Ford teams Phoenix II race quotes

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 6 Ford Drive One Ford Mustang (Finished 5th)

DID YOU SEE THE 2 WAS INVOLVED IN THAT ACCIDENT? “They told me he was involved. I still haven’t seen it. It made that last restart a little bit easier. It’s tough when they are still out there running and anything can happen at these racetracks. This place turned into being pretty racy. We were starting on the outside on that last restart and it worked out for us. I was definitely aware that the 2 got in that wreck and it felt pretty good.”

WHAT ABOUT THE GUYS DUCKING DOWN ON THE APRON? “It is such a risk to go down on the apron. We have the splitters that you don’t want to knock off it and we were never really in a position to need to make up that much time. I tried to stay on the race track but I could definitely tell that it has a little bit of an advantage but I am not sure how much.”

DO YOU THINK IT WAS OKAY FOR GUYS TO DO THAT? “We can do that at any race track and we do it on the front straightaway’s at Chicago and Las Vegas and places like that. That is the rule for every race track. We knew that rule coming into it and asked about it in the drivers meeting and they said only at the Superspeedways was that yellow line in effect. It isn’t unfair because everyone can use it.”

IT IS LIKE 41 POINTS NOW. DOES THAT MEAN YOU CAN RACE NEXT WEEK? “Yeah, I mean we came out here to race and we were leading laps and running out front. I was a little cautious on those last restarts just for that fact that I didn’t want to get in trouble. I think we can get a little more aggressive on restarts next week and Homestead is one of my favorite places to go so I am looking forward to it.”

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Trevor Bayne, No. 16 AirHogs.com Ford Mustang (Finished 6th)

“That was pretty wild but that is what racing used to be. It used to be rubbing and grinding and trying to fight for one groove. That isn’t exactly the day we wanted. It is a top-six which is great if we were going for a championship but we are going for wins so it is okay to be a little disappointed there. I think we had a really good car we just never had the track position all day. We got on the outside on the second restart of the day and lost a ton of spots and fought all day to get them back and just never got all the way there. I think we were okay. The track didn’t change much, it was the same as practice and we expected it to be better for us but it really wasn’t. We should have chased it more in practice.”

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 6 Ford Drive One Ford Mustang (Finished 5th)

DID YOU SEE THE 2 WAS INVOLVED IN THAT ACCIDENT? “They told me he was involved. I still haven’t seen it. It made that last restart a little bit easier. It’s tough when they are still out there running and anything can happen at these racetracks. This place turned into being pretty racy. We were starting on the outside on that last restart and it worked out for us. I was definitely aware that the 2 got in that wreck and it felt pretty good.”

WHAT ABOUT THE GUYS DUCKING DOWN ON THE APRON? “It is such a risk to go down on the apron. We have the splitters that you don’t want to knock off it and we were never really in a position to need to make up that much time. I tried to stay on the race track but I could definitely tell that it has a little bit of an advantage but I am not sure how much.”

DO YOU THINK IT WAS OKAY FOR GUYS TO DO THAT? “We can do that at any race track and we do it on the front straightaway’s at Chicago and Las Vegas and places like that. That is the rule for every race track. We knew that rule coming into it and asked about it in the drivers meeting and they said only at the Superspeedways was that yellow line in effect. It isn’t unfair because everyone can use it.”

IT IS LIKE 41 POINTS NOW. DOES THAT MEAN YOU CAN RACE NEXT WEEK? “Yeah, I mean we came out here to race and we were leading laps and running out front. I was a little cautious on those last restarts just for that fact that I didn’t want to get in trouble. I think we can get a little more aggressive on restarts next week and Homestead is one of my favorite places to go so I am looking forward to it.”