Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Cheez-It 355 at the Glen (Watkins Glen International)
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Ford Finishing Order:
2nd—Brad Keselowski
4th – Carl Edwards
7th – Joey Logano
12th – Casey Mears
16th – Greg Biffle
18th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21st – David Ragan
25th – David Gilliland
31st – Marcos Ambrose
37th – Aric Almirola
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley/CTC Jumpstart Ford Fusion – “I’m just really disappointed for my Stanley team. Something was wrong with the car there and I just couldn’t get going. I could feel on the roll-around lap that something had broken, but I just feel bad for the guys who got caught up in all that mess. That’s not the way we wanted our day to finish, but thank you to Stanley and Ford and everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports for giving me a good shot to win today. We had a very fast car, but it just wasn’t our day.”
THE STRATEGY DIDN’T GO YOUR WAY. “Yeah, that’s one thing. We restarted 10th or 11th on that last one and we had a chance to run well, but something went wrong with the car and that’s just the way it goes.”
WAS THERE A PROBLEM BEFORE THE FINAL INCIDENT? “Yeah, maybe. I just couldn’t get going on the restart. I thought something was wrong. I was talking to the guys on the radio and we decided to stay out there just to see if it was gonna be driveable, but it wasn’t. I was in the way heading up the hill and got dumped by somebody. I’m not sure who it was and I just ended up in the fence.”
WHAT ABOUT THE RACE BEFORE THAT WHEN THE CAUTION CAME OUT AND BIT YOU. “Yeah, that’s just the way it goes. We put on a strong showing and I’m proud of my Stanley team and everybody at Richard Petty Motorsports for giving me the opportunity to run well. It wasn’t our day, but we’ve had plenty of good days here. We just need to reflect on this and we’ll wake up tomorrow and just press on and go to the next one.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Cheez-It Ford Fusion – “I wish we raced here more than once a year. This is a lot of fun. It’s a great race track. I pushed Brad the restart before that because I couldn’t get to the inside of him, but that restart a hole opened up and I went to the inside. In hindsight, if I had known we were gonna finish fourth I’d have rather pushed a Ford up there to try to beat Kyle, but it was still a great race and a lot of fun. I love racing here. Kyle and Brad put on a heckuva show. That was neat to watch.”
COULD YOU TASTE IT? “Yeah, but it’s all on those restarts. You had to get a good restart and on that last one Brad got a better start and so did Clint. I tried to pull down underneath Brad to get to second and I just couldn’t clear Clint, but it was an awesome day. I wish we could have won it for Cheez-It.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – “We were strong, but we just weren’t quite strong enough. We were definitely really close and we’ve been close over the last three years, but just came up a little bit short on the last lap on all three of them. That stinks, but that’s racing. We had a shot at it. I was gonna have to wreck him to really get it and I didn’t want to do that. I thought I could cross him over here on the last corner and the car just slid the back end a little too much and I just couldn’t quite pull off the move. It was still a great run for the Miller Lite Ford Fusion. It was just a really fast car and a solid weekend.”
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO KYLE AFTER SOMETHING LIKE THAT? “There’s racing and wrecking. Those are two different things. Everybody defines them a little differently and I guess that’s the code you live your life by. Me, I define last year as racing and some people would define that as wrecking. If I was gonna take out Kyle today it would have been wrecking in my mind and there’s a distinct difference.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “Anytime you come to a road course you never know what’s gonna happen and obviously there are a lot more guys out there that had really fast race cars and got wrecked, so survival is always key to get through these things. Our Shell/Pennzoil Ford was about where we finished. I felt like our strategy worked out decent. It wasn’t stellar, but we didn’t catch the cautions perfectly as some guys did. I could have done a little better job on the restarts earlier in the race, but, overall, seventh out of a kind of crapshoot of a race track, you never know what’s gonna happen, so to get seventh and have a solid points day was important for our goal of getting in the Chase. We’ll take this and try to win at Michigan. We had a really fast car at Michigan the last time and I really want to win there. I feel like if we can get a win, we have a really good shot at getting in this Chase. If not, we did make up some valuable points today.”
IS IT JUST NARROW OUT ON THE TRACK? “What happens is you line up 43 crazy people with 10 laps to go and everyone is shooting for the win, you’re gonna dive off into turn one really hard. There’s really only one lane up through the esses. Two-wide kind of works, but it really checks up the whole field and everyone stacks up. If you do get through that part, the bus stop becomes the next one-lane part of the race track and becomes a total mess, so it’s great for you guys, it’s pretty entertaining for us, too, but you really want to be in front of that, which we were fortunate to be in front of it every time today.”
