Meijer 300 - Ford Post-Race Quotes

Kelly Bires – No. 47 Clorox Ford Fusion – (qualified 26th, finished 7th) – On the race. “We had a great car, right off the truck. We worked on race trim and speed. We didn’t qualify so hot and we knew we weren’t going to. But we knew we had a great car during the race. We got in a little trouble near the end of the race where we knocked the right front fender. The crew made a good call and put two new tires on it, and drove the wheels off of it. We were just a little too tight at the end. We could have had a top-three car. I just need to thank Clorox and the crew for working on this Ford Fusion and putting everything together. I’m looking forward to the next race. I’m running in the truck race in Milwaukee, not too sure about the Busch race.” How tough is it to jump in car and show your skills? “It’s tough. It’s only my second Busch race. That’s the toughest part – being my second Busch race. I don’t have the experience to know what the car can do, so I’ve been driving a little conservative. It’s a great car.”

Greg Biffle – No. 37 Cub Cadet Ford Fusion – (qualified 11th, finished 10th) – “It’s unfortunate; we had a really good car. We had a tire get away us on a pit stop and it cost us a little bit. Overall, it wasn’t a bad night; we were able to get the Cub Cadet Fusion back in the top-10. We came back from being a lap down and we were able to get back in it.”

Marcos Ambrose – No. 59 Kingsford Ford Fusion – (qualified 6th, finished 11th) – “We wanted to run top-10 all day and we were able to do that. We just got in trouble at the end. Something went wrong with the exhaust pipe. Plus, I clipped the wall. We made some adjustments. I’m not real happy with the finish, even though we had good results today.”

Carl Edwards – No. 60 Sharp Aquos/3M Ford Fusion – (qualified 4th, finished 33rd) – “Our Sharp Aquos Ford Fusion was awesome; the cars are unbelievable. My spotter told me how anxious he the 66, Steven [Wallace] was and just tell him to take it easy and not ruin it for us on the restart. He got under me a little bit and I just moved down to block and little bit and he got me. It’s both of our faults. I think we’ll get back out there and get a couple of laps in, but I don’t know if it will amount to anything. It would have been neat to win this race. This is a great crowd and great fans, great support. Hopefully, Ford wins this thing.”

Bobby Hamilton Jr. – No. 35 McDonald’s Ford Fusion – (qualified 17th, finished 36th) – “I’m fine. We got wrecked by a lapped car [No. 56 of A.J. Frank]. When I saw him in the infield car center, he told me that he lifted and I said ‘no, you didn’t, you and the 14 did the same thing I did.’ There is a reason why they were three laps down. It’s tough to be up here and race like that. They didn’t lose anything. We lost a bunch of points tonight; we were running in the top-10. We lost a good race car. I guess we’ll just pack it up and go to Milwaukee.”

Danny O’Quinn – No. 17 Dish Network Ford Fusion – (qualified 13th, finished 38th) – “We had a pretty decent run going there. I think we were probably 12th or 13th there, and then we had a little problem coming down pit road. We got ourselves behind a little bit. I had to do a stop-and-go and coming back out we knew we had to be the ‘Lucky Dog.’ We were running really hard there. We didn’t get much of a break going down the corner on the right rear, they didn’t give me a lot of room and took off the spoiler and just lost it. I hate it; I don’t get a whole lot of opportunities to race. These Roush Fenway Fords, they are great cars and we had a shot to get up there and get a top-10. Who knows, maybe a lot better. But it’s unfortunate for myself and the team. We were poised to have a great finish. I just feel real bad for the team. We had a great race car and now, there’s not much of it left.”

Jason Keller – No. 27 Kleenex Ford Fusion – (qualified 24th, finished 20th) – “We had a very loose race car all night and we never gave up and we continued to battle there to get back on the lead lap. We tried, it wasn’t for lack of effort, we just couldn’t get the car tight like I wanted it.”

Stephen Leicht, driver of the No. 90 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion captured his first career NASCAR Busch Series victory at the Meijer 300 presented by Oreo. With this victory, Leicht moves up seven spots in the points standings to 12th position.

Stephen Leicht – No. 90 CitiFinancial Ford Fusion – (qualified 5th, finished 1st) – Talk about your race. “We had a great run. My guys worked so hard for this. We knew coming into tonight after the practice yesterday that we had a great car. We knew Carl [Edwards] was going to be tough and I hate the way things ended like they did. I really would have loved to race Carl for the win there at the end. We can’t say enough about the CitiFinancial team and our car tonight. It was just awesome. We were in the right position at the right time and we were able to capitalize on it with 10 [laps] to go.”

