Ford and Chevrolet Post-Race Notes and Quotes from Phoenix 2

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – “The left-rear tire went flat.  I don’t really know why.  It just kind of came out of nowhere.  We may have run something over, I don’t know.  I went down on the flat a couple laps earlier to make a pass and I don’t know if it hit a little bit hard, maybe it knocked the fender into it, who knows what happened there, but she just went out.  I tried to save it.  I thought I had it saved, but by the time I got it straightened back out the rest of the tires were flat because I had them flat-spotted.  That’s what it is.  We’ll move on.  We’re locked into Miami, so it doesn’t really matter, so we’ll keep our heads high.”

 

DOES IT TAKE AWAY ANY MOMENTUM FOR NEXT WEEK?  “No, I don’t think so.  These things are out of your control, so it doesn’t really knock your confidence down because there’s not much you can do about it anyway.”

SHOWS YOU HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO FIGHT FOR THE WIN.  WHERE WOULD YOU BE OTHERWISE?  “We’d be out.  You can’t afford to have that happen in this Round of 8.  We won Martinsville and that’s the reason why we’re gonna race at Miami.  It is what it is.  We’ll move on from this.  There’s not much we can do about a tire going flat.  It is what it is.  We’ll just go to Miami and race for a championship.”

ARE YOU DEVASTATED OR JUST TAKING A FLAT LINE?  “I’m just taking a flat line on this one.  Like I said, there’s nothing I could do different.  There’s nothing my team could do different, so there’s really nothing to get depressed about.  We’re just staying confident and keeping our heads high because I still feel like we’ve got a great shot at winning this championship when we get to Miami.  This doesn’t affect anything.”

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 ITsavvy Ford Fusion – WHAT HAPPENED?  “I guess we cut a left-rear tire down.  I don’t know if it’s a product of being able to get down on the back straightaway off the race track like that.  At the end of the day it’s pretty unique.  We travel all across the country running on race tracks that we race on the race track and this one we spend more time off of it.  It’s fun to be able to do that, but I don’t know.  After I saw the 22 and then felt my left-rear go, maybe that was a product of that.  We’ve run low air on these short tracks like this on our left sides and maybe that was it.  It’s just kind of the way our Playoffs are going.  It’s frustrating.  We’ve had a great year getting to where we were part of this Playoff situation and being in contention to be able to run for a championship.  There’s a lot of pride with Mike and all the guys on the 14 car.  It’s been a lot of fun to go to battle each and every week all across the country with these guys.  Stewart-Haas, I can’t say enough about the job the men and women have done at Stewart-Haas getting all four cars in the Playoffs and then obviously winning and being in Victory Lane, and everything Ford and everybody involved has done for us.  I’m proud of our season, bummed for our day.  It’s always fun to come out here to Phoenix.  It’s a hell of a crowd today, appreciate everybody coming out.  Unfortunately, we were a caution.  You never want to be a caution.”

CLINT BOWYER CONTINUED -- ANY IDEA WHY TIRES WOULD BE A PROBLEM TODAY WHEN WE DIDN’T SEE ANY YESTERDAY?  “It’s just a difficult deal.  I’m not really a big fan of the tires that we’re running nowadays anyway.  It seems like if we have trouble the first thing we do is go to a more durable tire, and then, in my opinion, that durable tire is always worse for racing, and then all of a sudden you have trouble here.  I hope that doesn’t mean we have to go to a more durable tire because I don’t think what happened – at the end of the day you’re running off the race track.  Goodyear can’t build a tire that’s designed to run off a race track.  You go down there bounce in through it.  It’s been that way since they repaved it and it’s just kind of the nature of the beast now.  Obviously with the restart situation where it’s at and everything else everything is a learning process, but it is kind of a bummer.  More than likely that’s probably what happened.”

YOU WERE SEVENTH WHEN THAT HAPPENED.  DO YOU THINK YOU HAD SOMETHING TO MAYBE WIN WITH?  “We were way off when we started and made some good adjustments there.  We woke the car up and got up through there.  Obviously, youi’d need to be able to continue to do that.  I was starting to get a grin on my face and be happy with the way my car was going.  I could see the front and was starting to be able to make moves, but unfortunately that’s kind of the way my luck has been in the Playoffs.  It just hasn’t been very good.”

 

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 PPG Ford Fusion – “I thought we were pretty good.  We definitely made big gains here.  We were running top five all day.  They noticed some water in the pit box on that last stop and I had no water pressure.  We took off on the restart and it was blowing up.  We found that a lugnut went through the radiator, so it’s just pure luck.  We finally have a decent run here and that happens.  The good news is we made good gains here, so that’s something to look forward to.”

