Ambrose fastest Ford in qualifying at Pocono

MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion (Qualified 5th) – “It is hard you only have one lap. We struggled a little bit and made some changes. I was pretty free in turn one and lost all my time there. I feel like I got the rest of the lap pretty good. That should hold on for a decent spot. This place is definitely a challenge. It's a tough track to get a handle on.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 43 Automotive Lift Institute Ford Fusion (13th) – “Not bad. I wanted to be a little better than that. I missed my marks a little bit and the car was a little loose. I didn't do the best of jobs but it's an improvement from where we were here the first race. If we an do that at all these race tracks, go back and keep improving, this is the first step of that. I think we will be okay in race trim. I think Mike (Ford) will make some changes for the race and we will be fine.”

GREG BIFFLE, No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (Qualified 12th) – “That was a pretty good lap. I think one and three were really good. The tunnel I just split the nose a little bit and that is a tricky little corner and I lost time across the tunnel. I think the track has definitely changed. It is heating up and you can tell because all the guys going out later aren’t able to put up numbers. The 18 and 99 didn’t do very well and I am curious to see what the 48 does.”

MATT KENSETH, No. 17 Zest Ford Fusion (Qualified 7th) – “We just didn’t really have any grip compared to yesterday. For some reason everyone was running a lot slower. I think there was a lot less grip in the track. I didn’t feel like we missed the balance much, we were just kind of on top of the track without grip and didn’t have any more speed than that.”

CARL EDWARDS, No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion (Qualified 17th) – “We just went for it on that lap and I was too loose and ended up qualifying 17th. We have a very fast race car though and I think we are going to be just fine. Now we will just watch the weather and plan our strategy tomorrow in case the rain comes. Hopefully we will have a good run with our Fastenal Fusion. I told them, I said that we had almost the fastest car in practice yesterday and I decided to go for it. I hoped the car would grip and it didn’t.”

WAS THERE STRATEGY TO GOING OUT EARLY OR LATE? “We talked yesterday, all our Fastenal guys did, about kind of sandbagging that first practice to get an earlier qualifying slot but we decided against it. We went as hard as we could but that did bite us a little bit. The guys that went earlier had a little advantage. They played it smart. They did it right and now we will just have to go pass them.”

DAVID RAGAN, No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Fusion (Qualified 32nd) – “It was a pickup for us from yesterday. We really spent a lot of time in race trim as we typically do. You always expect more. Qualifying day you want to be as fast as you an. Our at was pretty free and I was having to pedal it quite a bit on corner exit. It was a solid lap. I wished for more but we will be ready to go racing tomorrow.”

Source: Ford Racing