Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, April 12, 2019
EVENT: Toyota Owners 400 Qualifying
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
1st – Kevin Harvick
4th – Joey Logano
9th – Daniel Suarez
12th – Brad Keselowski
13th – Paul Menard
15th – Aric Almirola
16th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
20th – Matt Tifft
21st – Clint Bowyer
22nd – David Ragan
25th – Michael McDowell
29th — Ryan Blaney
31st — Ryan Newman
34th — Jeb Burton
MATT TIFFT, No. 36 The Pete Store Ford Mustang (Qualified 20th)
“That is our first time this year we have made the second round. That was big for us. We feel like we unloaded decent today. We got to loose in the second round to get the time we needed there. I feel like we could have been a little better there if we had gotten more grip. It has been pretty decent so far. We ran well at Phoenix, another flat track, so hoping to build on that and have another good weekend here.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang (Qualified 16th)
“We all knew that the track was going to be really fast to start. There was no rubber on it. Every time at Richmond in practice if you are the first 10 cars out you are always fast. Luckily we had a good draw for the first run out and that really helped us and benefited us to be in the top-five in the first round. The second round we just missed it. We weren’t great in practice. I knew at some point we would slide back a little. We were hoping to make the final round but we just missed it a little bit. We were a little too tight.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang (Qualified 4th)
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FIVE MINUTE CLOCK? “It was short. I think here it is not really a necessary thing because cars wanted to go out early and it doesn’t allow teams to cool off and go back out in the same round to improve their time. I think you actually kind of lose a little bit of the drama of a car going back out and can that car knock the car that is on the bubble out. There is no time to cool off and do that. By the time you run two or three laps you have killed maybe two minutes. You come in and cool off and it takes two or three-minutes and you are out of time. It doesn’t add up to do that. I thought it was okay. It didn’t bother us.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE FOR THE RACE? “I think we are good. I think we are pretty good. I think we have something to race with. Not much practice on the long runs but from what I felt, I think we are close.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang (Qualified 9th)
“I felt like that went okay. I felt like the car is a little faster than what we just showed. We just got a little too tight there at the end and loose on exit which is normal. Everyone is chasing something different. I feel like the speed of the car is pretty good so far today and I feel like we are a little better. Hopefully we can show that tomorrow night.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Get Grilling Ford Mustang (Qualified 15th)
“I don’t think it was any more frantic. Obviously it was a little bit more compact and not as much of an opportunity to get spread out and get a clean lap. There were definitely a lot of cars on the race track at one time. Obviously we still run by ourselves here. It is a short track and we want clean air and we want to be able to get a clean lap. I thought this was pretty status quo as far as qualifying is concerned.”
PAUL MENARD, No. 21 Menards/Maytag Ford Mustang (Qualified 13th)
“The way the sport used to be you would do one lap and you either made it or you didn’t. You screwed up the one lap or you didn’t. The five-minute rounds, it is nice having it like that again and having that one opportunity to go out. You have to make sure you hit all your marks. There are no redo’s. I thought it was cool.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Mustang (Qualified 12th)
“I had no problem with the format. It is going to have strengths and weaknesses. Tracks where it is good and tracks where it is bad. It is hard to put a one-size fits all package on this, that is for sure and optimize it. I thought today went pretty well though. I think this can work on short tracks. It seems good.”
DID YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH CARS IN THE WAY? “No. it was a little crowded but not bad.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 MoneyLion Ford Mustang (Qualified 29th)
“No grip. That was the biggest thing. The race track had no rubber on it from all the rain and we waited to be one of the last cars out and that didn’t work out too well. That is the way it goes. I thought the race car was good today. Hopefully we can drive up through the field and get a win for MoneyLion and Ford.”
RYAN NEWMAN, No. 6 Roush Performance Ford Mustang (Qualified 31st)
WAS IT SPEED OR DID YOU NOT GET A CLEAN LAP? “Little bit of both. It actually drove pretty good and we typically lack some short run speed here. At least I do with the setup that we run. We will take the
