Ford driver quotes from the Daytona Unlimited

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion – “We were actually in a pretty good position. I was trying to help Junior there and ended up hurting him and hurting myself. I feel bad for Junior, but we finished the race with the Stanley car, but we were just a little disappointed with our effort.”

DID HE SURPRISE YOU WITH HIS MOVE INSIDE? “Yeah, I was trying to push him and there was a little bit of a zig and a little bit of a zag and the next thing you know I helped him in the fence. I apologize to Junior. I’ll try and find him later on if he wants to talk to me, but that’s just what happens here. You’ve got 10 laps to go in a race that only counts to win and I’m trying to push him to the front. Unfortunately, it was just a bad day.”

HE SAID HE WAS HAVING FUN WHEN HE HIT YOU ON THE BACKSTRETCH. I ASSUME YOU DIDN’T THINK IT WAS FUNNY. “It’s OK. He’s entitled to do that. At the end of the day we didn’t end up in the fence, so put the blame on me for that. We’ll go to the next one and try not to make the same mistake.”

DALE JUNIOR SAID THERE WILL BE A LOT OF WRECKING IN THE 500 BECAUSE THE SIDE DRAFT STALLS THE CARS OUT. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT? “Yeah, it certainly does. If you can get your nose to the guy’s right-rear or left-rear quarter, you pull him back and you actually give yourself a little boost. It’s like a little shot of nitrous and it can really make you run, so it makes cars really move around a lot trying to do that. I think he was trying to side draft someone came back across when I was trying to help push him and that’s what happens.”

JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – TAKE US THROUGH THE LAST FEW LAPS. “I’m trying to relive it all in my head right now. It’s crazy. The bottom lane just didn’t get going there. They didn’t do a really good job on cleaning up the bottom of the race track, so it was a little slick down there. We weren’t able to hang on the bottom like I thought and then when they were three-wide for the lead and I had a huge run I was like, ‘Where’s the hole?’ Because I was ready to stick it four-wide and try to get by all of them, but there was no hole so I gave Brad the push. After that, you’re just trying to snip off everyone and try to get as close to the front as you can. It’s just so frustrating when you’re that close. I had a really good Shell/Pennzoil Ford. It’s so close and you can see it, but it’s so frustrating because you’re going as fast as you can and that’s all you’ve got. Overall, we survived it and finished fourth. It was a decent day. These things don’t mean anything unless you win.”

WHAT ABOUT CLOSING RATES? ARE THE HOLES CLOSING UP QUICKER? “No. They draft pretty similar to what they did last year. The cars handle better than what they did last year, but they drive about the same and they draft about the same also. It still feels like it’s got that rubber ball in between that switches and it accelerates the car in front of you. It still feels like it’s got all that. The only difference is that I feel like the bottom lane actually works a little better this year than it did last, so that’s a positive. That’s good. You saw as much freight-training up against the wall as we’ve seen before, so right direction.”

WHAT DID YOU SEE WHEN YOU HAD CONTACT WITH THE 20? “I went underneath him and he went to block and came across me. I haven’t seen the replay yet, but that’s what I saw from my view. I may be wrong, but I need to look at the replay.”

WHAT WILL WE SEE IN THE 500? “That with a lot more cars. It was pretty fun. I thought we had a good time. I think you’re gonna see a point in the race when everyone is gonna ride around and there’s gonna be a point in the race that we’re gonna push really hard and try to get back towards the front and run that track position. There are a lot of cars out there, so we’ll see.”

Ford Racing