Ford Finishing Results:
5th – Joey Logano
7th – Chris Buescher
11th – Ryan Preece
12th – Ryan Blaney
18th – Brad Keselowski
19th – Kevin Harvick
21st – Aric Almirola
23rd – Todd Gilliland
24th – Harrison Burton
25th – Austin Cindric
28th – Chase Briscoe
30th – Zane Smith
32nd – Michael McDowell
35th – Andy Lally
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 FIfth Third Bank Ford Mustang – “That was probably a little bit more stressful from on top of the box than what it was inside the race car. We basically did what we talked about doing, steadily moving up all day and being there to capture those end of day points. I sure would have loved some stage points, but at the same time didn’t want to throw away the race and it ended up being a great call from Scott and everyone on this 17 team. We had another fast race car. This Fifth Third Bank Mustang was good and I’m proud of that. I should have been able to run a little bit better than that, but certainly had to keep the big picture in mind. Another top 10 for the road courses, just got to break forward a handful of spots, but that’s a heck of a way to go onto the next round.”
HOW HARD DID YOU FIGHT FOR IT TODAY? “I tried not to get too caught up in points, just get to the front. I knew if we got to the front and as long as we didn’t have a new winner from behind us I felt like we had a pretty decent idea that a top 10 would do it no matter what else anybody else captured in points. WIth the 8 car being up there, again, that had us thinking a little bit differently for a little while. Once the 16 got up there and was able to hold him off time after time I felt a lot better about it. Congratulations to AJ. I’m happy for him. That’s really cool. He’s a good dude, so I’m proud of our day.”
YOU WILL REPRESENT RFK IN THE ROUND OF 8. “That’s it. I’m ready to go for it.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GET TO THE ROUND OF 8? “That’s big. It’s huge for our organization and for our season and just to see the progression of what we’ve been able to accomplish. We talked about our goals a lot this season and they were to win races, to make it into the playoffs and to make it to Phoenix. We’re not here to be a placeholder in the playoffs and we’re proving that’s the case. I’m really proud of that. This round did not come without its own challenges, but onto the next one. I’m looking forward to going out to Vegas.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang — “It’s not the day we wanted for sure, but we’ve got a lot to be proud of. We kept clawing and it just wasn’t enough today. I felt like I could have done a few things better and obviously it’s frustrating when you don’t advance and you don’t get what you want out of the day, but we’ve got a lot of great things going on and we’ll learn from it and come back stronger.”
HOW DO YOU CHANGE YOUR MOJO NOW AND WHAT YOUR FOCUS WILL BE ON? “I don’t think it changes at all. I think we’ve got an opportunity to win the next four races and we’re gonna go for it.”
WHAT ABOUT CHRIS ADVANCING TO THE ROUND OF 8? “I’m happy for him. He ran a great round and did the things he needed to do and had a great day today. He certainly earned it.”
ANYTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY? “Oh, yeah. There are lots of things I could have done differently today. I don’t know if it would have been enough, but I probably could have had a better day if I executed a little better.”
CAN YOU COUNT HOW MANY TIMES YOU SPUN TODAY? “I think it was just once. I might be wrong, but we had the one stop early in the race where I hit the curb and I was just too far over and we had to do a pass through. We really recovered from that very well and got back up in the top 10, and then we just kind of faded a little bit. We pitted for tires to try to claw as we faded to like 10th or so, so we pitted for tires and then I spun with the 1 car. We clawed back out of that to an 18th, which isn’t a great day, but it certainly could have been a lot worse.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Ford Mustang — “It wasn’t a bad day. Our Discount Tire Ford Mustang was pretty decent on mainly long runs we could kind of go. I don’t think we had the short run speed, but the long runs was good and you’d kind of get to the back of a train of cars and just kind of stop. We were all running the same speed. We tried to get off strategy a little bit there. We stayed out long and then tried to pit after 10 laps to have a tire advantage and the caution came out and we had to restart last, so that kind of hurt us. Overall, I’m proud of the effort today and obviously last week and we’re really looking forward to getting to Vegas.”
HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO START THE ROUND OF 8? “I’m really excited. It was great getting to think about it this past week and we’ll just try to get prepared as best as you can. That’s been a pretty good track for us in the past. Hopefully, we can go and have a good run and start this round off on the right foot. Obviously, winning it is a huge advantage if you’re a playoff car for Phoenix. The only bad thing is everybody else is trying to win that thing too. I’m looking forward to it. I know we’ll do our homework and do the best we can.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – “We executed a decent race for the most part. We could have gotten maybe a couple more on being a little quicker on some other things, but, overall, we had the speed to win if you would have put us first but I’m pretty sure anybody in the top seven would say the same thing. It was whoever was out front goes there. We ran fifth most of the day and we finished fifth and that’s just what it is.”
PIT STRATEGY IS WHERE GAINING TRACK POSITION WAS TODAY. “Everyone realized that there was no passing at all, and then they started running the race backwards to try to make sure they didn’t get caught with their pants down without a caution. That’s kind of what happened to a few and we got lucky we pitted in time.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 41 Wonder Bread Ford Mustang – “We had a pretty good day. I’m really happy with an 11th-place finish for our 41 team because we’ve been working so hard on our road course program and the results today show that. We were lacking front turn and rear grip at the start of the race, but we made the right adjustments at the end of Stage 1 to get us through and my team was on it on pit road. I’m so proud of this team and we’re making progress each week. We definitely had some momentum on our side after a strong day last weekend at Talladega, but that’s a completely different track than this one. So, to come out here today and put all of our focus on the pit strategy and track position and to be able to stay up front until the end shows the resilience of this team. I’m looking forward to getting to Las Vegas and keeping it going.”
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