What does it feel like to win you first Busch series race? “I think it really relieves a lot of pressure. They always say the first win is the hardest win and we’ve shown in the last four or five weeks that we’ve had cars capable of winning. We blew-up last week leading and those where the longest 10 laps that I’ve ever run in my life at the end of the race. I never thought the race was going to end. I guess once you get the first one [win] out of the way, they’ll just come easier now. This team is prepared for that and I guess nobody has worked harder than my team in the off-season and this year and last year. Now that we’ve got one under our belts for CitiFinancial and Robert Yates Racing, I can’t wait to go at it again next week and try to get another one.”

Is there a sense of irony after David [Gilliland] won this race last year is that his first set of Busch races afterward where in that car – the number 90 Ford? “Well, I don’t really look too much at that. Obviously, my crew chief, Cully Barraclough is a very intelligent person; he understands these cars a lot. A very smart guy and one of the best crew chiefs I’ve ever worked with, probably since my ASA days. And he crew chiefed David’s car last year, so you can definitely say there is some magic here about this track and him and he definitely knows how to get around here. We put ourselves in position there at the end in case we had a chance. We had a car capable of doing it and we went to the outside groove with 10 to go and those guys wanted the bottom and there was a lot of grip there and no one else wanted to use it.”

Once Carl was out of the race, how did the dynamic of the race change? How did your strategy change? It seemed like you sped up a bit. “We knew it was going to be tough with Carl. He had a great car all night out in clean air. But we saw what clean air does. When my car out there and we were three-tenths over the field. These cars are so aero-dependant that the clean air makes these cars run faster. With Carl not out front anymore, obviously that’s going to make it a lot easier to win the race. At the same time, I was a little disappointed. I wanted to work my way up there and try to race Carl for the win because he’s so great in this series and the Cup series and is a great competitor. I would have loved to race door-to-door with him at the end seeing if we could have beat him, but it would have been tough.”

Your team has been one that seems to do well at some points of the race. If you do well in the beginning, you’ll fall off or vise-versa. The last couple of weeks have been very strong for this team. What does this win finally do for this team? Is this team now ready to fight for the top-10, the top-five in points? Is this team ready to be a contender? “I think this team has been ready to be a contender. All year long we have had runs that if we don’t have bad luck or something doesn’t happen, we’d already be in the top-10 in points. Look at Mexico, we were running sixth and got knocked out. In Las Vegas, we were running 9th, got penalized a lap. Dover got wrecked out; we were leading in Nashville and blew-up. There’s just a number of things that have happened to this team and we haven’t been able to show what this team is capable of. I think winning this race capitalizes on the momentum that we’ve had and hopefully will lead to better finishes and maybe another win.”

Is it possible that you will race in the Cup Series? “It’s possible, but we haven’t really talked about it. Drivers are the last ones to know what’s going on, so you guys might know before I do. It is possible; it would be absolutely fantastic to go run with CitiFinancial in a Cup car, if possible this year or next year.”

Knowing how fast you were in practice yesterday, how anxious were you to get things going today and also knowing how well you did here last year, how much confidence did you have coming to this track? “I felt great before we came to the track. Last year that was our best finish of the year was here. We get to test the Cup cars; we’re not allowed to test Busch cars because we race here. So I definitely have logged some laps around this place. I like the track. I was so anxious to get this race started. As soon as practice was over last night, I was wishing the race was last night because our car felt so good. I was pumped, ready to get going and today seemed like it took forever. This team has done a fantastic job and Robert Yates Racing, the fab [fabrication] shop, and back in the engine shop, they’ve built incredible motors and we’re definitely showing that we are force to be reckoned with.”

What was going through your mind when you took the lead and knew that you were in position to win? “We had been in third there for the last two or three restarts and I could keep up with those guys on the bottom groove but after three or four laps, my tires got up to temperature and my car got aero-tight and I couldn’t run the bottom anymore, where I had been running all night. I could tell they were crowding the bottom and they weren’t going to give-up that bottom lane. Last year, I finished 10th and I did well on the topside of the race track. I hadn’t been up there all night but I had looked up there and it looked dark like people had been running up there. So, on that last restart, I tired to work the top groove and the car came to life for me. I wish I had moved up there sooner, we might have been up front earlier than we were. But when we moved up it came to life and the guys protected the bottom, like they should of, and the car seemed to work better at the top.”

Charles “Cully” Barraclough – crew chief – No. 90 – “We were tight at the beginning and a little free at the end. Stephen was able to win it. I really like this track because every time we come here – we win.”