 

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Ford Fusion – “It looked like we just blew a tire there.  We were actually getting our Ford Fusion better and better throughout the race.  We had a great qualifying spot, but obviously didn’t feel like we were capable of running there, but we were definitely getting our car better and better.  I felt pretty competitive that last run and bummed that it ended that way.  I thought we were moving forward and passing some good cars, but, all in all, it just wasn’t meant to be today and we’ll go on to Homestead.”

 

KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion – “Erik Jones was on my inside when we restarted and I just wanted to make sure I didn’t slip through the new one and two.  If I could have been to somebody’s outside off two, then I thought we had a good shot of maintaining the lead and I just got cleaned out.  I flat out got cleaned out.  I thought it was the right decision on staying out.  I’m not gonna look back on it.  If the rule earlier in the race on the pit road of passing the pace car is black and white, I just need to get brushed up on my rulebook.  I didn’t gain anything by doing what I did other than just digging from behind all day.  It was a really good year for our Haas Automation Ford.  Thanks to Monster Energy and everybody that put their talent into that 41 car.  I just didn’t get the job done to get us to Homestead.”

 

YOU EMBRACED TONY STEWART WHEN YOU GOT OUT OF THE CAR.  WHAT DID YOU SAY?  “He was just helping me out as a driver, owner.  That’s what Tony Stewart does.  He’s a good individual that knows how to pat somebody on the back and create clarity from the outside on what went on because I only see what happens from the inside of the car.”

Ford Finishing Order:

2nd – Brad Keselowski

4th – Aric Almirola

5th – Kevin Harvick

7th – Matt Kenseth

16th – Michael McDowell

20th – David Ragan

21st – Matt DiBenedetto

29th – Paul Menard

32nd – Kurt Busch

33rd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

34th – Ryan Blaney

35th – Clint Bowyer

37th – Joey Logano

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – YOU HAD FOUR TIRES AND A CHANCE.  YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW THE END PLAYED OUT.  “We definitely made the right call.  It just didn’t quite work out.  Man, it was close.  I needed to pass the 10 like a lap earlier and we were all racing for all we’ve got.  It was close.”

DID YOU THINK YOU COULD GET THERE?  “Yeah, I was trying.  I was definitely faster, it was just too much.”

DID THE APRON GAIN GRIP AS THE RACE WORE ON?  “Yeah, a little bit, not a lot, but a little bit for sure.  I think probably just the surface was losing it.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU EXPRESS YOUR EMOTIONS?  “I don’t know.  I thought we were a seventh to sixth-place car and that’s what I thought we were yesterday too.  Johnny and all these guys fought their guts out and I fought my guts out inside the race car and gave it everything we had.  We took a seventh or eighth-place car and the next thing you know we were in position to win the race.  I’m just really thankful for this group and these guys on the Smithfield team are awesome.  This is our first year working together.  You look at all the teams we’re racing and they’ve got four, five, six, seven years working together, so what we’ve accomplished in one year is a hell of a lot, but right now all I can think about is being inside of Kyle down there in the new one and two and just not being able to get the power down to get up beside him.  It’s bittersweet.  It was a good day for us, but today we needed to win and we didn’t win.”

IS IT ANY CONSOLATION THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO DO THIS IN THE FIRST YEAR AT SHR?  “Yeah, I am surprised by this group.  I mean, what surprises me the most is this group of people that work on this race car.  All these guys on this team, they are amazing and what we’ve accomplished in one year together is pretty outstanding.  I don’t want the season to end.  It’s been a long grind and I’m tired and I’m ready for the offseason, but I really wanted to go to Homestead with a chance to run for a championship and oh so close.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Fusion – WERE YOU STRESSED AT ALL IN THE CAR OR DID IT JUST FUEL THE FIRE FOR YOU?  “Yeah, we’re happy about going to Miami and I think as you run you just want to make it lap by lap.”

 

ANY INDICATION THE RIGHT-FRONT TIRE WAS GOING DOWN WHEN IT DID?  “Yeah, I felt it start to go down going into turn one there and just slowed down to the point where I thought I could at least make it back to the pits and not hit the wall.  It came at an OK time because it didn’t tear the car up.  It never really drove as well after that, but we kept ourselves in position all day and there at the end it was just like with everybody wrecking and all over the place, we just needed to stay out of trouble and try to find a safe spot there.”

KEVIN HARVICK CONTINUED -- HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO KEEP THE EMOTIONS IN CHECK AFTER THE TIRE WENT DOWN AND YOU LOST A LAP?  “There’s nothing you can do about that stuff.  You just regroup, put four new tires on it and go at it again.”

