Ford Performance NASCAR: Briscoe, Blaney and Custer Qualify Top 5 for Martinsville Cup Race

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS

3rd – Chase Briscoe

4th – Ryan Blaney

5th – Cole Custer

6th – Brad Keselowski

8th – Kevin Harvick

10th – Harrison Burton

12th – Joey Logano

13th – Michael McDowell

15th – Aric Almirola

19th – Todd Gilliland

22nd – Chris Buescher

30th – Austin Cindric

34th – BJ McLeod

35th – JJ Yeley

36th – Cody Ware

 

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – “That’s not bad.  It’s a lot better starting spot than we were in the spring, so that’s good.  I thought our race speed was pretty good, so it’s just a matter of staying in it all race.  Like I said, starting decent and we just have to stay right for 500 laps.”

 

HOW BIG IS PIT SELECTION FOR THIS RACE?  “It’s huge for multiple things.  Just starting ahead of all this stuff and possible trouble, and also getting a good pit stall, so you just hope to have a good day on pit road and not make mistakes.  You want to take advantage of what you’ve got and what you did here on Saturday to the most of your ability on Sunday.”

 

IS IT TOO EARLY TO START THINKING ABOUT STAGE POINTS, ESPECIALLY WITH WHERE YOU’RE STARTING?  “We’ll just see how it all shakes out.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang – “It’s better than starting worse than that, but I should have had the pole.  I threw it away both laps, so I’m frustrated about that part.  I definitely had the best car in qualifying and didn’t get it done, so that part is frustrating.  Still, we’ve got a good starting spot for tomorrow.  We’ve got a really good car for tomorrow, too.  It could have been a lot worse, for sure, but it could have been a lot better.”

 

PASSING WAS SO HARD IN THE FIRST RACE HERE, SO HOW MUCH DOES STARTING UP FRONT HELP?  “Starting third is better than starting 13th.  For us, we’ve got to win the race.  It would have been a lot easier to start on the pole and try to lead them all, but there are a lot of things that come with qualifying on the pole here from pit stall selection and things like that.  That’s the frustrating part.  I know I gave away a pretty big advantage for tomorrow.  I’ve just got to do better on my part, but we’ve got a really good car for tomorrow.  That’s gonna be half the battle.”

Ford Performance PR