[media-credit name=”charlottemotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”232″]
[/media-credit]Ford Qualifying Results
1st – Aric Almirola
2nd – Marcos Ambrose
4th – Greg Biffle
13th – Trevor Bayne
20th – Matt Kenseth
25th – Casey Mears
28th – Carl Edwards
30th – David Ragan
32nd – Michael McDowell
33rd – Josh Wise
38th – Scott Speed
39th – David Gilliland
44th – T.J. Bell
MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “We just kind of missed it a little bit today. I kind of missed turn three by maybe a hair, but, unfortunately, that’s about all we have. We struggled a little bit today with this Fastenal Ford, but we’re pretty happy with our stuff from last Saturday. We’ll get to work on Saturday and I know these guys will get it right for Sunday.”
YOUR REACTION? “I think that’ll be hopefully on the good side of 15th. It was better than what we were in practice. We really struggled today and got a little bit better, but we’ve got some work to do Saturday to get it right for Sunday.”
DOES IT MATTER WHERE YOU START SUNDAY? “You always want to start good and get your good pick in the pits and hopefully get up front and lead some laps to get some bonus points. And also it’s been known for some long green flag runs, so the farther forward you are the better, but if you have the best car, 600 miles is more than enough time to get to the front.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “I just got really tight. It’s very frustrating. We have such a fast race car. The balance was so far off and it was just Bob and I taking a big stab at it from practice. We’ll get it right for the race.”
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion – “It wasn’t bad. I’m pretty pumped about that. We’re only three-hundredths off the pole run and it didn’t get too out of control. I feel like if we could ever come to one of these races where we were locked in, we might be able to go for a pole.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion – “That’s really awesome. To get my first pole right here in Charlotte. I get to drive home and go sleep in my own bed tonight. That’s really cool. Mike Ford and all the guys on this Richard Petty Motorsports team did an awesome job. My U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion is fast. I want to thank Smithfield and all the people there that support us. Memorial Day Weekend with Air Force on the car, it’s really cool.”
MIKE FORD CAME ON BOARD SO IS THIS ANOTHER STEP UP? “I really think so. This is the first weekend. He came on at Talladega and we ran Darlington with what already was in the car and we came here for the All-Star Race last weekend and came with the standard M.O. and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna step off the island this week. It may or may not work, but we didn’t run good enough last week for it to matter.’ We struggled last week, so we came this week with something totally different and it’s paid off. We’ve got a really fast car.”
JOSH WISE – No. 26 MPS Ford Fusion – “I would have liked to have picked up a little more than we did, but I think we did good. We picked up about four-tenths from where we practiced and the guys on the Front Row Motorsports MPS Ford worked real hard after practice just to get it driving good. We didn’t start off the best we have and they just worked hard and got it to where it needed to be.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL – No. 98 Presbyterian Health Care Ford Fusion – “I’m just very blessed to have an opportunity to race this weekend. We’ve got Presbyterian Health Care on the side and the partnership that allows us to race. That’s what we’re building here at the 98 Phil Parsons Racing team. We’ve got K-LOVE on the car and Curb Records and we’re trying to build it one race at a time. These guys built a brand new car for us. They’ve been working hard. They just got done at 5:30 this morning building this car, so it’s great to get a good qualifying run, it’s nice to be in the show and I’m gonna get to run all 600 miles.”
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 Mod Space Ford Fusion – “It’s definitely not what we wanted. We were a little free there. It’s the first time we’ve been loose all day. We did some air-pressure changes from practice to now and we were just a little on the free side. We’ll have to work on race trim and, luckily, it’s a long race on Sunday.”
CASEY MEARS – No. 13 Geico Ford Fusion – “We needed to probably run three-tenths faster to be real good. We struggled in practice again, but came back with a totally different concept and it seems to be driving better. It seems to be responding a little bit better, so we’ll see how it translates on Saturday in race trim and have a good 600.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 Al’s Liners/Scorpion Coatings Ford Fusion – “You always make a little bit of adjustment after your final run and we made our Scorpion Window Film Ford a little bit better. You always want to pick up some and we had a solid pick up. I think our car is gonna have some speed for the 600. It feels like it drives pretty good, but we’re greedy and always want to go faster. It was a nice pickup. I wish we could have got more, but we’ll take it and be ready for a long 600.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion – PRESS CONFERENCE – “What a great day for Richard Petty and Richard Petty Motorsports. We’re a two-car team independent here trying to take it to the big super teams. It’s just a great night for us. Congratulations to Aric on his great lap. I think it’s a new lap record if I’m not mistaken and our team really has it together. My DeWalt Ford was really hooked up, just not quite enough to get the pole, but we’ll take a front row. If you’re gonna get beaten by anyone, I guess you want to be beaten by your teammate. It’s a proud day for us and we’re looking forward to more things to come in the 600.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU GOT IT ALL ON THE LAP? “You could always want more and if I had my time again maybe I could do better, but I was happy with my lap, it just wasn’t quite enough to catch the 43. We beat 45 other cars, so I feel pretty good about that. It was a good lap. It could have been better, but that doesn’t count. Everybody has the opportunity out there to do it and we had a good run, just not good enough.”
