Stenhouse Closes in on Nationwide Title at Phoenix

Trevor Bayne, No. 16 AirHogs.com Ford Mustang (Finished 6th)  “That was pretty wild but that is what racing used to be. It used to be rubbing and grinding and trying to fight for one groove. That isn’t exactly the day we wanted. It is a top-six which is great if we were going for a championship but we are going for wins so it is okay to be a little disappointed there. I think we had a really good car we just never had the track position all day. We got on the outside on the second restart of the day and lost a ton of spots and fought all day to get them back and just never got all the way there. I think we were okay. The track didn’t change much, it was the same as practice and we expected it to be better for us but it really wasn’t. We should have chased it more in practice.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 6 Ford Drive One Ford Mustang (Finished 5th)  DID YOU SEE THE 2 WAS INVOLVED IN THAT ACCIDENT?  “They told me he was involved. I still haven’t seen it. It made that last restart a little bit easier. It’s tough when they are still out there running and anything can happen at these racetracks. This place turned into being pretty racy. We were starting on the outside on that last restart and it worked out for us. I was definitely aware that the 2 got in that wreck and it felt pretty good.” 
 
WHAT ABOUT THE GUYS DUCKING DOWN ON THE APRON?  “It is such a risk to go down on the apron. We have the splitters that you don’t want to knock off it and we were never really in a position to need to make up that much time. I tried to stay on the race track but I could definitely tell that it has a little bit of an advantage but I am not sure how much.” 

DO YOU THINK IT WAS OKAY FOR GUYS TO DO THAT?  “We can do that at any race track and we do it on the front straightaway’s at Chicago and Las Vegas and places like that. That is the rule for every race track. We knew that rule coming into it and asked about it in the drivers meeting and they said only at the Superspeedways was that yellow line in effect.  It isn’t unfair because everyone can use it.” 

IT IS LIKE 41 POINTS NOW. DOES THAT MEAN YOU CAN RACE NEXT WEEK?  “Yeah, I mean we came out here to race and we were leading laps and running out front. I was a little cautious on those last restarts just for that fact that I didn’t want to get in trouble. I think we can get a little more aggressive on restarts next week and Homestead is one of my favorite places to go so I am looking forward to it.” 

Carl Edwards, No. 60 World Financial Group Ford Mustang (Finished 3rd) POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE
HOW DID EVERYTHING GO OUT THERE TODAY?  “Yeah, they were trying to convince me that I need to really focus on my Cup effort next week. That is a unique battle we are having, it is fun. Congratulations to Sam (Hornish), that is huge to be able to run that well. He has showed a lot of poise there and a lot of guts there to run the last few laps there. We are just having fun and racing hard. Brad (Keselowski) and I were racing hard and having a good race. I thought it was pretty good. I think we learned a little bit for tomorrow. It should be a fun race.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FOR TOMORROW?  “It did widen out a little more than I thought it was going to so that was interesting. You can definitely run two-wide around the whole race track. That was kind of news to me. I didn’t expect that. I learned a couple things about different spots on the track, where there is grip and stuff like that. I still think tomorrow is going to be so much different than today. The cars are different and the weather looks to be different. I think it will be its own race and the strategies that worked today may not work tomorrow as well.”

DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE A GOOD RACE?  “I do. I think the only thing that will make it difficult is that it is truly hard to pass. Once you get four or five car lengths back if it is a short run it is hard to pass. After 50 or 60 laps you might see some guys really dicing it up.”

WHAT ABOUT THE GUYS DIVING DOWN ON THE APRON?  “It is different. I think it is exciting to see. I didn’t do it but I saw other guys doing it. There were a lot of sparks flying and dust flying and all of that. It is definitely interesting.

DO YOU THINK WE WILL HAVE A SECOND GROOVE TOMORROW? IT LOOKS LIKE IT MIGHT RAIN TOMORROW MORNING.  “I think we will. Brad utilized the heck out of the second groove there in three and four and I saw a couple guys doing that. I believe that if we go the full distance it really doesn’t matter how much rubber gets washed away. I don’t think they are forecasting much rain. I think they said less than a tenth of an inch. Even if it does rain it probably won’t be a hard rain and I think the groove will stay nice and wide.”

YOU SAID THERE ARE TWO GROOVES BUT IT IS HARD TO PASS. THAT SEEMS TO BE A LITTLE CONTRADICTION OR MAYBE NOT?  “Well, it is a pretty narrow two grooves and aero is a big enough factor here that guys can get loose if you are under someone and the track is a little treacherous. It is hard to pass. I think what I was saying about the difficulty in passing was that once you line up and you get in a line, if the guy in front of you is running the same groove as you it is a little tough when you are so aero dependant here and everyone is so closely matched to run him down and work him over. You need him to struggle a little bit.”





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