.”
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT VHT WILL WORK? DO YOU GO AND SEE IF IT STICKS OR SEE IF SOMEONE ELSE DOES IT FIRST? “I like to try and see someone else do it first, but you’re committed up there. You’re taking the longer way around, so you’ve got to have more throttle. You’re driving harder up there and you’re just like, ‘I hope it’s activated or sticky enough to hold my car.’ So you don’t really know, you just kind of – spotters are good or if drivers can see if anyone else is trying it or doing it with any success you might be able to try it. It’s kind of just an in-the-moment thing.”
DO YOU EASE ON IN TO IT? “No, if you’re gonna enter up there you’ve got to full bore it. Maybe the first lap you kind of feel it out a little bit, but you don’t want to give up five or six car lengths trying it and then you’ve got to work your way back up to that guy, so you’ve got to be committed.”
THIS PRACTICE SESSION SAW THE GROUP BUNCHED TOGETHER. DOES THIS TRACK ALLOW FOR MORE PACK RACING? “Yeah, it does seem like here we’ve been running closer together than Fontana or Vegas or Atlanta. I think this track has a lot of grip. Three and four is easy, wide-open. One and two you’re on the verge of like leaning on your right-rear tire to get grip, so, yeah, I could see us a little bit more packed together. It could be frustrating for us. If you’re packed together and get the lead or something and you can’t get away from that person, but that’s the way it is. I do feel like we’ll be a little bit closer together. I mean, it’s gonna get spread out a little bit over a 40-lap run. Good cars are gonna rise to the occasion and then when the sun is out tomorrow I think that’s gonna have even more of an effect. Everyone’s cars were driving pretty good today with it being so cold, so we’ll see. But, yeah, I think this will be the place that you’ll see more of us kind of pack racing close together.”