HOW MUCH HAS MIKE FORD HELPED THE TEAM? “Absolutely, no doubt, our team continues to try to become better and an addition like Mike Ford is gonna pay dividends. It’s his early days, I think he’s been around three weeks now, so I wouldn’t attribute the pole to him entirely, but, definitely, we are a team that is always evolving and looking for more performance and Mike has helped a whole lot and he’s going to continue to because he’s a winning pedigree crew chief and he brings with him that skill set that we can learn from.”
MARCOS AMBROSE CONTINUED — WHAT WILL IT MEAN TO GIVE THIS TO RICHARD? “Nothing would make me happier than to see the King smile in Victory Lane and that’s our goal. I’m proud to represent him and even prouder to run well for him, so it’s an honor to be a driver for him and he should feel good about what we did today because a year-and-a-half ago he single-handedly saved this team and kept it alive and he’s still steering the ship for us and he’s here at the track. He’s been here today and he’s just a great inspiration to have and someone to really feel good about running well for.”
IS A POLE A BIG PART OF WHAT YOU AND ARIC TALK ABOUT? “Yeah, Aric might be missing a toe by Sunday. I might have to stomp him on the foot because he pretty much took my first pole away from me, but I’m really proud of him. I’m just joking because we’re both drivers who are hungry for success and he’s come here to this team and has molded in well. We got on well together and you can’t wish him anything but the best of success and I congratulate him. He got his out of the way and now I’m still looking for mine, but it won’t be far away with the way we’re running right now.”
WAS THE KING HERE FOR QUALIFYING? “I haven’t seen him after qualifying, so I can’t say if he is here or not, but he was floating around today, that’s for sure.”
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE YOU HAVE FIGURED OUT? “I really wish it was me because then I could copy it at other places, but it’s the car and the team. They have a great handling race car here. We’ve got it dialed in. We’ve got tracks that we don’t run well at that we keep working on and trying to make better, but we know coming to mile-and-a-half speedways that we’ve got a good handling race car. We’ve got good power with Ford, so the times that we like to go out and do some good hunting is on these one-and-a-half mile race tracks. We’ll take it. I’m not gonna put it on me because before I came to RPM this was one of my worst tracks, so it just goes to show you that equipment and people around you makes the whole difference.”
HOW DID YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM AND RPM WERE DOING AND WAS TODAY UNEXPECTED? “Today is not unexpected. We wanted to run well and we expected to, but to be locking up the front row is a real bonus. It’s not often you can be part of something like that, so I feel really good about it to be honest with you. It’s been a great day.”
ARIC ALMIROLA PRESS CONFERENCE
RICHARD PETTY, Owner, Richard Petty Motorsports – “I think I sat on the pole in 1961 because they ran 100-mile races and I won one of them. It wasn’t speed, it was just that we won the race. We’re like everybody else, there’s nobody’s crowd that works any harder than our crowd. Everybody says, ‘we work hard’ and all this. All these guys work hard. A guy that runs 45th, he works hard. It really makes me feel good that our guys have been working hard for a long time and they finally got a little bit of recognition. Everything came together tonight with both cars and it was just kind of a deal from my standpoint it shows that what these guys have been doing has been right, but we just haven’t had circumstances right. Tonight, circumstances were right. They had everything lined up and from that standpoint it’s a confidence-builder that they thought they were working hard and getting the job done, and all of a sudden they’re getting the job done. Even though it’s just qualifying it’s still a big deal for us because it’s the first time we’ve won a pole since I think last year at Phoenix or somewhere, but you just go run and do it. This is a big deal. We’ve got bragging rights for a couple of days here, so that makes all of us feel good.”