CASEY MEARS – No. 13 Geico Ford Fusion – “It was a good day for us. I think after the qualifying effort we had, we had an issue with the brakes unfortunately and to be able to rebound like that and have a good day I was pretty happy. We didn’t quite have the speed that we needed to really run inside eighth or so, but we werea able to hang on and have a good finish there and stay out of the mess. It worked out well for us.”
THE LAST FEW RESTARTS WERE PRETTY INTENSE. WHAT WAS IT LIKE INSIDE THE CAR? “All the spotters did a great job. It’s the first time I had anybody through the esses and it was really valuable. It worked out really well and really helped being able to avoid a lot of the stuff. Fortunately, we were just in the right place to miss it every time, so it worked out well.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL – No. 35 Dockside Logistics Ford Fusion – “We were just biding our time. Our goal in that first run was to just save fuel and open up our window to make sure we could do it in two spots, so I just found my home there in 12th or 13th and was just trying to save fuel and conserve a little bit. As I came down pit road for that first stop the track bar mount broke and the rear end basically without that track bar mount just flip-flops around, so I just tried to nurse it back to the garage. Hopefully we can fix it and salvage some points, but we had a fast Dockside Logistics Ford today. We qualified in the top 15 and was racing in the top 15. I think we would have had a shot at a top-10. Who knows, with some adjustments maybe a little bit better, but we definitely weren’t in the way today. It’s unfortunate because we had high hopes, but this is part of what happens when you race – things break.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “We just blew a right-front tire. A few laps before that the car in front of me ran off the road and kicked up some grass and I think some grass got on the grille and our brakes probably got hot and probably just melted a bead. We were getting ready to pit that lap. That’s the unfortunate part. We had every intention of coming to pit road and the right-front tire blew. There’s not much we can do about that. Our Smithfield Ford Fusion was pretty good. We were making some solid gains on it. We were definitely gonna have a top-15 day with the pit strategy Todd was getting ready to work out, but, unfortunately, that’s how it goes and we’ll go get ‘em at Michigan.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI PRESS CONFERENCE – HOW DID THINGS GO FOR YOU? “It was a strong day, absolutely. We had a shot at winning at the end, which I’m sure was a lot of fun, and came up short. Three years in a row in second, that kind of stinks, but I’m proud of the effort and proud of the recovery because that dug us a deep hole very early in the race trying to pass McMurray and I lost control. I about knocked our race out right there and finished our car off, but it was a good recovery and great positioning there at the end, we just came up that little bit short again. It’s back to the drawing board and we’ll go get ‘em again the next time we come back here and hopefully next week.”
DOES THE POINTS DAY GO THROUGH YOUR MIND OR IS IT JUST THINKING ABOUT THE WIN? “Points are great when you’re in the Chase. Before that, to me, it’s about wins. Even if you don’t end up in the top 20 I’d rather be a wild card with four or five wins than be a guy in the Chase with zero wins. I guess I don’t look at it that way, but I could have definitely dumped Kyle and won the race. That stuff goes back and forth. I’m sure someone in the tabloid side of the media will make a big deal about that, but it won’t be me because I know I did the right thing.”
REPEATING THE ANSWER. “Wins are a priority to me without a doubt when it comes to making the Chase. I’d rather be a team that has five or six wins and be a wild card or two or three wins, whatever that might be, than be a team that made the Chase with zero wins. I guess that’s the only way I can explain that. I wasn’t racing or running today thinking, ‘Boy, I need a great points day.’ Even though I was definitely cognizant of the fact that the 5 and the 24 and obviously the troubles with Tony, but I didn’t enter this race thinking, ‘Let’s run second or third. That will be great. That would be a lot better than taking a risk of winning.’ Hell no, I wasn’t thinking that. I want to win the race and that’s where my heart is at.”
