Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Goody’s 500 Advance – Martinsville Speedway
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Ford Finishing Order:
5th – Joey Logano
10th – David Ragan
13th – Greg Biffle
15th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
20th – Carl Edwards
21st – Aric Almirola
22nd – David Gilliland
23rd – Marcos Ambrose
31st – Brad Keselowski
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “It was a solid points day. It’s a good the 88 won and not the 24, that’s a good thing. We just weren’t fast enough with our Shell/Pennzoil Ford. We didn’t have the lateral, forward drive that I needed off the corner and every time we tried to fix that the center didn’t turn. We just couldn’t get the handle on it all day. We took four there and restarted 13th but got to fifth. I was just a little bit too tight there that last run to get a couple more spots. Overall, it was another top five, which is great. We’ve been top-fiving the heck out of this Chase, which is what we need to do. I just really want to win these things so you take a little bit of pressure off, but it was still a good points day.”
WAS IT A TOUGH DECISION AT THE END ON WHETHER TO TAKE TWO OR FOUR TIRES? “The 14 stayed out on old tires and finished fourth. The second-place car that stayed out was the 17 and he ended up way back there (15th), so I think we did the right thing there.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Fusion – “It’s not the day we want by any means, but the guys did a great job. They put a gear in this car in 28 laps at Martinsville, that’s pretty phenomenal but it was just unfortunate the way the day played out. We were doing the things we needed to do. We were surviving. We were gonna probably have ourselves a fifth or sixth-place day, which is certainly something we could be proud of and move forward with, but this kind of puts us in a position now where we need to win. This Chase lends itself to those moments and we’re a team that’s capable of them, so we’ll try to be as positive as we can and move forward with two more opportunities to do just that.”
DID YOU FEEL YOU WERE IN POSITION AND HAD BEEN DOING THE RIGHT THINGS THE FIRST PART OF THE RACE? “Yeah. My car barely had a scratch on it and was in really good shape to probably fun fifth or sixth, which would have been a very decent day for us. We didn’t quite have the speed we needed to win today and then something broke, which was unfortunate not just for us but for the other guys that got tore up in it. It’s just one of those deals, there was nothing you could really do different. I’m not really sure what happened. Something in the back of the car broke and I don’t even know what yet, so it’s just one of those deals.”
WERE YOU CONCERNED THAT THE VICKERS-KAHNE DEAL ALMOST TOOK YOU OUT? “I wouldn’t say I wasn’t concerned, but we made it through that and it is what it is.”
IS THERE EXTRA CONFIDENCE KNOWING YOU GUYS HAVE COME BACK AND WON TO ADVANCE? “Yeah, it’s still tough to do. It’s not like we’re just gonna go and guarantee a win at Texas and Phoenix, but it’s also not impossible and we’ve got the team, if there is one, to pull it off.”
ANY IDEA IF CONTACT EARLY IN THE RACE HELPED CAUSE YOUR PROBLEM LATER? “No, just a part failure. I was just talking with Travis Geisler and there’s no explanation behind it. They’ll go back home and do their CSI stuff and figure out why.”
THE FIRST ROUND EVERYTHING LINED UP FOR YOU AND JOEY BUT THE LAST TWO ROUNDS HAVE BEEN TOUGH? “Yeah, it’s been tough but it builds character and makes us stronger. Like I said, with this format we’re by no means out.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion – “Pretty frustrating. We planned on running a lot better than that, but at the end of the day we still came home 20th and we could have lost our minds there. It’s not what we wanted. Jimmy and I talked about it. We’ll go to Texas and go for the win. We’ll go to Phoenix and go for the win there and that’s all we can do.”
NOWHERE TO GO IN THE BIG ACCIDENT? “We tore up the car a little bit in those accidents. I ran into a lot of stuff today and the car held up pretty well. I couldn’t see what was going on. Truex came flying across and hit the inside wall and I caught him a little bit and tore up the car, but our Ford EcoBoost Fusion performed pretty well considering all the damage.”
DID YOU MISS AN OPPORTUNITY HERE? “We missed a little bit of an opportunity, but we ran fifth at Kansas and eighth at Charlotte. We’ve got a bunch of wins at Texas, so there’s nothing saying we can’t go there and do it. We’ve got a test coming up this week and we’ll keep digging. These guys don’t quit.”
MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion – “We got shuffled out there on a couple pit stops and lost track position, and then we got dumped by Kyle Larson and our day was done. We raced hard all day and drove ourselves into the top 10. It’s good that we were able to do that, but we couldn’t complete it.”
DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 Wendell Scott Hall of Fame Tribute Ford Fusion – “That was a great finish. It’s important to stay on the lead lap in these events because it gives you a choice to gamble at the end. When I saw just one or two cars stay out I knew within five laps that we could hang on. Derrick Finley and our Front Row Motorsport team did a nice job working on our Ford all day. It’s cool to have a little excitement there toward the end in the Wendell Scott Ford. Hopefully, his family was enjoying those final few laps. I know it was a lot of fun for me.”
