Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Ford EcoBoost 400 Qualifying (Homestead-Miami Speedway)
Friday, November 15, 2013
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
3rd Joey Logano
4th Brad Keselowski
9th Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
16th Greg Biffle
17th Trevor Bayne
18th Carl Edwards
19th Aric Almirola
23rd Marcos Ambrose
29th David Ragan
31st David Gilliland
40th Casey Mears
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion (Qualified 19th) – “It was better in practice. Turn one and two was a lot better in practice. I messed up in three and four a little bit and we have been struggling there in practice. The car wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. I am disappointed, but it was a pretty decent lap.”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR. – No. 17 EcoBoost Ford Fusion (Qualified 9th) – “I thought we were going to be a little better. We were pretty fast in practice. The Ford Ecoboost Fusion was on rails in practice really. We were a little too tight and tried to free it up and I think this qualifying pace is going to get faster here. We were a little on the splitter in one and two and I turned into three and thought it turned really well and I went back to the gas and got tight off of four. I think we could have gone a little faster if I would have drove a little different there. All in all it was a decent lap and we will have to work on it tomorrow. I really like this place.”
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Qualified 16th) – “I just didn’t go with my gut there. I wanted to run the bottom and I didn’t go with my gut. I tried to run the top and it was slow earlier for me and it was slow qualifying for me. That is just the way it goes though. We will be alright.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 DeWalt Ford Fusion (Qualified 23rd) – “We’ve had a tough day, so I felt like I got what I could out of it. As far as driving goes, I felt like I did a reasonable job out there, but we’ve been struggling for speed.”
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion (Qualified 31st) – “That was better than we practiced for sure. We changed four springs, a swaybar and the trackbar, so we changed everything and it was all good up until the last corner here and it got tight in the middle of three and four. I’m proud of the guys and the changes they made, so we’ll just keep digging and keep fighting.”
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion (Qualified 17th) – “That wasn’t a bad lap at all. We just got tight in the center there and I wondered if I carried a little too much speed in trying not to use any brakes so the second lap I tried to use more brake and we slowed down a lot. Overall that is a really good pickup for my guys and they did a really good job making adjustments from practice to this. I think most people were picking up like two-tenths and we picked up about five. That is a good run and we can at least see the front from there and hopefully make it happen.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion (Qualified 4th) – “We just missed it by a hair. This is a good car. I was trying really hard to get the pole and probably over drove it a little bit. It had a little bit to spare and I simply over drove it. It is a good car and it was a great effort by my guys. We have fond memories of this place obviously, and I am excited about what we have for the race on Sunday. I really wanted to get that pole, just missed it a little bit.”
PRESS CONFERENCE
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion (Qualified 3rd) – TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING EFFORT AND OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEKEND. “Pretty good. The Shell/Pennzoil Ford was fast right off the truck. I think we were fifth-quick in race trim right off the truck when a lot of cars were in qualifying trim, so anytime that happens you know you’ve got a really good race piece. It really was a little bit surprising. We switched over to qualifying trim and there wasn’t as much speed in qualifying trim as there was in race trim, but Todd and all the guys on the team did a great job. They made a couple of little adjustments here and there and kind of made guesses on where the track was gonna go and we were able to pick up from I think 10th at the end of practice to a third here. Third is great, but I always want to be first. It’s just a little aggravating because you’re so close to it, but anytime you’re mad with third is a good thing.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE LOOKING BACK ON THE PAST YEAR SEEING THE YEAR YOU’VE HAD AND THE YEAR THE 20 HAS HAD? “Change is always good when both parties make out good. Obviously, both of us are doing well. They’ve made a huge step and myself with the 22 team has done a decent job. Since the Chase started we’ve had fast race cars. We had a tough start and we’ve been kind of digging our way out of a hole, which we’ve done all year. We put ourselves in a hole at the beginning of the season and we worked our way into the Chase. Now coming into this weekend I feel like we can get up to sixth in points with probably winning this thing, which I need to do. That’s where I set my goals. I set my goals really high and I feel like I’ve got a car that can do it, so hopefully we can tune it in a little bit more tomorrow. Obviously, we’re starting up at the front to make it happen, so I’m excited about it. I’ve got a fast car and we’ll try to work our way up in points the best we can.”
DO YOU LOOK AT WHAT HE’S DONE IN THAT CAR? “No, I don’t look at it that way at all. I look at my own deal and think about what we’ve done this year and what we can do to make it better next year. Anytime I start worrying about other cars and other people and stuff like that it doesn’t make my race car go faster.”
JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED — HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A RACE WHEN YOU’VE BEEN ON THE TRACK AT SO MANY DIFFERENT TIMES? “That’s a great question. It’s difficult. Luckily for us I came down here and did a Nationwide test a few weeks ago when the Hendrick guys and Gibbs guys were down here with their Cup cars. We were down here testing the 22 Nationwide car and that’s when you get to see how the track changes throughout the whole day because I think we started at nine and we went to six or 7:30. So you get to see the track get hot in the middle of the day and then as it cools down into the dark and what the track does. That’s some valuable notes for us to have. I’m not gonna tell you what it does, but there is some change there and, obviously, when you get dirty air that’s gonna change it even more, so it’s stuff we fight every week and where the track is gonna be the next day. Is the temperature gonna cool off or heat up and which way do we think it’s gonna go, and that’s why we all take notes because we race way too many times to remember all this in our minds, so we take all these notes down and try to look through them and see what the trends were that we fought and which way we thought the track went maybe last year and come up with a good game plan what we want to do leading into Sunday and as the race goes and the night comes.”
DO YOU THINK STARTING SO YOUNG IN THIS SPORT HAS HELPED YOU IN THE CHASE? “I don’t know, I don’t feel young anymore. I don’t know if that’s really changed in making the Chase and if that helps me or hurts me. I don’t think it really makes a difference now that I’m in the Chase, but I do think having the amount of experience that I have at the age that I am is an advantage. I feel like that is good, but it took a while to gain this experience and understand what’s going on and how to basically gain that maturity level to what I need to be a Sprint Cup driver. I feel like knowing what I know now at the age I am is great. I feel like I’m in a good spot knowing that. I’m never where I want to be because everyone in this series is always getting better, but I feel like I’m on the right track and in the same ballpark as everyone now in the lead pack of where I need to be. I need to just keep making steps from there.”
YOU GOT ENGAGED. CONGRATULATIONS. DID YOU BREAK AS MANY HEARTS AS KASEY KAHNE WOULD? “I have no clue. I wouldn’t think so. I don’t think I’m that good-looking. That’s why I popped the question. I’m not gonna do any better. I knew that. She’s a great girl. I’ve been dating her for a long time and she’s really actually my first kiss and the first girl I ever went out with, so that’s kind of cool to have that relationship for a long time and figured I’d go for it.”
YOU’VE KNOWN HER A LONG TIME? “Yeah, I’ve known her for a long time. At the ice rink I was the Zamboni driver and she was the concession stand girl. So I cleaned the ice and she sold French fries.”
HOW DID YOU PROPOSE AND WHERE? “She had a 2000-something Jeep that I felt like she was probably gonna die in and she really likes Thunderbirds, which is funny because she’s probably the only girl in her twenties that really loves Thunderbirds, so I upgraded her to a Ford and surprised her with that and the ring and the whole nine, so it’s kind of a cool thing and kind of unique, I guess.”
