Ford Performance NASCAR: Harvick & Keselowski Post Top-10 Finishes at Loudon (Full Package) Inbox

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang -- (Finished 5th) - HOW MUCH WERE YOU SLIPPING AND SLIDING AT THE END THERE? “A lot. We put two tires on there, which we all thought was the right thing to do and it just would not get going. We were sliding up the race track and it took seven or eight laps to get the car underneath ya and then about 20 laps to get the pace back. Then at the end, everybody was just out of tires. I am proud of everybody on our GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang. We will keep plugging away.”

 

HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO PASS TODAY? “When the car was handling good, not bad. But when everybody was sliding around there it was tough if you were the same speed. We passed a lot of the cars that were worse than us. It just depended on what your handling issues were.”

 

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang (Finished 7th)

YOU HAD A RUN-IN EARLY IN THE RACE WITH AUSTIN DILLON, WHAT WAS THAT? “Hot in the cars and we all let our tempers get the best of us. We had a decent day here. The Kohler Generators Ford Mustang climbed really far that last run. I think we went from somewhere around the late teens and 20’s up to seventh on that last run. I am proud of our team for the effort today. It was certainly an up and down day today and it was good to finish on an up note.”

 

AUSTIN SAID HE DOES NOT LIKE THE WAY THAT YOU RACE HIM. IS THE FEELING MUTUAL? “I will talk to him privately. I don't need to be a jerk over the media.”

 

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang (Finished 15th)

WAS IT A SALVAGEABLE DAY? “Yeah, that first run we were really good and able to drive up into the top-15. Then from there we just kind of struggled and the track was changing so much. I probably didn’t do the greatest job guiding them where we needed to go. Then we had that spin and tried to play strategy to get up there and we caught the caution wrong. I feel like if we had the long run and were running fourth or fifth versus catching the caution we probably would have been alright. It just didn’t work out. I feel like we had a better car than 15th but with everything we fought I guess it was alright. We will just have to move on to Pocono.”

 

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang (Finished 13th)

“Definitely a double come from behind day on the 2 car. Drove my guts out today. I am proud of the adjustments we made overnight after such a bad qualifying effort. Had a probably top-five long run car and should have finished in the top-10, we just ran out of time there. I had fun working the lanes and trying to get better. I am proud of the team. We will keep moving forward.”

 

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang (Finished 24th) 

YOU GUYS MADE SOME PIT STRATEGY CALLS TO GET YOU UP FRONT, IT LOOKED LIKE IT MIGHT WORK FOR A WHILE THERE: “Yeah, live by the sword, die by the sword. We did it in the second stage to get track position and it worked. Then we did it again to get track position and the race ran long and it didn’t work. I thought we were pretty decent once we got up there and had a shot at taking the lead from Kurt (Busch) but then the 9 missed the mark by a mile and knocked our toe our or camber or something in the left rear suspension. I don't know why he had to do that, but I am pretty sure that was not a good move on his part. So, that is that.”

 

WAS IT REALLY ALL ABOUT CLEAN AIR? “Ha, yeah. It was all about clean air. For a couple of cars that were a little more stellar, they could maybe work their way through the field but even a couple of the best cars never got back there at the end. The 19 and the 4, they never got back. Track position was king.”

FORD FINISHING RESULTS

5th - Kevin Harvick

7th - Brad Keselowski

13th - Austin Cindric

15th - Chase Briscoe

17th - Chris Buescher

18th - Ryan Blaney

24th - Joey Logano

25th - Todd Gilliland

26th - Harrison Burton

27th - Cole Custer

28th - Michael McDowell

29th - JJ Yeley

30th - Cody Ware

31st - Aric Almirola

36th - BJ McLeod

 

Ronald Fleshman

Ron Fleshman is NASCAR Editor at Ris-News.com

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Volume 2022, Issue 7, Posted 8:14 PM, 07.17.2022