Ford teams Texas qualifying quotes

David Ragan, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion

“That’s gonna be close. My teammates are who I better watch out for – Matt, Carl, Greg, Trevor – they’ve got some fast Fords out here. I’m proud of my UPS guys. We didn’t start off that great. We made a lot of changes for a Friday, but they did a good job. That was a good lap, so that will be in the top five, I think, but we’re here to win this race.”

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MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Crown Royal Ford Fusion

"I think it’s okay. In race trim we were okay. I wasn’t real happy with it in qualifying trim, but there we had it pretty decent. We were just missing the balance a little bit. I just didn’t quite get it, so somebody is probably gonna run a little quicker than that, but, overall, it was a good lap."

NICE TO NOT KNOCK YOUR TEAMMATE OFF THE POLE. “I think that lap is okay. I know all the fast cars are still behind us, but I felt like I got all of it, but we just missed the balance a little bit and I couldn’t keep the gas down as long as I needed to. Overall, it was a good lap. It was a lot better than what we were in practice.”

HOW HARD HAS IT BEEN TO BOUNCE BACK AFTER MARTINSVILLE? “It’s never easy, especially when you don’t know what’s gonna happen the last three weeks. We had some bad luck at Talladega with David breaking, so you never know, but in a way you feel like you blew up a whole season of work in 20 minutes, so it’s hard to get over that. Yet, there are three races left. We’re down but not out and we’re gonna go work as hard as we can, try to run up front, try to win some races and hopefully climb back in it.”

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TREVOR BAYNE – No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion

"I wish I would have gotten more out of that run. I thought for sure I had a top-five run going, but the track gained so much grip through one and two everybody picked up a lot and we only picked up a little bit. We went faster than practice, but it just wasn’t fast enough. I’m frustrated with that a little bit and that’s good because we’re still top 10, but I thought for sure it would be top five. Still, that’s all right.”

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CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion

"We wanted to be a little better than that, but I came to the green and I was a little loose. I thought, ‘I better be a little careful my next time through here,’ and I was probably a little too timid down there through three and four, but it is a good starting spot. We focused hard on qualifying here. We had an opportunity to go out there and sit on the pole. We’ve got the top three spots are Fords, so now we’ll just work on the race trim. There couldn’t be a better race track for us. This is a fun one. We’re gonna work hard tomorrow and run that Nationwide car and hopefully learn a little bit for the race on Sunday."

YOU LIKE THIS TRACK. “It’s nice to be sitting here disappointed in seventh. I think my average qualifying is steadily increasing. We were 21st average for years and now we’re getting better and better, but I think it’s the Ford power. The Fords are so great here and Jack Roush’s Fords run so well. I’m the odd man out there. I got shown up by my teammates pretty bad, but, hopefully we’ll have a good, solid race.”

TONY IS A COUPLE SPOTS AHEAD OF YOU. “Five hundred miles, we’ll see what happens. I think it is gonna be a good race. Those guys have been good. A lot of the guys up there in the Chase have been good. You couldn’t pick a better place to come to to just race it out. This is gonna be a good one. I love this place.”

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MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion

"I just had to look at the speeds after qualifying because we didn’t quite get to the bottom on either end of the track. I’m proud of my guys though. We’ve had a good day here. We’re gonna start in the top 15 and I’m looking forward to seeing if we can make it stick.”

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DAVID GILLILAND – No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Fusion

"The track temp is close to the same as practice, but we were too free. I was too loose on the gas, but, overall, it was a good pickup for us. I think we picked up over two-and-a-half tenths, so that’s good. As long as we keep going in that direction all weekend, it’ll be a good weekend for us. The car drives really well. It’s in the race track good and I feel like we have an opportunity to have a good weekend here.”

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TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Fusion

"We made a few adjustments there trying to make it a little better and I feel like we kind of stepped over the edge. We were too tight at the end of practice and right there the car was just way too loose for qualifying and we just didn’t have any speed. We actually slowed down from where we were in practice and everybody is picking up quite a bit. Luckily, we’ve got tomorrow to work on it and we’ll go after it hard and get a good result on Sunday.”

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J.J. YELEY – No. 55 Ingersoll Rand Ford Fusion

"I’m really proud of all the guys that work on this Front Row No. 55 with Ingersoll Rand being on the Ford this week. We unloaded and the car was really comfortable to drive and had a lot of speed and because of that we didn’t run too many practice laps. I was very happy with our last run of the day, which fell down to about 27th overall in practice, but I knew the car had some more speed. To me, it was still a very conservative lap out there. That’s hard to say when you go out there and you barely lift when you go around this race track, but with the cool temperatures the race track has a ton of grip and makes it a lot of fun to drive. I’m just real happy for these guys. They continue to make it better for me every time I come back and drive the 55, and I’m looking forward to when we go to the next mile-and-a-half.”