Kenseth and Ford drivers talk about Martinsville race

Matt Kenseth, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation/Gary Sinise Foundation Ford Fusion – “We were pretty good. We weren’t as good as those three Hendrick cars and sometimes the 11, especially on a short run, but for us at Martinsville it was pretty good. We’ve just got to keep working because even when we had the balance perfect I just couldn’t run with those guys, but, overall, we came home in the top 10 at Martinsville and to not have anybody mad and not be mad at anybody is probably a pretty good day."

WHAT ABOUT THE LAST COUPLE OF RESTARTS? “Those two guys were on 100-and-some-lap tires, so I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty honestly. I just tried to watch what was going on and I slowed way up for the wreck and I think that’s maybe how AJ got there, but I didn’t want to get caught up in a wreck at the end. I knew they were going to restart it.”

ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “We had a good day. The car was good on a long run, but it just wouldn’t take off so we’ve got to go back and look to see if we can make that better, but, overall, it was a good day. As long as we kept having those long green flag runs our Smithfield Ford was fast. We did a really good job in the pits. I’m proud of everybody on pit road. We maintained and gained spots all day, so we had a great day. I was proud of that. The way we’ve been running, to be able to come back and rebound and go into a weekend off with a top 10 is important."

WHAT ABOUT THE LAST RESTART? WERE YOU CLOSE TO THAT? “The outside line is definitely not the place you want to be. It seemed we restarted on the outside all day and just couldn’t get down. It was real hard to race up there, so we lost a lot of spots on every caution just because I couldn’t go on the outside, but once we’d get down and get rolling it was good. That’s exactly what we needed.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – “That’s a good recovery. We weren’t that fast, so we’ve got some things we need to work on here. It looks like Matt was pretty good, so we’ll compare notes with him, but that’s a long day. It feels like you got stuck in a room with Mike Tyson and he’s not happy. It’s just tough. That was rough."

HOW CLOSE WERE YOU TO GETTING IN THAT THREE-CAR WRECK AT THE END? “I was right behind it, but it’s such a tight race track. I knew when they had that caution we were gonna have some trouble, I’m just glad we didn’t get caught up in it.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – “We had a way better car than where I finished with it. We probably should have been in the top 10, but we had an issue with the lucky dog twice – once by the 39 that is in Victory Lane. It’s not really his fault, but you can’t start four positions in front of where you’re supposed to start. The car in front of me is supposed to line up on the outside and I was supposed to be on the bottom and then the 39 would have been beside me. I go to the bottom and I see that guy is not gonna move, so the 39 drives all the way up three rows ahead of me. I tried to get my spot back, but he just blocked me in and I couldn’t get up there to get my spot. So he gets the lucky dog two runs before we did to work our way back. This place is all about track position, so that was a bad break for us."

YOU’RE LEAVING HERE WITH THE POINTS LEAD, SO HOW DOES THAT FEEL? “It feels good to go on vacation being the point leader. Leaving here on top feels good because this is a tough place for us and we came here and ran respectable.”

DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Fusion – "Our Front Row Motorports Ford was pretty good. It took off really well for the first 30 or 40 laps and then it would get mad and we'd spin the rear tires, so we weren't as good for the later part of a run. But Jay Guy and the boys did a good job on it this weekend and our MHP Pit Crew had another good day on pit road. So we got us another top-25, which is good. It wasn't pretty, but we'll take it."