ASSESS YOUR CHANCES AT HOMESTEAD?  “I think we have a chance every time we show up.  Our guys are doing a great job obviously to accomplish everything we did this weekend was quite the feat without your crew chief and car chief, but Tony Gibson and Nick did a great job filling in and everybody kept their head about them and we were competitive all weekend.”

 

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Fusion – “It’s definitely probably the best run I’ve had here and I’m really proud of the guys.  I made mistakes on pit road instead.  It’s kind of a trick pit road now with curves and straights and I was just pushing it too hard.  We were able to rebound. I wish we could have got that lucky dog a little bit sooner, but the 6 and I were racing hard for it and it was just a tough battle there.  I’m glad to get a top 20 and get some momentum back going to Homestead.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI PRESS CONFERENCE

 

Q.  Maybe I can clear up some confusion from my side.  We saw a lot of problems with other drivers with tires.  First of all, what's your tire situation, and according to the media release of Goodyear, they gave recommendation how much pressure you run in the tire.  Is your team following this recommendation, or you make your own calculation for tire pressure?

 

BRAD KESELOWSKI:  Do you drive 45 miles an hour on a divided highway every time?  Do you never go over the speed limit?  Do you know American speed limits?

Q.  No, I don't.

 

BRAD KESELOWSKI:  Okay, yeah.  Then you might get the analogy I'm trying to say.  There is not a single team following the Goodyear recommendations, so yeah, I'm pretty sure that that is just one of those things in the book.  So I think that answers that question.  But the other question was about whether changing the tire compound made a difference?  Was that what the other question was?  Oh, we didn't have any issues.  Yeah, we were really good.  My understanding is the guys that had tire issues ran over debris.  But I might be wrong.  I don't know.  I had limited vision in the car to be able to see that.

Q.  Brad, you were up there on that final restart with a loss of playoff drivers around you, obviously Almirola trying to win his way in, Harvick trying to point his way in.  How do you balance that late‑race aggression of trying to win the race but trying to not ruin it for the playoff contenders?

 

BRAD KESELOWSKI:  Shoot, I don't know.  I'm the last person to ask about that.  I think we had a shot to win the race, and I was going to do what I could.  Just felt like our car was in a really good spot.  Gosh, I feel like without that last yellow I could have ate those guys up and gone, but the last yellow ran off too many laps on me.  I needed those laps to be able to get there.  But our car was pretty strong, like you said, and I was really proud of that.

Q.  Brad, we go to Homestead every year the last several years and it seems like everybody has got to win in order to win the championship, but you run awfully good at Homestead, you were strong in the past.  Should the Championship 4 be concerned about you there next weekend?

 

BRAD KESELOWSKI:  Yeah, I feel like we've had a chance to win three of the last four, four of the last five, and they just keep slipping through our hands.  But we've certainly been right there, and I would expect similar in Homestead for sure.

Q.  Did you think the new start‑finish location had a bigger impact on this race than expected today?

 

BRAD KESELOWSKI:  I didn't expect anything, so the answer would be no, but I do think it had a pretty good effect on the race with entering Turn 1 on the old track, which is now Turn 3, you just couldn't pass, and so this corner down here, you can pass on a restart, and I think that changes the game a lot.

KEVIN HARVICK POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

Q.  Kevin, a comeback today that saved your season.  Where would you rank this, and did you think that you had a chance when everything had gone wrong in that instant?

 

KEVIN HARVICK:  I never really thought about it like that.  I just thought about ‑‑ my main job was to try to get it back to the pits without crashing into the wall or having a tire blow out and rip the fenders off.  I felt it go down going into Turn 1 and just kind of tried to nurse it into Turn 3 and back around.  I couldn't get down over there, and I just drug everything all the way around.  I drug the splitter off.  It never really handled as good after that, but we made some adjustments to our car and got ourselves back in contention there in the second stage staying out, and it worked out okay.

Q.  Kevin, would you describe your emotion as relief, excited, the fact that you get to go vie for a title?

 

KEVIN HARVICK:  Just another day.

Q.  It's not just another day, it's a day where you could have been knocked out of the championship ‑‑

 

KEVIN HARVICK:  You don't do anything different.  I would prepare no different next week if I was out as I would if I was in.  That's what I always tell you guys; win or lose, it's the same prep every week.

Q.  Kevin, what did you feel like was your biggest challenge today then with everything that you kind of had to go through?

 

KEVIN HARVICK:  That flat tire.  Just leading the stage there, coming to the white and the tire goes flat.  That just put us behind and drug the front of the car off and the splitter and everything up front was drug off, and it just ‑‑ that was really the turning point in our day, to not have everything go right.  I mean, we got ourselves back in contention there, and we're going in the right direction and wound up just finding a spot at the end to just survive there and get to the finish.

