KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Subway Ford Mustang (Finished 4th)
“We were just getting tight at the end of the runs and the 5, 9 and 1 cars could really hold it wide open. I needed to get past the 5 so I was trying to hold it wide open and had a lot of wheel in to it and got a little tight as we went to the last half of that run. I am really proud of everyone on the Subway Ford Mustang. We closed a huge gap at 1.5 mile race tracks and everyone is doing a great job.”
RUNS LIKE THIS, HOW ENCOURAGED ARE YOU WITH THE PROGRESS YOUR TEAM HAS MADE TOWARD THE END OF THE YEAR? “Yeah, well there are only four guys that are going to make it ito the top-four. We want to finish fifth in the points and try to get to victory lane.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang — (Retired early due to damage sustained on lap 224 — Finished 37th)
TO GET CLEANED OUT THERE BY SOMETHING OUT OF YOUR CONTROL AND HAVE THAT UPSET YOUR PLAYOFFS, HOW MUCH MORE DOES THAT MAKE IT HURT? “Yeah, we got run into from two lanes below me. I have no idea. Obviously it hurts. Finishing 37th is not prime. We didn’t have a great day but we did a good job of fighting back and getting back into the top-10 but then just got wiped out when we had plenty of room. That sucks. It is very unfortunate.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang (Finished 9th)
IT SEEMED LIKE YOU GUYS HAD SOME SPOTS WHERE YOU HAD THE SPEED TO RUN UP FRONT BUT WERE BATTLING SOME HANDLING ISSUES TOO. WHAT ULTIMATELY WAS THE DIFFERENCE AT THE END? “Yeah, we made decent restarts and our pit crew was good today and got us some spots. We were able to get the restarts and get up to the top four or so and then from lap two to 10 I just couldn’t stay with them. I went to the bottom they would pass me on the top, if I went to the top they would pass me on the bottom. I just couldn’t hold them off. From lap 10 on, we were as good as the top three or four cars, we just had last the track position at that point. We were too far back to be able to do much and try to strategize ourselves to the lead somehow. We tried the long run there in the first stage. We just didn’t really get the opportunity to do much. On to Martinsville. One more shot to do it. It is crazy watching this thing. They are trying to give it away it seems like. I have never seen so many issues in this round. Yeah, it seems like survival was the key in this round so far.”
YOU CUT YOUR POINTS DEFICIT IN HALF. IT IS DOWN TO 22 NOW. MARTINSVILLE IS ITS OWN BEAST, DOES THAT CHANGE HOW YOU APPROACH IT AT ALL? “It is pretty far out still. All things considered, it isn’t just that it is 20-something points out, but I am still eighth. I have three or four cars in front of me that I have to get in front of, assuming there isn’t a different winner. It is still pretty much a must-win situation. It would be far-fetched for it to happen. But hey, look at today. Maybe it could happen.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang (Finished 17th)
“That was a heck of a race. We are all just fighting to hard. I am bummed I didn’t get more out of it. I had a heck of an opportunity to score a lot of points and make next week easy. We still aren’t in a bad spot but not as good as spot as we could be.”
DO YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY NOW? “We will do all we can do and that is all we can do. Winning would obviously lock our way in but as you saw this week, as crazy as these races get, I am not sure that isn’t what you have to do.”
WERE YOU EXPECTING THE 15 DEGREE TEMPERATURE DROP? “We were hoping for it. We were really good in the cooler air and the sun came out and it affected our pace. We got damage and we still had decent speed when the sun was behind the clouds but we couldn’t get it to stay there.”
HOW HARD WAS IT TO HAVE TO PIT FROM THE LUCKY DOG SPOT LIKE YOU DID BECAUSE OF YOUR RISING ENGINE TEMPERATURES? “Well, if I didn’t it probably would have blown up. Then we wouldn’t have any shot next week other than winning. It ended up costing us probably five or six spots and probably we would have been in the four spot heading into next weekend. It is what it is.”
Campbell Marketing & Communications for Ford Performance