MIKE FORD, Crew Chief, No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion – “I’ve got a short time working with these cars, but I came in for a couple weeks and observed and these cars have got speed. They’ve got a lot of speed to them and it took me a few weeks just to understand the approach of how to tune them. Last year all the Fords ran good at Charlotte and we came back with that type of setup. For the Open we kind of embarrassed ourselves running seventh and went back to work and regrouped and made a cut at something and focused on race trim. We didn’t really focus on qualifying, so we know we’ve got the balance right and the car’s got speed and Aric is comfortable driving it, so we can go get the speed. Like Richard said, it’s a testament to these guys. They’ve worked hard. They’ve been beat down and gone through some tough times and it’s a dang good group of guys and good cars. You just put the dots together and look to compete and that’s the business that we’re in, so these guys just executed the plan that was put out and we’re looking forward to Sunday.”
SAMMY JOHNS, Director of Operations, Richard Petty Motorsports – WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO RPM? “It is a big deal. No only did we win the pole but we’ve got the front row. Like Richard said we’re bragging a lot. Both cars have run really well. They both worked together throughout practice and I just can’t be any prouder of all the guys with how good they’re working together. Mike coming on board and really helping things move along. Him and Todd have a great relationship in the past. Me and Mike have worked together in the past, so it just feels like our organization is really communicating well right now and I think that goes to show it paid off tonight. I’m real proud of Marcos and the 9 bunch with the Stanley/DeWalt car – the front row. It’s gonna be a lot of fun come Sunday because, like Mike said, the guys have been back working their guts out all week because we didn’t run like we wanted to last week and they’ve been focused on race trim, so we’re excited to get back here Saturday and see how the cars are driving for the Coca-Cola 600 and hopefully we’re sitting back here in front of you Sunday.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion – HOW WAS YOUR LAP? DID YOU FEEL YOU HAD A SHOT AT THE POLE? “I did. My first lap on the track today in practice I ran kind of conservative and we had a lot of speed in the car, so anytime you’ve got a lot of speed in the car it makes my life a lot easier. Richard asked me when we were standing over there in Victory Lane taking pictures he was like, ‘Well, did you scare yourself?’ And the answer is no. When they drive good they’re really not that scary. It was a fast lap. I knew I hit my marks and I knew the car did a lot of things it didn’t do in practice when the heat was on the race track, so I knew it was gonna be fast, but I didn’t realize it was gonna be that fast. I’m just proud of everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports. We have U.S. Air Force on the car this weekend and it’s Memorial Day Weekend and that’s really special. I’m looking forward to Sunday. We get a whole day to soak this in and then we come back Saturday ready to do work and get ready for Sunday.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GIVE THIS TO THE KING? “It’s been a huge honor for me from day one to be able to come to this organization, not just to drive at Richard Petty Motorsports, I’m not just driving at Richard Petty Motorsports, I’m driving the 43 car – probably the most iconic car in the history of our sport – so for him to allow me to do that and for him to ask me to come and do that is just really special and it’s a huge honor to be able to put that 43 car back on top of the board. To see it over there in Victory Lane and get our picture taken is really cool. I know it’s only qualifying and we want to be able to do that after a race, but that’s a start.”
RICHARD PETTY CONTINUED – YOU’VE GONE TO INDY THE LAST FEW YEARS. ARE YOU GOING TO INDY THIS YEAR? “No, I’m gonna miss Indy this year. I’m concentrating entirely on the 600 because the last four or five years I went out there with John (Andretti) and just showed up here right before the race. Even though I don’t have much to do with the race I just feel like if I’m here and, if nothing else, for mental telepathy. If I’m here concentrating on what’s going on here, things really work better. Really, we just never put anything together to go to Indy this year, so it’s all the 600. As far as I’m concerned the 600 is a lot bigger race than the 500 anyway, but we’ve done some stuff with John because John had been with us a long time and have been good friends. We did everything we could to help him, but, again, we’ve got a couple of cars here and they’re running good and we’re gonna spend all our time right here.”
IS THIS POLE A BIGGER DEAL THAN OTHER POLES BECAUSE OF MEMORIAL DAY? “I guess if you sit on the pole at Daytona would be the next thing or maybe a little bit bigger than the 600. The 600 has got to be if not the first the second-biggest thing going on. Even sitting on pole at the Brickyard it’s so quick. Here you’ve got two or three days to enjoy it. At Daytona you’ve got a whole week. From the standpoint this is the biggest, the longest race we run. In fact, nobody runs a 600-mile race, so from that standpoint it’s a really big deal. To start up front for any race is great, but to start there for a 600-mile race gives you a little bit of an advantage. Being able to pick a good pit area and also being in front of all the stuff that goes on behind you.”