Q.  Kevin, do you know ‑‑ Goodyear said it was likely a puncture but they weren't sure.  Do you have any idea what caused the ‑‑

 

KEVIN HARVICK:  I don't.

Q.  On the restart with Kyle leading and Aric second and you third, did you feel your car was good enough that you had a chance to win, or did you feel like your championship bid was more on how Almirola was going to run?

 

KEVIN HARVICK:  I just needed to get my car set on the bottom and try to get everything so that I could get a good exit off the corner, and that was really all I was worried about.

Q.  Kevin, when the tire went down, you said already, if I understood it correctly, the splitter was damaged or broken or whatever.  Did you know what the feeling was when the tire went down, when you had the tire problem, that maybe some more serious damage could be done to the suspension, for example?

 

KEVIN HARVICK:  You know, in that instance you just hope that the sway bar stays connected, and that's really the biggest worry.  I hadn't looked under the car and seen how bad it drug it all off, but it was good enough to keep going, so that was ‑‑ and the sway bar was still hooked up, so that was the main thing.

Q.  Kevin, what was it like to work with Tony in this way since you guys hadn't done that before?

 

KEVIN HARVICK:  Really the biggest thing that Tony brings is just a ton of experience.  Obviously a familiar face to the NASCAR officials, and he's been with Stewart‑Haas for a long time and worked with all those guys and worked with everybody in the shop.  He's very calm sitting up on the pit box, unless he's winning the Daytona 500.  Then he gives us something that we all remember.  But for the most part on the radio, he was just dead calm all weekend and just pretty laid back with everything, and everybody just did their jobs.

The thing you've got to remember is those guys have all been together for five years, and there's ‑‑ the internet works well from Phoenix to North Carolina, as well, too.

Q.  Kevin, I'm curious why you have such success out here in Phoenix.

 

KEVIN HARVICK:  Well, this has just been a great racetrack for us through the years, really, in everything that we've ever raced.  It's just a place that I like coming to.  I've been coming here since the mid '80s, late '80s to watch races, and started racing here in the mid '90s.  So even since they've changed the track, it's just been a place that I feel like I know well and enjoy racing in front of these fans and on these types of tracks.  Just a good place for us.

