A.J. Allmendinger (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Qualified 20th
“That was slower and I don’t know why. I guess I’ll just go with the answer that I don’t know (smile). It felt okay, I guess I maybe used a little too much brake, I guess, I don’t know. I thought it was going to be faster than yesterday.”
HAS THE CAR BEEN TOO TIGHT OR TOO LOOSE? “We’ve been fighting both. We just don’t have enough speed in the car. We’ve got to keep working on the balance. We’ve fought tight and loose in general. We’ll see what happens with the new tire.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW LEFT-SIDE TIRES? “We’ll see what the tire feels like and see what it does to this racetrack. Obviously there’s a blistering problem so they did the right thing ‘cause it’s scary as hell out there as it is anyway (smile). It’s good that they fixed it. We’ll just see what we’ve got and just keep working on the balance. That’s all you can do. We know we don’t have the speed that we need right now but we’ll just keep trying to make the balance best as possible.”
Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Qualified 25th
“I thought my lap was really good and it didn’t show up on the charts as being that good. Definitely a gain from where we were yesterday so I’m proud of that. That was the best the car had been by far and I thought it would run faster but it wasn’t meant to be.”
YOU DID THE TIRE TEST HERE. WERE YOU SURPRISED AT WHAT PEOPLE WERE SEEING? “Yes. I thought that the tire at the test was very good and that tells me there’s probably some real aggressive setups going on out there and that’s probably most of it because I’m not having any issues. We’ve got to have safety in the sport, we’ve got to make sure that we don’t have another Indy issue and I’m proud of NASCAR and Goodyear for reacting. Obviously you’d like to get it right the first time and that didn’t happen. I’m that there is a backup plan to keep it from being a bigger problem that what it is.”
SRT PR
CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Ford Fusion
“It was pretty bad really. We were really tight. I don’t think that is going to be very good. We were out of the throttle a lot.” HOW ABOUT THE TIRE SITUATION? “Well, we didn’t do long enough runs because we were battling the handling on our car. We were doing short runs trying to make it better. A lot of guys were getting blisters and when you have a situation like that you have to do something and that is what they did. I think that is the right decision based on the information they were getting. It will be interesting to see how practice goes tonight.”
MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion
“I left a little bit out there. I got greedy into turn three. The Stanley team at Richard Petty Motorsports did an outstanding job for us. This is a really great hot rod and I am proud to represent them. We get to start in the front and that is all you can ask for. We are going to try the tire change tonight and see how our car adapts to that.” DID THE CLOUD HELP YOU? “I hope it goes away pretty soon for everyone else. This track is so fast, it is just reactions out there and my car was good. I have to be thankful for the lap I put down.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 Medallion Ford Fusion
“We were too loose right there. We made a lot of changes between practice and qualifying and that was a lot better. The car had a lot more front turn and did a lot of things better. We just didn’t adjust quite right for how much better the car turned. We were a little loose right there but I am proud of Mike Ford and all the guys on this Medallion Financial Ford. We made big improvements there with that run.” TOMORROW IS A BIG UNKNOWN ISN’T IT? “Yeah, it is. We are going to get an hour and fifteen minutes to try to figure out all that we can figure out.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Fastenal Ford
WHAT DID YOU FEEL FROM THE COCKPIT? “First, a disclaimer about this whole thing. This has nothing to do with last season. It has nothing to do with finishing second in points. Man, this is frustrating. I think it is a fuel issue. It almost feels like there is an air leak or something in the pickup for the fuel. It is running but it acts like it is running out of fuel. I wanted to run this lap so badly. Our Fastenal Ford is really good. I told my wife before that I was going to get this pole and I wanted to be the fastest guy in NASCAR for the last 25 years. That would be very special. I am very frustrated we didn’t get to run it, but it is better now than in the race. We know this car can compete for the win and now we just have to make sure – the people asked if we can pass on this track or not but I feel like we are going to be able to pass and it is going to be good and we will have to make it happen.”
GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 3M/Salute Ford Fusion
“I think the car drove really good but I tell off of four down the front that this wind now that seems to be coming up, I didn’t feel that when I walked out tot pit road. It felt like three-quarters of the way the car was good and then lost a lot of speed. It didn’t feel like it accelerated from turn four to the start finish, like something was wrong with the motor. I got out of the car and feel this strong wind and that could have had a little to do with the lap time. I got about all I could get I think out of the car. I thought there would be more grip in one and two so I backed it down a little bit in three and four and it might have cost me.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 17 Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion
“We just missed the balance. We were tight in our mock run yesterday and tried to make it better but we are still really tight. I am really impressed with the speed for how much I had to get out of the gas and how tight it was to still run that lap time is pretty encouraging. I was honestly going for it hoping to run for the pole today and didn’t have enough grip to do it.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion
“It wasn’t bad. I am still shaking man that is fast out there. I wish I could have got a little more out of it but I just didn’t trust it on entry. It got a little loose on me and was more free than yesterday. Not sure if that is the track or the heat. I wish I could have drove in a little deeper. I think I could have got another tenth or so. It isn’t a bad starting spot though. We will take a top-10 here. We haven’t been at the track in a little bit so these guys are doing a great job keeping up with these full time people. It is just a good opportunity for Ford and for me to be out here on this race track. It is a cool place.”