IT’S BEEN 13 YEARS SINCE YOU’VE BEEN IN VICTORY LANE WITH THE 43. DO THOSE RECENT TRIPS WITH OTHER CAR NUMBERS MEAN AS MUCH? “I guess, to me I’ve been here so long that years run together and it doesn’t really feel like it’s been that long since John won at Martinsville. Whether it’s the 9 car or the 43 car or whatever is under the Petty banner, I’m not pushing the 43 more than I’m pushing the 9 car or when we used to run the 44 car or the 45 car. It didn’t make any difference as long as we were involved in it some way, shape or form – sort of like a Hendrick’s deal. If any of his cars win, he’s a winner and that’s the way I always looked at it.”
WOULD THE 43 IN VICTORY LANE ON SUNDAY TRUMP ANYTHING IN THE SPORTS WORLD ON SUNDAY? “Anytime you win a race, it doesn’t make any difference if it’s a small race, big race, it’s a big race. We run 36 races a year and in order to win a race all of the stars have to line up. No matter how good you are a lot of times, I mean, looking at Martinsville the top two cars got knocked out the last lap, so you never know. It’s one of those deals where it’s never over until the fat lady sings. If everything lines up, then you can wind up being a winner. The best thing to do is be up front all the time and eventually you’re gonna win some races. Our problem from time to time has not been how good we run, it’s how good we finish. We have not been as consistent as what we’re supposed to be. If we were more consistent, then we would be up front a lot more. Winning the Charlotte 600 is right up there with the Daytona or Indy race. Those are the top big three that NASCAR has and it would be great to win Darlington or win Martinsville or any other, but this is the longest race that anybody runs in the world as far as 500-mile racing – a 600-mile race. Most of them are timed races when they run that long. I was listening to Kyle on TV the other night and he said most 600-mile races they’ve got two drivers. We used to run here five to five-and-a-half hours. These guys got it made. They’ve got air-conditioning, power-steering, all the kind of stuff, so it’s just a Sunday afternoon drive for them.”
ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED – IS THIS A SURPRISE TODAY? “I think it’s been possible. We’ve showed speed. We went to Darlington. Well, first of all, it started at Martinsville. We ran 8th at Martinsville and that was like, ‘Cool. We ran in the top 10 and ran their all day, so we can do this.’ We went to Darlington a couple weeks ago and I felt like I didn’t run a very good lap and we qualified 13th and I know I left some out there on the race track, so Mike has been great. We came here and we ran some things at the All-Star Race that weren’t exactly what we were looking for, so Mike came back with a few things a little different and we were a lot better. I think the speed in our cars has always been there, it’s just about executing and that’s the one thing Mike has really focused on is just execution – trying to get all of the little parts and pieces and things, he’s said it from day one that he’s gotten there that it’s about executing. Everybody is so good and our competition is so tough that if you don’t execute all the little small things they’ll jump up and bite you, so I feel like as far as speed has gone we’ve had really fast race cars, it’s just about executing all the little things. We were able to do that tonight and we ran a good lap.”
MIKE FORD CONTINUED – HOW HAS YOUR TRANSITION WITH RPM GONE? “Coming in mid-season is very difficult these days because you don’t know the philosophies that have taken that company to where they’re at. You don’t know the theories behind the mechanical pieces. You don’t know why things have evolved to where they’re at, so coming in midseason when you come in it’s always because things aren’t good, so coming in it was very obvious that it was execution, and it’s still execution. If I had to work on this car again, I think I know where I would go. Coming in I’m the one learning up front and observing and what encourages me from the very first day we went to Talladega the car had speed. I was real concerned going to Darlington and, like Aric said, we unloaded and the car had speed. After qualifying he was beating himself up and I was like, ‘Hey, it’s 13th. It’s not that bad for your first time to Darlington,’ so the cars have had speed, it’s just a matter of getting them right and coming to Charlotte last week, based on kind of a proven setup that was out there, got to observe that and this is the first time we’ve been able to come back and work on something and try to improve it, so I’m very encouraged to be able to do that, so the transition, I think, is getting better everyday. I finally felt like I was contributing this week. Up to this week I was just observing and was able to contribute, I feel, so that’s real encouraging. I think as long as we keep our heads down this can happen on a regular basis.”