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER 3rd       KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR CAMARO ZL1 6TH      JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CESSNA CAMARO ZL1 8TH      AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL E15 CAMARO ZL1 9TH      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 10th     BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 U.S. AIR FORCE CAMARO ZL1   TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER 1ST      Kyle Busch (Toyota) 2nd      Brad Keselowski (Ford) 3rd       Kyle Larson (Chevrolet) 4th       Aric Almirola (Ford) 5TH      Kevin Harvick (Ford)   The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Homestead Miami Speedway with the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday, November 18 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.   TEAM CHEVY NOTES & QUOTES: AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL E15 CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th YOU HAVE A VERY SOLID WEEKEND AS A WHOLE. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY TODAY? “Yeah for sure, I’m proud of our American Ethanol E15 car and our team. It was a solid run all weekend. We had a top 10 car. That is what we had. We proved that. It kind of bit us, we pitted and the caution came out and that was… we had to really fight to get back that, but luckily the wrecks happened. It put us back in a pretty good position. We decided to stay out on old tires and fight them off to the end. That was a fun run for our team and our Camaro. We will work on that. That is two top 10’s in a row and I’m happy.”   WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th ON HIS TOP 10 RUN: “Yeah, it was a good run for us. It would have been better, we got that damage when the wreck happened, but yeah it was good. Overall, the car was the best we have been in a long time and it was fun to have that.”   THOUGHTS ON HIS ROOKIE SEASON:   “Yeah, I mean, we haven't had very good runs, to be honest, the whole year, but this run we kind of went a completely different direction with what we were doing and it seemed to pay off, and just kind of had a solid weekend other than qualifying. Got some damage there, but we were able to come back, I guess, and finish ninth, so I guess that's decent, and going to Homestead next week.”   WHAT ARE THE THINGS YOU FEEL MOST PROUD OF FOR YOUR ROOKIE SEASON? “Yeah, I mean, I'd say just kind of how we've grown or how I've grown. There's been a lot of things to learn, so just how I've improved those things or how people have helped me improve those things, and looking forward to next year, what we have there.   “I think probably some of the decent runs that we've had, I look at the road courses went pretty well for us, and then some of the short track races went well. Probably look at that stuff and be proud of that.”   BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 U.S. AIR FORCE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 10th SOLID TOP 10 AND GREAT RUN FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM: “We were up there and we had underdog speed in the top 15 three quarters through the race and I didn’t like having all those cautions. I did because it would give us a chance to fire back off, but once we got leveled out those guys could just drive right by us. We are still working on our speed. We are still making the most of it. It was nice to be able to survive, catch a couple of breaks, catch a lot of breaks actually. Just have luck on our side for once. It was great to have the Air Force on our car for Veteran’s Day and our Chevrolet was actually decent this time.”   AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 12th “That was a really solid day for our Kroger ClickList team. We’ve been searching for some speed at ISM Raceway the last several years, and to be able to gain spots on pit road and track position was a huge advantage for us. That was probably the best Kroger ClickList car I’ve had here. I’m really proud of the whole team for being able to get us some solid finishes the last few weeks, and I’m looking forward to finishing out the season strong next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway.”   TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO MILITARY CAMARO SS – Finished 19th “What a crazy day of highs and lows for our GEICO Military team. My Camaro ZL1 had a great balance through the start and middle of the race, I just needed a bit more drive through the corners. Then the battery problem hit us, and we had to switch out batteries during a caution. That could have potentially ended our day, but thankfully the voltage maintained instead of dropping. My balance wasn’t exactly where I needed it in the final stage of the race, but my team kept tweaking it to get it closer. Everyone’s hard work today earned us a top-20 finish. We came to Phoenix wanting to make the most of what we have left of the season, and I’d say that we capitalized on everything we had today.”   CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 23rd / Failed to Advance to the Championship Round YOU CAME INTO THIS RACE 17 POINTS OUT OF THE CUTLINE. YOU HAD A FAST CAR AND GOT INVOLVED IN THAT CRASH ON THE FRONT STRETCH. WAS THERE ANY WAY TO HAVE AVOIDED IT? “Yeah, don’t speed before that and you don’t get caught back there in the back. It was completely my fault and when you make mistakes like that, you get put behind and that’s when you get wrecked. So, I had a pretty good NAPA Chevy, especially on the long runs. We could run with those guys. I couldn’t get going quite as good as I wanted to. But if you stay away from that penalty (speeding on pit road) you never know. I hate it, but we’ll try to get a win next week.”   WHAT DO YOU TAKE FROM THIS PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE IN YOUR YOUNG CAREER? “You just have to make the most of opportunities. The whole year counts. Those guys, winning a lot of races throughout the season, is what kept them away from a pressure-filled situation. All the bonus points they built up pretty much got them to Homestead, and that that’s the way that step stone is meant to work. It pays to win. So, we’ll try to win more next year.”   DESCRIBE YOUR DAY AND DISAPPOINTMENT AS YOU LOOK AT YOUR WRECKED RACE CAR: “Yeah, was speeding on pit road and ultimately that is what got us behind. You can’t come down pit road leading the race and speed and expect to race for a championship the next week. Just unfortunate and especially that late in the race. So, that was just my fault and really no excuse for it. So, we will try again next year.”   CAN YOU TALK ABOUT A GREAT RUN HERE AND A GREAT SEASON COMING TO AN END FOR YOU? “Yeah, it was just you know, was speeding there and got behind. So, you can’t make stupid mistakes like that and expect to go race for a championship, so, my fault.”   DO YOU LOOK BACK ON THIS SEASON WITH PRIDE? “I mean I feel like we had an opportunity today and didn’t make the most of it. Yeah, definitely could have been worse for sure, better than my first two, but we still finished fifth in the points last year, so it would be a good goal to try to shoot for next week.”   WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY THERE WHEN THOSE GUYS WERE CRASHING IN FRONT OF YOU? “I mean, yeah, sure, looking back on it, but I made the decision I thought was best and it wasn’t good enough.”   ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined with an engine failure on lap 286. Finished 30th SO FRUSTRATING AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON, TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED: “Yeah, we had an uncontrolled tire early. I don’t know, I guess the computer told them it was an uncontrolled tire. It didn’t look uncontrolled to me, but the computer is probably a whole lot smarter than me. We kind of got off pit strategy trying to come back from that. We were going to be able to overcome it and have a decent day. It was just kind of odd. Some odd things going on and then they crashed in front of us and knocked the duct work out of it. Hendrick Motorsports builds great engines, this wasn’t an engine failure because of them, this was an engine failure because it had no duct work and it ran 350 degrees for 20 laps and it can only do that for so long.”   WHAT WAS THE NATURE OF THE RACE? “I mean, I felt like it was pretty normal for here, give and take, crazy restarts. That restart zone in the middle of the corner is interesting, but just normal racing.”