Tenth is the Best Ford Can Get

Although showing signs of resurgence after the early season dominance shown by Chevrolet teams, Ford can only manage to qualify tenth for the upcoming USG Sheetrock 400. The nineteenth race of the season is salted to be held at the Chicagoland Speedway this Sunday. During the qualifying session on Friday, Matt Kenseth, driving his Number 17 USG Sheetrock/DeWalt Ford Fusion, is the highest qualified Ford driver at tenth spot.

Although he only qualified tenth, Kenseth is still elated with the improvements that their team has made to the cars. “I was pleasantly surprised that the changes we made made the car faster,” said Kenseth whose first win at the Auto Club 500 is the first of the only three wins of Ford teams has this season so far. “It was not that good in practice, but that was pretty good right there.”

During the last four races, Ford teams have shown resurgence. Winning two of the last four races, Ford is showing promise of a good performance against the surging Chevrolets.

Second highest qualified Ford driver is Bill Elliott on his Number 21 Little Debbie Snack Cakes Ford Fusion. Elliott qualified seventeenth for the upcoming race. The veteran NASCAR driver and former champion of the sport said that his team is still in the process of improvement.

“The main thing we’ve got to do is continue to get better and grow as a team,” said Elliott. “For ever how long I end up staying here, I have no plans one way or the other this point in time, but the point of this deal is just got to keep working together, and whatever we do we’ve got to do it as a team and work as a team, and begin to think as a team and those guys have got to get to know me and what I do – the way I like a race car. And that just takes time to learn. The main part ingredients are there, it’s just putting a little fine touches to it is the key to this whole business.”

The third fastest Ford during the qualifying session was Carl Edwards who qualified 25th on his Ford auto parts-equipped Number 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion. The driver gave Ford its second win of the season at the Citizens Bank 400 held at the Michigan International Speedway.

Edwards has this to say about his qualifying session: “The car is good, but it was so loose in practice, I wanted to be conservative there and not make a mistake because our car is so good in race trim.”

Chevy driver Casey Mears qualified for the pole position at this Sunday’s race. Driving his Number 25 National Guard/GMAC Monte Carlo SS, the driver who won this year’s Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway will be starting in the front row on Sunday. “I’m happy to get my first pole here with Hendrick Motorsports in the National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet,” said Mears.

“It’s just awesome. Obviously when we start something new you always want to do things right and to get a win this year and a pole – now we’re in the All-Star race for sure next year and also in the Bud Shootout. (I’m) looking forward to next season for those and hopefully we can get some more before the year’s out. I was real proud of the guys because we unloaded off the truck today and the thing just felt awesome,” Mears stated still.