Ford Performance NXS Notes and Quotes
Zippo 200 at the Glen β Watkins Glen International
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Ford Finishing Results:
1st β Joey Logano
2nd β Brad Keselowski
3rd β Chris Buescher
8th β Elliott Sadler
16th β Darrell Wallace Jr.
23rd β Dakoda Armstrong
30th β Ryan Reed
RYAN REED β No. 16 Lilly/American Diabetes Association Ford Mustang β βWhen he spun I donβt know if he was spinning to try to stay off the outside wall, but it filled the whole track up with smoke and I couldnβt see anything. You just kind of guess where to go and I guessed high because he had kind of spun down to the bottom and he must have throttled back up the race track trying to keep it going and just kind of drove straight into the fence. I guessed wrong there and just kind of ran out of room. Iβve got to thank Lilly Diabetes and American Diabetes Association, XFINITY, and everyone who helps us get here and do this. I felt like it was a long weekend. I had a lot to learn and we started to put it together there at the end. I actually ran my fastest lap right there before we wrecked, so as a driver this place it either comes naturally to you or you have to work hard at it, so I was really glad I was able to start running some more competitive lap times and start to get the hang of this place. I was looking forward to the end of the race and see if we could get a nice, decent finish. Iβm not sure where we were running when we got caught up there, but it was better than we had been running all weekend.β
ELLIOTT SADLER β No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford Mustang β βI messed up and got a penalty. I just drove through too many pits coming in and put my guys in a hole. They made some good adjustments there and we were able to fight back there at the end. Our car needed three or four laps to get going and that red flag hurt us there a little bit, but Iβm just proud of my guys. We had great pit stops, good, hard work all weekend and weβll improve on it and go to Mid-Ohio.β
POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCES
BRAD KESELOWSKI β No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang β βIt was kind of an up-and-down day. Joey was really, really fast and we knew that. He had a little bit of trouble himself on pit road and drove through the field so quickly that he was running lap times I think three or four tenths faster than I was when we were leading and it was just all I could do to really keep up with him there at the end. But I fought through some issues there. I made a mistake on pit road and I finally figured something out and just over-figured it out, but Iβm excited about that for tomorrow, but all-in-all I think I was probably a tad bit slower than Joey was and made a few too many mistakes, but mistakes are part of these XFINITY races, at least for us because weβre pushing, trying to grow and be better race car drivers, better race teams and thatβs not easy to do. Youβve got to really hang it out to do that and I probably hung it out a little too far there and cost ourselves probably a better opportunity to win. Iβm not sure I would have been able to beat Joey, but I was just digging real hard and learning and growing and trying to be better and probably pushed a little too hard to be able to beat Joey. He did a great job as well and I think all-in-all it was just a really good race.β
CHRIS BUESCHER β No. 60 Ford EcoBoost Ford Mustang β βItβs a good day for us. We kind of knew that we had to bounce back a little bit from our last several weeks, so it was a really solid day. Weβve been top-5 all weekend, right around fifth, and we were able to get a couple more there at the end and come home third. Itβs a really good points day for us. Itβs tough because we needed quite a bit more to contend for a win, but overall Iβm really proud of the guys. They did a nice job. The car was in one piece the whole time and never had any issues. Weβve got some momentum going into Mid-Ohio and Road America, so we feel like our Mid-Ohio car is pretty stout. Weβre going off a lot of notes we had from last year and feel like weβll be pretty stout, so weβve just got to keep doing it. It was a good points day for us. As much as I hate to say it like that, but we ran top-5 pretty much all day and were able to get a couple more there at the end. It was a pretty good day for us. Iβm proud of my guys.β
BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED β FORD WAS STRONG TODAY, BUT WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO CATCH UP TO THE OTHER MANUFACTURERS ON THE CUP SIDE? βA lot. Thereβs no secret. Weβre not where we want to be at the Cup level. I think thereβs a lot of reasons for that and those reasons would probably last a lot longer than this press conference, but itβs gonna require a lot of work and weβre trying to get there. I think we can get there, but thereβs no doubt to me that the Toyotas and Chevrolet camp are a little bit ahead of where we are at the Cup level. Over here at the XFINITY level itβs maybe not the fairest of reads. The team quality over here and the driver quality today was perhaps a little bit biased to the Ford camp, but on equal footing I think weβve seen the 33 and the 20 car be the two best cars, and those are both obviously not Fords. I think itβs consistent throughout the three series, but a team and a driver can certainly make up for that, but when the teams and the drivers are equal then the deficiency shows up. For us, weβve got to figure that out and thatβs on us to do.β
CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED β WHAT WAS THE GAMEPLAN GOING INTO TODAY? βWeβre always paying attention to points. We felt like we had a top-5 car for the weekend and we knew that we were pretty consistently better than the guys weβre racing in points throughout the weekend, so, for us, it was just a matter of making sure we finished that way. We did a good job. We were able to stay right there in that top-5 all day and, really, thatβs what we needed to do. Thatβs about where we could run. I learned a lot throughout the race that will be good to apply the next time we come here and even to the Cup race tomorrow. Weβre always thinking about it. Itβs not fun to go out there and points race and say, βOh, youβve just got to finish fifth and thatβs all.β Weβre always trying to get as much as possible, but today it happened to be getting as much as we could out of it, getting a solid day and at the same time we gained points due to other peopleβs misfortunes or lack of running as well as we did this weekend.β
CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED — DID THE CAUTIONS KEEP YOU FROM GETTING IN A RHYTHM TODAY? βYeah, I really wish we would have had a lot less, but cautions are always tough. Itβs always tough going down into one on restarts just knowing how aggressive everybody is. Itβs just out of desperation and just trying to get as much as you can. Itβs an easy time to do it and it ends up creating a lot more cautions, I think we saw. I would have liked to been able to run it out, but the way it worked out we got everything that we were gonna get for the day. When itβs all said and done we got what we could even with the cautions falling as they did.β
BRAD KESELOWSKI CONTINUED β WHAT HAS PENSKE HIT ON TO BE SO DOMINANT HERE IN THE XFINITY SERIES? βWhy is Penske good here at Watkins Glen? One, their driver lineup (laughing). It certainly helps to have Cup drivers in the cars. The experience helps, but I think Penske has always had Watkins Glen as one of its best tracks. Itβs kind of funny how that works, how certain companies seem to run well at certain tracks at the Cup or XFINITY level. For many years now itβs been Hendrick at maybe a Martinsville at the Cup level or I would point to even Roush at Michigan and tracks like that has always been one of the teams to beat, and Iβve always thought of Penske as being one of the teams to beat, not only at the XFINITY level but at the Cup level at Watkins Glen and always one of the perennial favorites. We havenβt got the win at the Cup level, but weβve run up front and I think the 2 car itself has had four second-place finishes in the last six years, so thatβs as close as you can get, but we havenβt closed it out. I donβt know. I think just certain companies, whether itβs internal culture, culture of management or just the pride they take in coming to a track, I donβt know, but certain companies just run better at some tracks. Itβs always hard to identify that because I think if you fully understood it more times than not you would apply it to other places and be that way everywhere. The only thing I can really put my finger on for the XFINITY level specific to this race is Penske always puts Cup level drivers in their cars for these races.β
JOEY LOGANO β No. 12 Snap-On Ford Mustang β βItβs pretty special. As a driver you always want to have a road course win on your resume. Iβve yet to have one on the Cup side, but itβs nice to have one on the XFINITY side now. Weβve come close to winning this race a few times, but had never been able to make it happen. I had a really good Snap-On Ford. It just goes to show how Team Penske is and the depth theyβve got from within when they can throw together a second XFINITY car like that and make two cars as equal as those two were out there today, and the two fastest cars is something to be very proud of β led by Kevin Buskirk and a lot of the guys that have been on the road before and they come back out and were having fun. It was a fun weekend for us and to go out there and put it on the pole, lead a lot of laps and win the race is very special for sure. Weβve been close to winning a lot lately and it feels really good. I know for Todd it feels really good too because weβve been close here the last few weeks in both the Cup Series and the XFINITY Series, so it feels nice to be able to spray some champagne and have some fun in victory lane.β
TODD GORDON, Crew Chief β No. 12 Snap-On Ford Mustang β βIβve definitely got to reiterate some of Joeyβs sentiments. Kevin Buskirk and Andrew Overstreet, Corey Tucker β all the guys from the shop put together a heck of a car and gave me an opportunity to have a little fun today to come in and call a race. It was a pretty straightforward race when youβve got that much speed, but it was good to get the pit crew out there. Thatβs our Cup pit crew for tomorrow and we had a couple of situations and Joey did a good job recovering from it, but itβs a good tune-up for tomorrow because pit stops are backwards here relative to anyplace else. Itβs a little change for the guys and change for both Joey and myself in how we race these races, so itβs a great tune-up for tomorrow and a testament to Team Penske and what they can do out of this shop with the shop guys and the depth theyβve got.β
JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED β WERE THERE SOME THINGS YOUβVE LEARNED IN PAST RACES HERE THAT HELPED TODAY? βObviously, as a driver thatβs why I want to run the XFINITY races is to become a better road racer. Thatβs something we donβt do very often, so itβs nice to kind of get out there and get in a rhythm and understand what it takes to go fast. I always felt like Sonoma was a better road course for me than Watkins Glen and I feel like the improvements that I as a driver have been able to make and giving my crew chief better info on what my car is doing and ultimately making our car faster, I canβt help but think about the first time I came here in an XFINITY car. I think I ran 10th. I ran about 15th all day and I was so mad and frustrated because I didnβt know how to go faster and I was really just confused. Itβs cool to be on the opposite end of that and being able to be in victory lane after all those years. Itβs a special win for sure, but the main reason why we run this race, like Todd said, is to be able to obviously get our team used to the backwards pit stops and driver getting used to how to race on road courses and how to pass and what I need to do as a driver to win this thing hopefully tomorrow, so there are a lot of good things that come out of running this XFINITY race, even more so than a normal weekend.β
TODD GORDON CONTINUED β A FITTING WEEKEND TO GET THIS WIN CONSIDERING OSWEGO SPEEDWAY IS CELEBRATING ITS 65TH ANNIVERSARY TONIGHT? βYeah, if I werenβt racing here I would have probably made the drive up there when the garage closed on the Cup side, but itβs a special place. Obviously, this is home to me. I grew up about two-and-a-half hours north of here, so this is as close as we get to where I grew up and I started racing at Oswego. Itβs a cool place β the Steel Palace β and itβs great to see the recovery theyβve been able to make in the last couple of years. It seems like the car count is coming back there and itβs kind of fun to be home honestly.β
JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED β HOW CLOSE DID YOU COME FROM BEING TAKEN OUT DURING YOUR CHARGE FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK? βReally not very close at all. The biggest thing I think was the crash when the 7 spun out, but we were fine there. But anytime you go to the back of the field your chances of crashing go up a lot and when you crash you obviously donβt win, so you want to get yourself up towards the front as quick as you can, but you also want to be safe and smart back there because you donβt want to crash your stuff. This is a very fast race track and knocking fenders in and beating your car up is gonna hurt you later on in the race, so youβve got to take care of your stuff β be patient, but youβve got to be aggressive because youβve got to get back up there. I used up a lot of my race car getting up through the field, not body parts or anything like that, but youβre using the brakes so much and you start to lose a little bit of braking as youβre powering through the field as quick as you can and trying to get that track position back knowing that this is a short race and all we had was one more pit stop left. I wanted to be able to get myself that track position back before the last pit stop, so I didnβt have to completely kill my tires trying to make up spots for the end of this race. I think I kind of worked that plan out good. Itβs not very often you have a car thatβs just that superior, and both of Team Penskeβs cars were so fast. It was fun to work our way back up to catch the 22 and race with him.β
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED THROUGH THE YEARS AS THE KEY TO HELP MAKE YOU SO COMPETITIVE ON ROAD COURSES? βIt just takes a lot of laps and Iβve worked with a lot of people. I actually came up here with Boris Said one time and if you want to see a funny picture imagine me and Boris in a Miata running around here. We donβt fit very well. Itβs pretty funny, but he taught me a lot that day about how to get around here and it just takes laps, just trying to figure out how to make more speed, where you can do it and what you need in your car in certain areas to go fast. Itβs nothing by any means that I have figured out, believe me. A lot of times Iβm still wishy-washy on some of my feedback, but I feel like I have a better idea to what I need. You look at some of the best road racers and I look at AJ as one of them, especially at this race track. He can go fast in a shoebox around this place, so understanding what they do and what they look for β Iβm playing a little bit of catch-up, but I am catching up so thatβs good.β
JOEY LOGANO CONTINUED — DESCRIBE THE SENSATION OF DRIVING A CAR YOU CAN DO ANYTHING WITH? βItβs really, really nice. Obviously, there are other cars out there that are really fast as well, but I felt like braking was probably our strong point to most of the cars out there today. Thatβs what really helped me pass cars and kind of move around and work with stuff and kind of work through the field a little bit quicker. Itβs nice. We knew it was fast in practice yesterday. We had a really good car there and we made some small adjustments for the race. We were really fast in qualifying and then throughout the race we had to work our plan and when the race threw us a curveball we kept our minds in it and kept our heads in it like we do every week on the Cup side. No one got flustered or went crazy. We kept our heads down and kept digging and made it back up.β