Ford Performance NASCAR: All-Star Open Post-Race Quotes

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Ford Finishing Results

3rd – Aric Almirola

4th – Ryan Preece

6th – JJ Yeley

11th – Harrison Burton

12th – Ryan Newman

13th – Michael McDowell

15th – Todd Gilliland

 

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 FR8 Auctions Ford Mustang – WHAT DO YOU THINK GIBBS DID WRONG AND WHAT KIND OF MESSAGE WERE YOU TRYING TO SEND?  “He just drove me all the way through the corner and into the 31 and wrecked both of us.  I mean, it’s pretty clear none of us were gonna make the corner with the 54 driving me wide-open into the corner.  Listen, it’s short track racing and we’re all trying to get into the All-Star Race.  It’s a big night, so people are gonna leave with hurt feelings and tempers are gonna flare.  That’s part of it.  It sucks that the guy that moved you and moved a lot of cars made it in, but at the same time I’m not gonna wreck him and send him out or do something stupid with a broken car.  I just wanted to let him know that it’s unacceptable and he knows that.  He knows what he’s doing out there.  He gets away with a lot more than he should.  It was unfortunate.  I felt like our FR8 Auction Ford Mustang was pretty good.  We got a good restart and we were making things happen and then we just got nailed.”

 

IN YOUR OPINION, DO YOU THINK HE DESERVES TO BE IN THE ALL-STAR RACE?  “Well, he raced his way in, so absolutely.  I mean, that’s just part of it.  I am not a poor sport.  Racing is racing.  You just hate to get cleaned out like that, so that sucks, but it is what it is.”

 

THAT WAS UNCHARACTERISTIC FOR YOU TO DO WHAT YOU DID.  “I don’t think about any of that.  I don’t care about all that.  It just sucks because we moved up.  We were moving forward and felt like we had a car that if we got the position we could probably hold it and I had the position – got a great restart, cleared him and got down and he just never lifted.  There was no chance that I was ever gonna make turn three and, in the process, I wiped out Justin Haley with the 54 driving me through the rear bumper.  It’s short track racing.  I know we’re gonna beat and bang, but there was no chance of me making the corner.  That wasn’t knocking somebody a little bit up the track.  I was full lock and still going straight with him pushing, so it sucks.  It is what it is.  I hate it for the FR8 Auction folks.  We had a fast car and felt like we could at least have a shot at running in that top three and see what we could do.”

 

TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 Boot Barn Ford Mustang – “I think my spotter said the 42 hit the inside wall.  The only thing I saw was the 42 coming right across my nose and I just shot to the outside wall.  That’s probably about as hard as you could possibly wreck here and it definitely sucks that we tear up a car here, but that’s racing.  For me, I lost a spot on that restart.  If I had just maintained, I would have been ahead of that.  To me, that’s disappointing for myself that I let that happen, but at the same time I didn’t want to get stuck top of three wide.”

Ford Performance PR

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