Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Auto Club 400 NSCS Post Race (Auto Club Speedway)
Sunday, March 24, 2013
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 AAA Southern California Ford Fusion (Finished 6th) – WHAT HAPPENED THERE AT THE END OF THE RACE? “Racing for the lead. Going for the win. That is what you’ve got to do.”
ADDITIONAL JOEY LOGANO QUOTES:
YOU JUST SAW THE REPLAY WITH DENNY HAMLIN. YOUR SIDE OF IT? “We worked it last week. He probably shouldn’t have done what he did last week, so that’s what he gets. And besides that, I think our Auto Club Ford was very strong all day. I was very happy with the car we had. We were super fast, led a lot of laps. Nothing to hang our head down about, that’s for sure. We were very proud of that. Doug Yates, thank you so much for the motor. That thing ran the last seven, eight laps with no water in it, just pushing water over 300-degrees. So it’s really amazing for those guys. So thank you guys, everyone in the engine shop to get a solid run out here today. I look forward to get back to the race track and try it again.
WE JUST SPOKE TO TONY STEWART. HE WAS REALLY ANGRY. TELL US WHAT HAPPENED ON THE RESTART? “I had to throw the block there. That was a race for the lead. I felt if the 14 got underneath me, that was going to be the end of my opportunity to win the race, so I was just trying to protect the spot I had. I was actually pedaling, because I couldn’t keep the 18 aligned. I was actually faster than the 18 getting our tires hooked up. And then I’m trying to stagger myself making sure I don’t beat him to the line and then I had to block the 14 because I was pedaling it. I’ll talk to him and we’ll see what happens. I think he finished decent. We’ll just talk about it some more.”
WHAT HAPPENED WITH TONY STEWART? “Tony was just upset about a restart that I was racing him really hard on the bottom trying to make sure I protected my spot. What I was doing actually was I was racing the 18 on the restart and he was spinning his tires. The rule is you can’t beat him to the start finish line so I am pedaling it which gave Tony the run to go underneath me. I wanted to block that because I knew if he put me three-wide that would be the end of my race and I wouldn’t win. I was smart enough to realize that. Then I had to just do what I had to do to get to the front and try to win the race.”
GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 3M Window Film Ford Fusion (Finished 5th) – “It was an up and down day and with about 100 to go or 75 to go we got a set of tires that we couldn’t drive the car on and we were too loose and over adjusted and came back and were pretty good at the end. I don’t know about when the caution came out. I saw them wrecking and I came out of the gas. The 78 passed us and Carl and I am not sure how they are going to do that. Overall a top-five finish for us is a great day.”
DESCRIBE THE RACING OUT THERE. “It was pretty crazy with those restarts at the end. These cars with the big spoilers on them get huge runs at the end.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 SUBWAY Ford Fusion (Finished 4th) – YOU TOOK FOUR FRESH TIRES AT THE END THERE. WAS THAT THE DIFFERENCE? “Yeah, we had to have tires. Man, that was just an unbelievable race. It is so cool to come here to California and have a standard old school NASCAR race where tires make a difference. It was really a great show. I hope the fans enjoyed it. That is about as good as it gets. Congrats to Kyle (Busch), he hung on. I knew the third place guy was going to win. I could just feel the tension up there between Joey and Denny. I had a feeling the third place guy would win. Kyle and I had a heck of a battle for third and he got me and he won the race. He did a good job.”