GREG BIFFLE PRESS CONFERENCE
YOU ARE THIRD QUICKEST TODAY, YOU GOTTA FEEL GOOD ABOUT THINGS. “I am telling myself that the track slowed down after Marcos and Kevin went. It seemed like it was awful slick when I went. Boy, I got all I can get down there in turn one. I drove it around turn one and two and it felt like I had all weekend. I was really happy because I barely made it off the corner. It was chattering the front and sliding the back. It felt like I got all I could down there. In three and four it felt pretty good but I came off turn four and the car really kind of slowed down a little bit off of turn four. When I got off the car on pit road there was a fair amount of win. It plays a little havoc with the cars here. To be third and running that fast is certainly nothing to shake a stick at. We are real happy with that. The change in the tire, we didn’t have a lot of tire trouble. I guess there was a lot more tire trouble around the garage than what I knew of. Even when I came in here and did the interview last night I had no idea that some guys were – I had heard maybe one tire was blistered and that is typically low air. We are going 200-some miles per hour and guys are trying to run 15 lbs of air in them and it hurts the tire. That is typically the issue. I guess there was more to it than that. Some guys had right rear trouble on long runs. Denny Hamlin on the other hand said he ran a fuel run plus and didn’t have any issues. Different cars are having different issues. Certainly we need practice time to see how this thing drives and make proper adjustments to how thing drivers. Maybe a different shock or bump stop too. The other thing we are limited on is mileage on our engines. The engine shop is certainly not excited about another practice session. We are real narrow on laps on the engine so we are going to have to get it done quick.”
AFTER CARL HAD HIS ISSUE, WERE YOU CONCERNED TO GO OUT AND TAKE YOUR LAP? “Not really. A lot of times things like that are isolated car incidences. Whether it is wiring or a mechanic left something undone or a plug didn’t get plugged in. It could be a number of things. I wasn’t that concerned. I was after qualifying concerned to find out exactly what did happen and I think they are still working on what exactly did happen to it.”
IS THERE ANYTHING WITH A FAIRNESS ISSUE IN REGARDS TO THE TIRE SINCE YOU HAD NO ISSUES AND YET THEY STILL MADE A CHANGE? “You always want a leg up on the competition. I am saying, ‘Oh yeah, lets stick with this tire because we haven’t had any trouble.’ Certainly safety comes to mind at the speeds we are going. You know, I am not a tire specialist but it seems like a tire from 2007 blowing the dust off it and putting it on a car going 200 might not be the best. I don’t know if that would have been my first choice as a driver, let me put it that way. Maybe something with a little more grip than that. You know, I could say we want to stay on that tire but guys are having troubles and if it isn’t going to make a tire run – I have to admit, I didn’t run more than 10-12 laps at a time. I ran an entire fuel run but coming in and out. Quite possibly, if I ran straight 30-40 lap runs, maybe we would have an issue too.”
WHEN YOU SAY THE TIRE WILL BE HARD TO DRIVE, DO YOU THINK IT WILL LESSEN THE CHANCES OF A GOOD RACE? ALSO, JACK ROUSH SAID YOU WERE USING A TALLER GEAR IN THIS NIGHT PRACTICE, WILL YOU BE ABLE TO LEARN MUCH? “Well, you read my mind because I am lobbying to run the race gear because of that issue. Number one, if we slow the cars down two or three miles per hour, you are going to want more gear. So, we are going to slow the cars down two or three miles per hour and put a taller gear in. Those two combined is a giant negative. I think the car is going to slow down enough with the tires that you will be able to run the same gear and relieve some RPM on the engines. They are just trying to get less miles on the engine and a taller gear means it thinks it is going less of a distance. I can’t argue with the engine shop. Some guys on our team are out of mileage. We have like 30-some laps left on normally what we get handed out. I know a couple guys have zero or two or three. They are getting extensions on their mileage. That is about what we have to deal with. The harder tire will mean it could be harder to pass, that is a possibility. If the tire doesn’t have as much side bite, which is what slows the car down, sometimes it is harder to race side by side with a tire that has less side bite because it could take off on you. A lot of times a little bit slower lap times almost make a little bit better race sometimes. The cars become a little less aero dependant and the slower they start dropping down. I would say there is a direct correlation, you just don’t know.”
GREG BIFFLE CONTINUED … THIS TRACK WAS GOING TO BE NICKNAME THE FASTEST TRACK IN NASCAR AT THE END OF THE DAY. HOW FAST DO YOU THINK YOU WILL GO OUT THERE AND HOW DO YOU COMPARE THIS PLACE TO INDIANAPOLIS? “The speeds are kind of similar but the corners are totally different. Indy is real straight and then two corners and then another long straightaway. I would say this is the fastest track. Yesterday we went 220 mph and a 204.7 average. Definitely fast, faster than any track out there and probably I would say that I can nearly guarantee that is the fastest that any car has gone at a down force, non restrictor plate – take Talladega and Daytona out of it – that is faster than any car has gone at a non-restrictor plate.”
WITH ALL THE CHANGES, DOES IT CHANGE HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT WHERE YOU QUALIFIED? “I am extremely happy with where I qualified. I just go into turn one and bump Marcos out of the way (laughter). No, I am extremely happy I just don’t know about this tire that we are going to. I am nervous about it until we get out on the race track. The driver in you doesn’t know what to expect. You hope your car is as good as it is now. Maybe just a little slower. Hopefully the balance is good and I pick the right shocks and we don’t have to change a whole lot. We just don’t know til we get there. We hope it is not real skatey, we just don’t know.”
Ford Racing PR
- CHEVROLET INDYCAR AT LONG BEACH: Team Chevy Practice Report - April 19, 2024
- Burt Myers on Pole for Hayes Jewelers 200, Ward Starts Second at Bowman Gray - April 19, 2024
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