NEW FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE MAKES CUP SERIES REGULAR SEASON DEBUT BY SWEEPING THE FRONT ROW FOR SUNDAY’S DAYTONA 500
- Joey Logano of Team Penske won the pole for Sunday’s Daytona 500 while Michael McDowell of Front Row Motorsports was second in the regular season debut for the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
- Both drivers are locked into the front row for Sunday’s 66th Annual Great American Race.
- This marks the first Daytona 500 pole for Team Penske owner Roger Penske.
- It’s also the first Daytona 500 pole for Ford since Carl Edwards in 2012.
- The last time Ford swept the front row for the Daytona 500 was also in 2012 (Edwards and Greg Biffle).
Ford Performance Top-10 Qualifying Results:
1st – Joey Logano
2nd – Michael McDowell
4th – Austin Cindric
10th – Harrison Burton
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Qualified 1st) – “This is all about the team. Honestly, I’d like to take credit but I can’t today. The guys have done such an amazing job working on these cars. This superspeedway qualifying is 100 percent the car. There’s only so much the driver can do, so I’m really proud of them. That’s a big win for our team, for everyone at Team Penske, Ford with the new Dark Horse Mustang. Being able to come down here and put it on the pin and finally someone else wins the pole here. That part feels good. I’ve never even been close to a superspeedway pole before, so this is my first pole on a speedway. It couldn’t be at a cooler event, obviously at the Daytona 500. I’m proud of the team. I can’t thank everybody enough. Shell/Pennzoil, Hunt Brother’s Pizza, AAA, everybody that supports this No. 22 car. It’s a huge deal for Team Penske.”
WALKING INTO VICTORY LANE YOU ARE THE POLE-WINNER FOR THE DAYTONA 500. “Anytime you walk into this area we’re standing here in Victory Lane, I don’t care if it’s qualifying or the Duel or the 500 it’s always special. This is about the team. The driver doesn’t really do a whole bunch in qualifying here. I can’t take much credit today, so these guys did a tremendous job giving me a really fast Mustang. A couple Fords on the front row is something pretty special seeing those Mustangs up front here. It’s a pretty exciting start to Speedweek and hopefully tomorrow night we have a good one and we’ll be in the same spot.”
THIS IS THE FIRST DAYTONA 500 POLE FOR ROGER PENSKE. THAT HAS TO BE REWARDING FOR YOU. “I think this team should take the credit for it. I was the lucky jockey behind the wheel. That’s all I was on this one. It’s obviously something really special. There is more pride taken as a team for winning the Daytona 500 pole than any other pole in the season because of the amount of effort that goes in all winter long working on this race car. It’s nice to see that there’s a lot of speed there and it’s a pretty special moment for everyone at Team Penske and everybody back at the shop, Roush Yates building our engines. This is a real big team moment.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Qualified 2nd) – “The feeling is awesome. This is the best that we have ever qualified down here. We’ve always had fast Ford Mustangs, but we really put an emphasis on seeing how much speed we could get out of it. We know that we can work on it Thursday and Friday and all those things. A pole is something that is on the bucket list this year to try and get done. I don’t have a Cup Series pole, so I thought we had a good shot at that one. Obviously, Joey got us there, but two Dark Horse Mustangs on the front row for the Daytona 500 is awesome. A big thanks to everybody at Ford Performance and Doug Yates and Roush Yates Engines. We know a lot has to do with all the hard work that they put in, but I’m just really proud of my guys. We put in a massive effort to try to come down here and have a lot of speed and we did, so it’s a good start to the weekend.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Qualified 4th) – “Obviously, the Ford Mustang Dark Horse is pretty good in its debut. I’m really happy with the speed in our Discount Tire Ford. I’m looking forward to going racing with it.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Qualified 10th) – “That’s a decent start for us. It’s exciting to be in the hunt and make the top 10. The Fords in general look really strong, so that’s exciting with our new Dark Horse Ford Mustang. I’m excited to get out and see how it drives in the race. It’s gonna be interesting to see who gave up what for handling versus speed. I don’t think we gave up too much, so I’m excited to race and excited to carry that speed into the race as well. I’m really, really excited. I’m proud of our guys. They brought me a fast race car and I’m ready to go drive it well.”
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David Ragan, driver of the No. 60 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse, was the second-fastest Open qualifier and automatically made it into the field for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
DAVID RAGAN, No. 60 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s always big to be in the Daytona 500 and the whole week I’ve just been trying to make sure we didn’t make any mistakes. I really felt like we were going to have a shot at a top 10 or top 12 starting spot, but it just shows all of the hard work this BuildSubmarines.com Ford team has done. Derrick Finley, he puts a lot of effort into the race team at RFK. I’ve worked with him in the past and he’s been nervous as a cat all afternoon and so I’m really proud for Derrick and proud for all of the RFK guys, and appreciate Brad Keselowski and Jack Roush giving me an opportunity to come down here to try to win a Daytona 500.” |