WERE YOU REFERRING TO LAST YEAR’S FINISH WHEN YOU SAID ‘I DIDN’T WANT TO WRECK HIM, I’VE HAD ENOUGH DRAMA’? “No, just in general. I’ve had a career full of a lot of drama.” TRUEX SAYS. “You cause it all.” BRAD CONTINUES: “See, that’s what everybody says. I feel like I’m innocent.” TRUEX SAYS. “I mean, some of the things you say and do. What do you expect?” BRAD CONTINUES. “I’m just having fun. You guys can call it drama, I call it having fun.” TRUEX SAYS. “You guys know half of the stuff he says just to get you all fired up.” BRAD CONTINUES. “I’m keeping them all employed. Have you not seen how hard it is to be a journalist nowadays with people getting laid off and fired? You’re welcome, America.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED — SO JUST DRAMA IN THE COURSE OF THE DAY? “In general. I don’t know how you pick one period of drama. Obviously, I spun out on my own. You missed that part, Martin. That was really smart of me. That and I felt like, to rewind, I felt like – and I don’t think Kyle would agree with this, but that’s his choice – I felt like last year was a racing deal. He went off the track. I filled the hole and he came down. If I would have wrecked him today, in my mind, it wouldn’t have been a racing deal. It would have been just wrecking and there’s a huge difference. When somebody blocks you, that’s different. When somebody runs off the track and pulls down in front of you, that’s a racing deal. Those are all just racing deals. When you just run in the back of someone and drive them head first into the wall, that’s bs racing and I just don’t like it.”
SO THERE WASN’T ANY TEMPTATION TO MOVE HIM? “There’s always temptation, yeah, but there’s a level of respect and a code of honor that you have to have as a man.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR STRATEGY AFTER THE SPIN? “Paul just saved my butt after I tried to screw up the day. We’ve had some races where strategy has bit us in the butt royally and today was one of those days where we caught a good break. That’s just being quite frank about it. Unfortunately, we didn’t capitalize on it, which is disappointing, capitalizing on it in the sense of a win, but this is the first race in a long time where I can say we caught a break. I don’t even feel like I need good breaks, I just don’t want any bad breaks. Today, we caught a good break and that’s part of what put us in a position to win the race.”
CAN YOU TALK ON COMING SO CLOSE TO WINNING HERE THREE STRAIGHT YEARS? DO YOU DWELL ON LITTLE THINGS YOU COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY? “I move on pretty quick. It will probably take me a day or so to move on, and then when I come back to this race track and everybody shows the reruns of the last few years you kind of dwell on it again, but I’ll be over it by the time we get to next week’s race in Michigan.”
DOES IT HURT ANY MORE TO LOSE TO KYLE BUSCH? “He’s good. It doesn’t hurt more. Maybe if we were in the Chase and there was one race to go and he was the points leader and I was running second, yeah. But just because he’s Kyle Busch doesn’t mean it hurts more. He’s a great driver and I have a lot of respect for him accordingly. I don’t really hold any personal grudges against him to make it hurt any more. That’s not reciprocal, I don’t know. You’d have to ask him, but not for me, no.”
IS IT MORE FRUSTRATING SEEING THE LEADER IN FRONT OF YOU ON A ROAD COURSE AND YOU CAN’T CATCH HIM? “I would mostly agree with what Martin said with the only exception being at a road course it’s a little easier to force a mistake on the driver ahead of you. I know Martin is really good at that and Marcos and those guys are all really good at that, so that changes some of your discipline to racing.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED — YOU MOVED UP FOUR SPOTS IN THE POINTS. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE TRACKS COMIING UP? “With the exception of Michigan, I would say I feel very, very strongly about how we’re gonna finish out the race to the Chase. We ran very strongly at Bristol in the spring and have a great track record there. Atlanta, we just came off a tire test and that went very, very well. And then we have a team-specific Richmond test coming up in a week-and-a-half, so three out of the four I’m expecting us to have great speed and a potential shot at winning. Michigan has been one of our weaker tracks. The repave style of track hasn’t been one of my favorites or go-to’s, but we’re very optimistic that we can at least get a solid finish like we did in the spring there. So I really see no reason why we can’t sustain our position in the points, if not improve it before the Chase starts. But, more importantly, I would rather have a win or two and be a wild card than finish seventh or eighth and squeak my way in without any wins because the momentum of a win and the confidence it instills in both yourself and the fear that it puts in your competition is more than worth it.”
ON THE LAST LAP WHERE WAS THE BEST PLACE FOR YOU TO POSSIBLY FORCE HIM TO MAKE A MISTAKE OR MAKE THE PASS? “I don’t know. Really all of the corners. There wasn’t one particular corner specifically and maybe that’s why I didn’t pass him is I didn’t figure out one particular corner, but I was just slightly better than him through every section on the last lap and just needed to be a little closer to really affect it. I got pretty close, but needed a little more time that close to him to really make a difference. If the race would have been a five or six lap run, I think we could have done it.”
