NASCAR Cup

Ford teams Chicagoland qualifying quotes

Ford Racing press release

Edited: Sep 17, 2011, 8:25 PM

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Matt Kenseth, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Photo by: Ashley Dickerson, ASP Inc.

Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Crown Royal Ford (Qualified 1st)

“It is hard to tell because there are a lot of great cars left today. It is kind of interesting because some guys went for the early draw and some went for the late. You don’t really know what everybody has. I know that was a pretty good lap and I could go maybe just a hair quicker if I had to do it again but not much. I left a little bit of wiggle room down there in three and four but I think it will wind up top-five for sure and be a great place to start for Sunday.”

***

Greg Biffle, No. 16 3M Filtrete Ford (Qualified 7th)

“I just was probably a little to scared down there in three and four. I should have put the gas down sooner. I have been giving up a lot of time down there and the track is a little bumpy. I waited a little long on the gas pedal and I could tell as soon as I put it down that I waited long. Matt’s time is looking pretty good. That is going to be hard to beat. Hopefully we will stay top five. We will see.”

***

Carl Edwards, No. 99 Cheez-It/Kellog’s Ford (Qualified 5th)

“My hat seems to have shrunk. I guess my head is getting really big now that I made the Chase. They can’t ever get hats big enough for my skull. The lap was pretty good. Imagine how bad this hat would fit if I had knocked Matt off the pole there. That is a fast lap for him. Our lap was really good. It is all about the Chase right now. Hopefully that will hold up for a top-five or six starting spot and get an opening on pit road and it will be a great race for us.”

***

Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 Stanley/Dewalt Ford (Qualified 17th)

“We had a great one and two and I have to thank my Stanley and Dewalt team for a much better qualifying. I just got tight off of four and started to shake the tires. I don’t know. We were close. I think with another quarter pound of tire pressure we might have had something.”

***

AJ Allmendinger, No. 43 Best Buy Ford (Qualified 18th)

“I don’t know what happened. We didn’t have that problem yesterday but we just bounced it off the race track in three. I probably drove it in too deep. It just crashed to the ground so when it crashed it got the race track and when you are this fast and not in the throttle we missed it. I am not very happy with the lap. At times we have had the car really fast and at other times it is not as quick. I think track position will be key. I was hoping to start out higher but we will just have to pass some race cars tomorrow.”

***

David Ragan, No. 6 UPS Ford (Qualified 15th)

"Our UPS Ford is pretty good. We didn't make a lot of qualifying runs yesterday; with the new schedule, we really just needed to run as much as we could in race trim. We always would like to go a little bit faster, but here, it's all about winning. I think we've got a great car for tomorrow. It was a fun lap; I was bouncing around and loose the whole lap, and it was okay."

***

Trevor Bayne, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford (Qualified 28th)

“Well, we are in but it isn’t exactly what I wanted. We have been pretty fast all weekend so we definitely wanted to be top-15 in qualifying here. It is tough coming back and forth from the Nationwide car. I didn’t have enough grip in three and four and moved around too much and lost a lot of time down there. I think it will be good in race trim, so I am ready to start this thing.”

***

David Gilliland, No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Fusion (Qualified 39th)

“Track conditions felt very similar to where it was yesterday. But we had some issue with, I think, the carburetor. So we’re going to go to work on that and get that taken care of. We’ll have a ways to go tomorrow, but I feel like the car drives good and our Taco Bell Ford Fusion will be what we need to get up through there.”

***

J.J. Yeley, No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion (Qualified 32nd)

“It was an OK lap. The car was a little bit too loose, at least for my comfort level. When we went out, the racetrack had changed from what we had yesterday. We had really good balance yesterday and the car was a little bit on the snug side, so we just left it alone. I got through Turns 1 and 2 really good, a little bit on the edgy side, so going through 3 and 4 I just had a hard time getting the throttle down. I legitimately thought we could run a 29.80, but at the same time I had to be smart about what I’m doing out there and know that going for it could cost me at the same time.”

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