Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Sunday, June 2, 2019
EVENT: Pocono 400 MENCS Post Race
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd – Brad Keselowski
5th – Clint Bowyer
7th – Joey Logano
8th – Daniel Suarez
10th – Aric Almirola
12th – Ryan Blaney
16th – Ryan Newman
18th – Paul Menard
20th – Michael McDowell
22nd – Kevin Harvick
25th – Bayley Currey
30th – David Ragan
32nd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33rd – Matt Tifft
35th – Corey LaJoie
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Wabash National Ford Mustang: FINISHED 2nd
“I think we had a pretty good Wabash Ford. We wanted a little bit more to be able to pass everybody but you had to be so much faster that you just try to execute the best you can and hope things fall the right way. They fell decent, just not good enough to win today.”
WHAT WAS THE TRAFFIC LIKE TRYING TO DEAL WITH THE AIR? “You had to be about three-quarters of a second faster than someone. With the parody the cars have with the rules and all that you aren’t going to see that in the top-20. It is just part of it. That is the hand we are dealt. We try to make the most of it.”
WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU COULD DO TO CATCH THE 18? “Not really. He was strong. He was one of the fastest cars. Not only was he one of the fastest cars but if you were a 20th place car and got into the lead today you were going to drive away. it is just the way the rules were.”
ANY TAKEAWAYS? “You learn some things to tweak. I am proud of the team effort to make a lot of stage points and get a solid finish out of the day. It was a good all around effort, just not the playoff bonus points and win and all of that that we were looking for. Still proud of the team.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Mustang: FINISHED 5th
“We had a pretty good car. We had a third to fifth place car. That is about what we had and we did a good job finishing with what we had. We are just giving up way too many stage points. We have to figure out how to get some stage points. That is all we had today.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Valley Technical Academy Ford Mustang:
“I honestly don’t know how well this will translate to the July race but I feel like we learned quite a bit today. Our car was decent but we didn’t have anything for the 18. Our car was decent and we were pretty competitive, we just fought track position. I got up to fifth or sixth there and just barely brushed the wall off turn three and had bad tire smoke and had to come pit so that I didn’t blow a right rear tire and end our day. I errored on the side of caution there and then we just fought to recover from that the rest of the day. We were buried in traffic and had to be aggressive on restarts to try to get back up through the field.”
“I think the biggest thing continues to be traffic. It is the common theme week in and week out. Traffic is a challenge. You saw the 18 without a doubt was the best car. He got back in fifth or sixth and ran fifth or sixth. It is very situational. You’ve got to figure out ways to get out in clean air.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang: FINISHED 7th
“It was brutal to pass. Really hard in dirty air. Tough. Tough racing here. It was all about strategy and restarts and you saw some chaotic restart. The last restart was insane. I was in the middle of it and we were four or five-wide down into one and I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to be. You hope it all sorts out and somehow it did. That is where the race is at, trying to get a good restart and then figure out a way to get ahead of everyone on strategy.”
DOES THIS FEEL LIKE A ONE-OFF TYPE RACE? “Yeah, you have to try something different than that. Maybe put some track bite down. Try anything. There is nothing to lose.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 41 Haas Automation Demo Days Ford Mustang: FINISHED 8th
“We had a little bit more speed than an eighth place car but we struggled through the race at one point in traffic. We got the balance back by the end but it wasn’t easy. I feel like a top-10 is what we deserve today and we have to work on it.” HOW WERE YOUR RESTARTS? “Actually, I felt like the restarts were a struggle for me today. I just couldn’t go. I am not sure if we had too much shocks or something but I was struggling a lot. At least in corner one. Everything else was fine but I was struggling quite a bit. My teammates did a good job. My team did a good job. It was a top-10 and that is what we deserve for the speed we had and we will have to keep working to get better.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang: FINISHED 32nd (Retired on lap 146 due to accident)
“That was a hard lick. We actually got the car a little bit better but we still weren’t very good all day. We made it better and better and had a little contact early and cut a right rear tire. We were trying to battle back. We were gaining on it. I feel like we could have maybe got three more spots before the end of the race but the tire let go going into two. That is about the worst place that can happen. That was a bummer. All in all, we will just try to figure out how to get our cars better here. Us and the 6 were struggling all day.”