RICHARD PETTY CONTINUED – WHAT DID YOU SEE IN ARIC TO HIRE HIM? “Aric ran for us the last three, four or five races in the ’10 season. At Homestead if he hadn’t run into the wall he probably would have won the race, but anyhow he ran really, really good. I saw a lot of potential there and then at the end of last year we were looking for a driver and I looked at Aric and he’s really a rookie because he’s bounced around and never got in a car and run more than five or six races at a time. After watching him run for us with the equipment we had and what he got out of it, I said our equipment is better now and I know that he’s gonna start along here somewhere. He’s not gonna be up here, he’s gonna be along here, but I saw what I thought was potential, so I’m putting the pressure on him to improve from where he started to where I think he can go. Being he’s got a steady ride, he’s not worried about losing his ride, he can build his confidence up and then when Mike came on that’s gonna give him a little bit of confidence because he’s worked with some drivers that hadn’t had a lot of experience to begin with and help teach them, and the communication is what it’s all about. You go back to me and Dale Inman, you talk to one and you go talk to the other and you’re gonna get the same answer. We’re trying to build that between Mike and Aric and I think they’ll make it work. I don’t think you’re gonna see overnight success, but I think you’re gonna see this team get better and better and better as the season goes. If we can get a few breaks, we still have to win a race or two, we’ve got a good chance to make the Chase. I think by the time we get to the Chase we’re gonna be able to win races day-in and day-out.”
MIKE FORD CONTINUED – DID YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM THE 9 SETUP AFTER PRACTICE OR DID YOU KNOW WHERE YOU WANTED TO GO FOR QUALIFYING? “Todd and I have a good relationship. We’ve spent a lot of time together and worked together for a long time. We have casual conversation. It isn’t that everything has to be structured and sit down, so after our practice – what’s kind of strange and I probably ought not tell this – but we’ve got two different setups in the car. It’s one of those things where you kind of stick to your guns and adjust your race car, but there is one adjustment that I made after I talked to Todd that I was thinking about and he had made the adjustment in practice to a benefit, and I did make that adjustment and I’m 100 percent certain that it helped us tonight. So, yeah, we do grow from each other already.”
ARIC ALMIROLA CONTINUED – DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE JUSTIFIED GETTING THIS RIDE AND ARE YOU ON THE VERGE OF WINNING A RACE? “I hope so. That’s for you guys to decide. I just go out and do the best I can every week and whatever you guys want to write, you guys have the right to write whatever you want to write, but I just go out and try to do the best I can every week. I feel like I’m a good race car driver. I feel like I can get the job done and nights like tonight proves that to me so much more because anytime you can get a pole in the Cup Series, that’s doing something. These guys don’t every lay down. They always run the best lap they can possibly run every lap they’re on the race track, so to be able to do that – and not that I’m bragging by any means – but to do it by two-tenths is like, ‘Wow.’ That was cool. To be the only car in the 27-second bracket means we ran a fast lap and means I did it for one lap. Now we’ve got to work on doing it for 600 miles.”
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THE CAR HAS SPEED IN IT? “I think a lot of that goes back to the preparation at the shop. You show up at the race track and I don’t think you’ll ever see a car unload off the trailer and practice and be 40th on the board, and end up having those guys work their way through the setup throughout the weekend and then make that a race-winning car. It just doesn’t happen that way anymore. You have to unload off the trailer with your car having a lot of speed in it. I’m just the driver. I just go out there and turn the steering wheel. I don’t know, I just know what it feels like. I know that if I try harder, I go slower, so a lot of times you just get in the race car and it’s fast. I can’t explain it. I don’t know why. A perfect example was last weekend in the Showdown. I wanted to make that All-Star Race as bad as anybody. I was driving my guts out and it just wasn’t happening. We didn’t have the speed we needed, so you go back and look at things and you make a small change here or a small change there and then next week we come back and our car has speed in it. I’m not trying any harder than I did last week, our car is just faster. I think this is also the first time I’ve come back to a track in the Cup Series, so we raced last weekend and got to come back here for the second week in a row. That was a big help for me. I’m showing up to a lot of there race tracks for the first time in a Cup car. This is one of those weekends, last weekend was the first time I ever raced a Cup car here at Charlotte, so to be able to do that, get that under my belt, and then show back up this weekend with a car that drove better and had more speed in it, all the stars lined up like Richard said and we got the pole.” IS IT THE SAME CAR AS LAST WEEK? “No, it’s not the same car.”
SAMMY JOHNS CONTINUED – “I can help too with why they have speed in them. Those Roush Yates engines were running really good. That helps with the speed.”
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN RICHARD AS GIDDY AS HE SEEMS TO BE TONIGHT? “It means a lot. The last time I saw him this giddy, I think, was in Victory Lane at Sonoma, so we’re looking to get him back in Victory Lane on race day. It means a lot. All the guys at the shop work hard everyday. Like Richard said, it’s a pleasure to work for Richard Petty. He lets us do our job and like he tells us all the time, it’s our race team. It’s up to us to go out and get it done, so it means a lot to sit here next to Richard Petty and know we’re sitting on the front row for the Coca-Cola 600.”
