Bayne top Ford driver in Daytona 500 qualifying times

TREVOR BAYNE (No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 3rd “The Wood Brothers know how to do it, that is for sure. That is what is so cool about qualifying here. It shows all the hard work that they put into these cars. Once you get in the race and get beat up a little bit it doesn’t matter quite as much but qualifying shows all the hard work they put into it. I am happy to get a Ford up there because it wasn’t looking good up there at the beginning. We have the 1963 paint scheme here and all kinds of good stuff going on. I am proud to be a part of it.”

JOEY LOGANO (No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 9th “Well, we are the fastest Ford right now, so that is a good thing. I wish we were a little faster than that though. It was really good in practice yesterday and we tuned it in the best we could and we brought some more speed for sure today to qualifying and this field just feels like it is really close compared to normal. It is like two or three one-hundredths would move us up four or five spots. That means we are close, we just need a little more speed. Overall our guys put in a good effort and we will tune her up and get her practicing before the Duels and try to get a good starting spot.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR. (No. 17 Best Buy Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 12th “It wasn’t quite good enough but I felt like the Best Buy Ford Fusion drove as best as it has all weekend and that was the most speed we have had. The guys took notes the whole off season after testing trying to make it as best as they could and I feel like that was pretty good speed out of it. We beat a few of the guys that were quite a bit faster than us yesterday. I feel like our guys did their job. It wasn’t quite good enough for the pole but we will take it and go on to the Duel and see how it drives in the draft.”

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING FOR THE DUEL? “I am not real sure yet. I guess we will have to see which one we are in and where we start and see what we have to do. I think it will be trying to keep your primary car for the 500. That is our fastest car that we have. We want to keep it clean but we still have to learn what we need to do with it to have the best setup for the Daytona 500 when it comes on Sunday. We will be out there trying to work on it each time we have pit stops and in practice. We will try to get it driving good and by the end of the 500 you want a car that is driving good, not just on speed.”

CASEY MEARS (No. 13 GEICO Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 15th “I am pretty happy with that lap. It has been a long off season and has been really good to get that kind of speed out of the car. We ended up running a flat and that is really good for us. I am proud of everyone with the GEICO Ford because it has been a hectic off season and for the guys to put in the work and hours they have in the off season to make sure they are prepared, I am really happy with the speed we have.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE RACE LAST NIGHT? “I wasn’t sure what guys were fighting the most but it reminded me more of before the track was paved when guys were sliding around a little bit more. The first half of your run or first three-quarters you had to make your moves then. Anything you did on the bottom or middle had to be done early in the run and toward the end guys started losing the handling and had to get to the top. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out. When we get all 43 cars out there it will make an impact on how cars drive from there.”

ARIC ALMIROLA (No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 26th “That was okay. I went out there and held it wide open and I think we are decent. This thing is respectable for where we were yesterday. We picked up a little bit and maybe it seems like we picked up more than most compared to yesterday. I am proud of my guys. It is what it is. As a driver I don’t really get stressed out too much about qualifying at these places just because there isn’t much you can do. I am proud of my guys, they brought me a nice car and I think it will race really well. We saw that last night in the Unlimited. Handling will come into effect, especially when the sun comes out and it gets hot. We will work on our handling Wednesday in practice and hopefully get it driving good for Thursday.”

MARCOS AMBROSE (No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 24th “Well, it is done. We haven’t quite had the speeds down here that the front runners have. We will go back and think about it before the Duel and see if we can find some speed.”

DO YOU HAVE A DUEL STRATEGY? “Running last night helped a lot. I think it has given us some areas to work in and stuff to think about. I am pleased we did it. I am not happy with the result, I am kind of embarrassed about it to be honest with you. We will come back here for the Duel and the 500 and put on a good show and hopefully learn from what happened on Saturday night.”

