Ford Performance – NCTS Daytona Post-Race Quotes

Unofficial Ford Finishing Results:

7th – Matt Crafton

12th – Jason White

15th – Ty Majeski

30th – Ben Rhodes

31st – Keith MdGee

32nd – Lawless Alan

33rd – Layne Riggs

34th – Jake Garcia

TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Road Ranger 50th Store Ford F-150 – “We had a fast Ford F-150. I mean, we had good stage points the first two stages and that was always a goal of ours coming in here was to get stage points so you can salvage your points day when the end turns out like that. It was probably a halfway decent points day. We’ll move on to Atlanta, do this all over again and then we’ll go racing in Vegas.”

WITH OVERTIME DO YOU EXPECT WHAT HAPPENED TO HAPPEN?“Yeah, 100 percent, especially with the people driving these trucks. Half of the field doesn’t know what they’re doing. They’re way too aggressive at different points of the racetrack and this is the result.”

MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Ideal Door/Menards Ford F-150 – “It’s this way on all of the speedway racing. We could save the team owners a lot of money if we just went to a rental go-kart track and wrecked each other and drove through each other. They just shove each other until each other wrecks. They just don’t lift. There were times at the beginning of the race – somebody was pushing the 19 and the 19 got into the back of me and I was pushing the 15 and turned him. It’s just a product of this racing.”

IS IT A CASE WHERE ON THE LAST RESTART YOU ARE RUNNING SEVENTH OR EIGHTH AND ARE YOU JUST HOPING FOR AN OPENING?“Absolutely. They started wrecking and then I saw the seas part for just a second and then it closed up. I was like, ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do here.’ They told me to make sure I brought it home. I hit the grass and downshifted and kept it going, and I guess we brought home a top 10.”

BEN RHODES, No. 99 Ranch Fuel Energy Drink F-150 – WHAT HAPPENED ONCE YOU WENT BACK OUT ON THE TRACK AFTER THE TIRE WAS CHANGED?“They tried to clearance it after that initial contact while leading the inside line. The tire went down. They tried to clearance it and put a new set on and it just wasn’t enough. As soon as I got on the track I said it’s one or two corners more and it’s gonna go, but you don’t know that for certain so you keep going and keep going. Eventually, going into turn three I felt it start to let go. At that point, I was too far into the corner to get to the apron to get out of the groove, so I tried to take an audible and run straight to the wall to stay out of everybody’s way. Eckes split me and then I was stuck in the middle, so that was kind of embarrassing and definitely not ideal. I just tried to keep it to a minimum and it was too little, too late and then unfortunately I did collect some people with us, but we were trying to maximize what we had and not lose anymore laps and just try to stay out there, maybe a tire wouldn’t go down and it did at the worst point, so I feel sorry for all of my competitors. I’m thankful for Ranch Fuel, Ford and ThorSport Racing for everything they’ve done for us. Nothing is given at Daytona, you’ve got to earn it.”

Ford Performance PR