FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES
Auto Club 400 Qualifying
March 23, 2012 California Speedway
Ford Qualifying Results:
4th – Greg Biffle
12th – Carl Edwards
15th – Matt Kenseth
28th – Aric Almirola
29th – Marcos Ambrose
30th – Josh Wise
32nd – Michael McDowell
33rd – Casey Mears
38th – David Ragan
42nd – David Gilliland
45th – Ken Schrader
46th – Josh Wise
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Medallion Financial Ford Fusion – “We were just really tight right there and it’s disappointing. I thought we had a little better car than that, but we were just super-tight. We’ll get it ready for race practice. I think Greg (Erwin) has a few ideas to throw at it tomorrow and we’ll see what we’ve got.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion – “That’s a lot of fun. I talked to a couple guys before I went out and I was watching some guys run a lot different line. We weren’t that fast in practice, so we said, ‘The heck with it. Let’s try it,’ and the Subway Fusion was pretty fast. Hopefully, that holds up for a top 10. It’s getting cooler, so guys are gonna go faster, but that was a fun lap. Whether it holds up or not, it was a lot of fun to do.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion – “We just had a bad day. It’s disappointing. Off the truck I thought we were gonna be pretty good, but the track got away from us and we didn’t keep up with our adjustments.”
MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion – “It wasn’t a very good lap. I honestly just didn’t drive it hard enough because I was a little bit worried about that tail wind down the front. There was probably another tenth-and-a-half I left there, so I think we had a top five car. We’ll probably start about 15th, but I just left a little bit laying there.”
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – “I probably over-drove three and four a little bit. I got a little aggressive and I feel bad because our car is a fair amount faster than the lap I ran, but I screwed it up. I got in a little deep and got on the brakes a little harder to compensate and I got the front bouncing on the race track. That ran me up the hill, but the track has a lot of grip. We’re gonna see some of these guys left put up some pretty fast times I’m sure.” WHAT ABOUT STARTING UP FRONT HERE? “We’ve got a really, really fast car, so that’s good. That will be good. I’ve got a lot of confidence going into the race this weekend with a car we know is faster than what it qualified already, so we’re pretty happy.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL – No. 98 Curb Records Ford Fusion – “We’ve been working hard on this 98 Curb Records, K-Love Radio Fusion. We’ve had a couple hard weeks and just really got behind the eight-ball once we crashed that car at Phoenix. The guys have been working hard and we finally got some speed back, so it’s good. I’m really happy. I want to thank everybody at Ford and the Roush Yates engine plants have been awesome, especially at a big place like this. We know that’s a big help.”
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 1-800LoanMart Ford Fusion — “Our day hasn’t been too bad. It was a disappointing qualifying effort, though. I think we were on the splitter too hard, but we’ll get it better tomorrow. We’ve got two practice sessions to work on our race set-up and our 1-800LoanMart Ford Fusion will be ready to go for Sunday. Our sponsor this week is from Southern California, so we definitely want to have a good day for them and I think we will.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Fusion – “This track is real abrasive and real bumpy, so it wears the tires out really fast, which is great because it gives it some character. I love coming out here, but we haven’t been able to find that sweet spot on our Ford today. We’ve been really tight under the throttle and I haven’t been able to get back to the throttle, which really hurts your straightaway speed on these real long straightaways you have here at California. It wasn’t the best of laps. We didn’t run a whole lot today because we wanted to save a lot of our running for Saturday to try and get ready to race, so we’ll work hard and see if we can’t make it a little better then.”
JOSH WISE – No. 26 MDS Ford Fusion – “It was good. It took me a couple laps to get up to speed in practice, but they’ve been bringing me good cars and I’ve just been real comfortable. They’re making good changes for me and it’s been good. It’s no different here. I’m happy we’re on top for now even though I know the pole will definitely be faster than that. It’s cool, though, to go out and do that for when we went out.”
