Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Advocare 500 Advance (Atlanta Motor Speedway)
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion, was the highest Ford Racing qualifier for tomorrow night’s AdvoCare 500. Biffle, who is scheduled to start second, led the first practice session on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – DOES THIS PRACTICE SESSION TELL US ANYTHING CONSIDERING YOU’RE PRACTICING DURING THE DAY AND THE RACE IS AT NIGHT? “It tells us a little bit. It means we have a pretty fast car for one lap, which is kind of promising, but I think more important will be the lap tracker when we have a chance to look at that. I feel pretty good about the way the car is driving, but I just don’t know if we have the right speed. We’ll look at the lap times and see where we stack up, but on that first lap I was behind Tony and had some clean air, so we got a pretty good lap.”
DOES THIS RACE TOMORROW NIGHT TAKE ON MORE OF AN ALL-STAR RACE FEEL CONSIDERING THERE ARE SO MANY WHO EITHER NEED A WIN TO STAY IN WILD CARD CONTENTION OR GET EXTRA BONUS POINTS TO START THE CHASE? “I think you hit the nail on the head. Other than maybe four or five guys in the field who are in that position where they need to get in the top 10, we’re all pretty much going for broke.”
Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion, finished near the top of the scoreboard in both practices on Saturday. He finished second to Biffle for the fastest single lap in the first session and took the top spot overall in practice No. 2 with a single-lap speed of 180.863 mph.
MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion – “The chart is a little bit deceiving, especially here with this worn out pavement. The first lap on tires doesn’t really mean a lot for the last lap. I think we’ve got about a fifth to 10th-place car right now. We’ve got to adjust on it a little bit. It’s real fast for that top speed on new tires, but some of those guys on long runs seem to be a lot faster, so I think we’ve got a little bit of work to do, but, overall, my car doesn’t drive too bad.”
WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY FOR THESE REMAINING RACES? “The same as every other race. You want to go out and try to win, so that’s our goal and our approach every week is to try and bring fast cars and try to execute.”
SOME GUYS HAVE SAID TURNS THREE AND FOUR ARE SLICKER COMPARED TO ONE AND TWO. DO YOU AGREE? “I think both ends of the race track are slick. In the last practice one and two was shaded behind the billboards and three and four still had sun on it, so the track definitely has not gained any grip since we’ve been here last. It’s definitely a handful, which is fun.”
