Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
STP 500 – Martinsville Speedway
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Ford Finishing Order:
2nd – Brad Keselowski
3rd – Joey Logano
12th – Aric Almirola
18th – Trevor Bayne
19th – Greg Biffle
22nd – Cole Whitt
24th – Chris Buescher
25th – David Gilliland
32nd – Sam Hornish Jr.
40th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – PRESS CONFERENCE – “It was a good run. Up and down day for us and we finished on a strong note, just not quite as strong as we wanted to. Man, it was a fun race. That’s the best we’ve ever been here at Martinsville, so I’m pumped about that, but a little disappointed I’m not taking home a clock. That’s how it goes sometimes, but, all in all, a really solid day, a fun day and just one spot short.”
IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE THE WIN ALREADY WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN MORE AGGRESSIVE AT THE END? “Oh, I don’t know. I did everything I could other than wreck him. I don’t know. It’s hard to say. I hit him pretty good a couple of times, so he did a good job and he chose not to wreck, which I give him credit for, and it was fun. I just had fun and I really don’t know what more I could have done other than just drove through him, but I felt pretty good about what I did do.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU TOOK THE HIGH ROAD OR WERE YOU JUST OUT THERE RACING? “I don’t know. Morals and racing are pretty subjective, but I just felt like I raced him the way I wanted to be raced and I guess that is what it is.”
HOW DO YOU VIEW DENNY AS A COMPETITOR NOW THAT HE’S IN THE CHASE? “It’s so early in the year. Right now, the 4 and the 41 are the best on the mile-and-a-half tracks and a championship always comes down to the mile-and-a-half tracks. You look at the Chase and that’s just how it is, so the 4 and the 41 are the best cars there. We’ve all got some work to do to catch up to them, but there are six months at least until then and when the time comes that’s when you need to be fast. There’s a lot of time to keep developing and pushing to get better and everybody will. Gibbs has always had good cars and I wouldn’t be shocked if by that time they were one of the favorites to beat, but you just never know.”
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “Our car just wasn’t as fast as those guys. We had a decent race car and we recovered from the spin halfway through the race and we worked our way back and slowly but surely got ourselves back in the top three. We didn’t have enough long run speed. I could hang with him a little bit, but it takes everything I’ve got to go their speed and then my stuff just wears out on that last run. I gave it all I had from lap one until the end of it and just burned it up and lost too much steam. Overall, it was still a great weekend with a couple poles and a truck win and an awesome third-place finish here, so overall it was a good weekend.” DID YOU THINK FOR A MOMENT THEY MIGHT WRECK EACH OTHER AND YOU COULD HAVE WON? “I was hoping so (laughing). That was my only shot at it once they got pretty far away. That was the only shot I had.” HOW MUCH OF TODAY WAS LEARNING ABOUT THIS RACE FOR THE FALL? “The track seems to change a lot from the spring to the fall, but, directionally, I think there are things we can improve on still. We’re only good for a certain amount of time, and we just need to make our cars a little faster for a longer time.”
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion – “We didn’t have any strategy that got us there, our car was just that good. We drove up to 13th and came in and pitted and the tires had no rear grip. It was just really, really loose and we got behind, so that was a bummer. I’m proud of the guys. The pit stops were good and this was the best I’ve personally ever run here, so we’ll build from it.”
TREVOR BAYNE – No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion – “When we got that left-rear cut down I went, ‘Oh no, here we go again.’ But we caught a lot of breaks today with the caution coming out at the right time and keeping us on the lead lap. Our car was decent at times. I thought when we stayed out on tires and we were on the bottom in the front we were able to hold our position with the 24 and the 11 and all those guys, but then we had to restart on the outside and we got shuffled out to the back and lost all of our position. I learned a ton today being out here at Martinsville for only my second time. I haven’t been here in five years, so it was a big learning curve, but I think we were a couple adjustments away in practice to being a top-10 car and being decent. I learned how important starting on the bottom and track position was and how to give spots away and how to get spots, so it was a good learning day for us.” MENTALLY WAS IT HARD TO RECOVER FROM THAT EARLY INCIDENT? “When you go through it week after week like we’ve been going through things you learn to keep your head up and you learn not to give up. I almost like adversity sometimes because it gives us an opportunity to do something different. When you’re already 36th and something happens, you come down and get tires and now you’re on a different sequence and sometimes that works in your favor. One thing about us is we’re not gonna give up. I’m sure we’re gonna have rough days ahead and we’ll have good days ahead, but you’ve just got to treat them the same.”
ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 STP Ford Fusion – “We fought hard in the Top-15 for most of the day. That’s what we need to keep doing. We had a good car in the middle of the race but our handling was better for the long runs and the cautions didn’t help. If we stay consistently in the Top-15, we can make those Top-15 runs into Top-12 runs like we did today. Eventually, that will lead to consistent Top-10 finishes.”