GREG BIFFLE (No. 16 3M Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 27th “We were just really slow out there. We have been here for testing now and a week prior to this and that seems to be all we have. We are just a tad too slow. Hopefully we will get a good finish in the Duel so that we are in the 500.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 23rd “That was a basic Daytona qualifying lap. I wish we had more speed but one of the benefits of switching to Ford was having car makes to compare off of with the Roush teams. It looks like we are all pretty close to the same. We need two to three-tenths to run with the Hendrick powered cars. We will keep plugging along here. Qualifying is just one part of the weekend. You have the Duels and the race and obviously the Sprint Unlimited last night. Those are all different parts of the weekend but this part here is probably the least important. We will try to focus on what is the most important, which is Sunday.”

DANICA PATRICK IS ON THE POLE FOR THE DAYTONA 500. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT? “I think when I saw her tracker and how much she pulled down the straightaway I was pretty damn impressed by the power she has. Like I said, this is the least important part of the weekend. Thursday and Sunday are way more important.”

FROM A MILESTONE PERSPECTIVE HOW BIG WOULD THAT BE FOR NASCAR? “I think it will give us a temporary hype but every year we come down here and qualifying day seems like the biggest day ever when you do it but when you leave the weekend nobody remembers.”

WHAT IS THE MINDSET FOR THURSDAY? “I think it is just trying to understand what the track is going to race like, especially with warmer temperatures than what you had in the shootout. The track being more grip sensitive than speed sensitive that is going to change some things and we will see who has handling and who has raw speed.”

WHAT WERE YOUR OBSERVATIONS LAST NIGHT WATCHING THE RACE ON TELEVISION? “As a driver you don’t want to be sitting out any race but if there is a race to sit out that is it and if there is a race to be able to do things and be in the booth like I did then that is it. I am just glad I was able to do something for the sport even if I wasn’t participating as a driver. I thought the race was great. I really liked the race and the style of racing and how aggressiveness is rewarded. Racing has always been a risk versus reward sport and this car really showcases that to the forefront. I think that is what we need.”

ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH DANICA, NOT HAVING A LOT OF CUP EXPERIENCE, LEADING THE FIELD? “People ask me how I feel about Danica all the time and I don’t think of Danica as a female race car driver. I think of her as a rookie and someone that hasn’t won races or proved that she is competitive. That is who I am racing against and that is who will be on pole.”

WOULD YOU BE COMFORTABLE WITH ANYONE WITH JUST 10 RACES UNDER THEIR BELT LEADING THE START OF THE 500? “I don’t get a choice so it doesn’t matter how I feel about it.”

DAVID GILLILAND (No. 38 Love’s Travel Shop Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 29th “I felt really good about that lap. I am really proud of Front Row Motorsports and Frank Kerr and all the guys and their hard work that they put in. That is a 100-percent FRM car and to qualify within a tenth or so of some of the really top Roush Fords says a lot about Front Row Motorsports and the work they have put in over the winter. I am proud of all the guys. The car is driving good and has the most speed we have had in the last four or five years that I have been down here. We will try to parlay that into a great Daytona 500.”

DAVID RAGAN (No. 34 Detail Doctor Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 30th “That was a solid lap for our Detail Doctor Ford. We made a few laps in practice on Friday and everyone wants to pick up and we were able to pick up three or four-tenths. Our guys did what they needed to do getting through tech and that was a solid lap. You always want to be a little faster but the pickup we had our car will drive good and I think it will be a fun race on Thursday to set the field for the 500.”

CARL EDWARDS (No. 99 FASTENAL Ford Fusion) – QUALIFIED 17th “Last year it was really important, qualifying was, it was huge because we were on the pole. I don’t think qualifying is that important this year. The cars are different and some other variables. It isn’t the variable that we are 17th, just some other things are different. I think it will be really important how the cars race.”

Everybody kind of jokes about that it is easy and there is nothing to it but it really is such a cool pole position to win. It was so neat last year and we had the pictures with the Ford’s up there in victory lane and Greg Biffle was mad because he wanted the pole and we all felt like we had a shot at it. This year is a little different. We have to race really hard and we learned a bunch last night. Greg almost got the win so I think if us Fords can work together in the qualifiers and the 500 we will be really good.”

Ford Racing