Ford Performance NASCAR: Martinsville Post-Race Cup Quotes

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang -- “We weren’t very good.  It was kind of a confusing race for us.  I thought we were decent yesterday the first run and then fired off on this first run and was like, ‘Uh oh.’  I had no rear grip and started fighting loose in and off.  We almost went down a lap, but a good strategy play got us up toward the front and a couple good changes got us closer to where I needed to be as well, and then it was just kind of a slugfest, a grinding race from there.  There were points I thought we were decent and then the next run we were no good, then we were pretty good, and then no good.  We just kept jumping the fence back and forth, and trying to understand where to be was pretty tough.  We almost got a top five out of something that was a pretty challenging day.  We got something out of it.  I was expecting a lot more out of today, but we still got a sixth-place finish with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang which is just OK.”

ARE YOU CONCERNED AT ALL WITH WHERE THIS TRACK SITS IN THE PLAYOFFS?  “I still think this is a good track for us.  Any way you look at it this has been a pretty solid one for Penske in general and for the 22, so we came here trying a couple different things.  We don’t have practice to know if it’s better or not, so things we felt like were probably gonna be better and we’ll probably have to decide which one wasn’t better tomorrow.  I’m not super concerned at the moment.  We tried some things and some things didn’t work.  Some things were confusing, so it gives us some questions that we all need to answer and think about.  I’m not super concerned yet, just have a bunch of questions.”

NASCAR IS GOING TO START LETTING SPONSORS IN THE GARAGE IN A FEW WEEKS.  DO YOU HAVE ANY RESERVATIONS OR CONCERNS ABOUT THAT?  “I think it’s very important for key stakeholders in our sport to be around the racetrack and particularly in the garage because it was a very exclusive experience that these race teams are able to present to sponsors, and I think that’s something that is very important.  It’s a huge value that we all brought to sponsors or key customers of certain companies, so we have to do it.  I have zero concerns.  The first thing that comes to my mind is it’s about time.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang -- “We had a really good Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang tonight.  On the long runs we were really good.  Denny was good on short runs.  I was just kind of trying to hold off the guys behind me until we got 20 or so laps in and then I could kind of start creeping forward.  But, we just got that pit road penalty at the end.  It’s just a mistake and something that should be avoided.  We’ve had an issue the last three times we’ve been here with a car to win, so that’s frustrating but I’m real proud of the effort.  I just wish we could close one out.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang -- “We just maintained today. I got one good restart and then went too loose at the end.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang -- WHAT DID YOU SEE IN THAT PILE-UP?  “It’s just unfortunate that we got caught up in it.  It looked like some guys got in front of me and the track was blocked.  I think I was just barely gonna get stopped in time and somebody clobbered me from behind and just tore us up.  It’s a bummer.  I think we were really good.  We drove up into the top five and lost the power-steering.  I was able to manhandle it around the racetrack, but I couldn’t get down pit road where you go to turn in your pit box.  Every pit stop, it wasn’t my crew’s fault, I just couldn’t get the car stopped in the box and pointed the right way.  That kind of got me in the back, and then I got dumped.  We recovered from that and then we got caught up in a wreck that we just didn’t look like I could miss.  Just one of those compounding, frustrating short track days, but we had decent speed.  We just have to figure out why we lost the power-steering that kind of put us behind.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE WHEN THE POWER-STEERING GOES OUT?  “It’s really tough.  I mean, you’ve got a really tiny 8:1 steering box.  You go back in the day 30-40 years ago and none of the drivers had power-steering, but they had like a 16:1 steering box.  Now you’ve got 8:1, 10:1 steering boxes and you do the math real quick and they’re twice as hard to steer.  It’s a really tough day.”

THE TRACK WAS BLOCKED COMING OFF TURN TWO.  WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU AT THAT POINT?  “It’s just part of the short track deal.  We got caught up in the back.  We had an issue with the car and we were working through it and doing the best we could to make the most of it, and then they just kind of wrecked and blocked the track.  There was nothing we could really do.”

WHAT CHALLENGES DID YOU HAVE WITH NO POWER-STEERING?  “It was frustrating.  We were kind of hanging on on the racetrack and I was able to kind of hold serve and actually move up a little bit, but the pit road stuff I couldn’t get into the pit box for my guys and it just really screwed up our pit stops and we kept losing spots.  Finally, we got back in some of the not-so-good cars and drivers and got ran over, but recovered from that and then just got caught up in something we couldn’t miss.”

Ford Finishing Results

6th - Joey Logano

9th - Kevin Harvick

11th - Ryan Blaney

12th - Matt DiBenedetto

13th - Chris Buescher

18th - Cole Custer

19th - Ryan Newman

20th - Aric Almirola

23rd - Josh Bilicki

26th - Anthony Alfredo

27th - Chase Briscoe

29th - BJ McLeod

31st - Michael McDowell

33rd - Brad Keseslowski