DARK HORSE SWEEPS FRONT ROW FOR SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK AS MICHAEL MCDOWELL CLAIMS FIRST POLE

Michael McDowell and Joey Logano flip-flopped qualifying spots from Daytona as McDowell captured the first Cup Series pole of his career.
This marks the second straight race the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse has swept the front row.
It’s also the third straight pole for Ford at Atlanta Motor Speedway after Logano and Aric Almirola claimed the top spots in the two races last year.

Ford Performance Qualifying Results:
1st – Michael McDowell
2nd – Joey Logano
4th – Todd Gilliland
6th – Ryan Blaney
7th – Chris Buescher
8th – Austin Cindric
9th – Chase Briscoe
14th – Josh Berry
15th – Noah Gragson
16th – Harrison Burton
20th – Ryan Preece
24th – Brad Keselowski
31st – Justin Haley
33rd – Kaz Grala

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Benebone Ford Mustang Dark Horse – POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

YOU AND JOEY ON THE FRONT ROW AGAIN IS KIND OF A COINCIDENCE DON’T YOU THINK? “I don’t think it’s too much of a coincidence. I say that just because with both qualifying sessions being a superspeedway and a superspeedway package we sort of knew coming from Daytona that we were gonna have good speed because we showed good speed at Daytona, so not a huge surprise but really cool. It’s awesome for everybody, the men and women at Front Row, to come here and sit on the pole, go to Daytona and sit on the front row. It’s a big couple of weeks showing a lot of speed, so I’m really proud of everything. Yes, it is for sure my first career pole in the Cup Series. I’m proud of that, but at the same time it’s more of a testament to the team. This qualifying session you have to execute everything perfectly, but at the same time having a fast race car is what it’s all about, so I’m really proud of my guys.”

IS THERE A LITTLE BIT OF RIBBING THAT JOEY NIPPED YOU LAST WEEK AND YOU GET HIM BACK THIS TIME? “That’s fun. Obviously, it was close last week and it was close again this week. I think that it’s fun. It’s fun to be able to after qualifying we were able to announce our partnership and alliance, obviously with Ford Performance as well as Team Penske, so to have both cars on the front row again for the second time is pretty cool and it’s definitely a testament to everybody at Ford Performance on this new Dark Horse. It’s obviously got a tremendous amount of speed. We got to show that in the race for a little while last week, but didn’t get to finish it there at the end. I feel like this race tomorrow will be a little bit different than the Daytona race. I think you’ll have more control from the front and hopefully a little less chaotic at times, but it’s still gonna be a really tough race. It’s all about getting to the finish. Qualifying well is fun and it’s fun today, but it doesn’t count too much for tomorrow. You’ve got to go out and make it count and, for us, more than anything, we need to score some points. Obviously, having the issues that we had at Daytona put us behind, so we need to go out there and try to win the race and if we can’t win the race, score a lot of points and not fall too far behind early in the season because it’s hard to make it up.”

IS THIS THE TRAJECTORY YOU AND BOB JENKINS HAVE ALWAYS TALKED ABOUT? “You always hope and you’re always striving for that. I think until it started to look more like a reality a few years ago that it was possible that it got everybody re-motivated for Bob more than anything just to continue to invest and continue to help us grow the race team and the program. For a while there, you were in that spot where with the old car I don’t think you could ever catch up. Even if you dumped a bunch of money into it, the big teams were developing at such a fast rate that even if you made gains, you still weren’t really closing the gap. So, I feel like this Next Gen car allowed us to close that gap and that’s also allowed Bob and the team and everybody, the partners, to see that we can do this. We just need a little bit more tools, a little bit more resources to keep it up, so it’s kind of a combination of things, but this is what I’ve always dreamed of. I can’t speak for Bob. I think Bob is thrilled with the performance we’ve had and he’s obviously spent a tremendous amount of money in this sport with the hopes of one day being here, but we still have a lot of work to do and we still have a long way to go. I try not to let the highs be too high and the lows be too low because this sport will eat you up and spit you out in a matter of weeks, so we’ll enjoy the moment today, but get prepared for tomorrow and try to execute everything as best we can.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FINALLY GET YOUR FIRST POLE AFTER SO MANY STARTS? “The first eight years of my career were rough, so I’m enjoying it now, having fast race cars and a great team behind me and being able to have results like this – top fives, top 10s, winning Indy last year – so it’s been fun. The last few years have been great. It’s been very rewarding, but at the same time it’s motivating too because I’m not getting any younger and I don’t want to say I’m running out of time because I still have a lot of time, but 10 years where I don’t want to say wasted because they obviously served their purpose, but I have a lot of catching up to do and now is the time to start catching up on all those areas where I couldn’t early on in my career. It’s just motivating to make the most of the opportunity we have in front of us because right now, today, we have fast cars and that’s not a guarantee six months from now and that’s not a guarantee 12 months from now. I know that because I lived the other side for a long time, so it’s making the most of the opportunity that we have right in front of us right now because right now we’re in the game and have something for them.”

IS THIS A PRODUCT OF THE PENSKE ALLIANCE OR IS IT TOO EARLY TO SAY? “Yes. Everything you said I would agree with. We aren’t there yet with how young and early this relationship is, to where we’re able to click on every piece of information that’s going back and forth and builds and all those things. So, I think we definitely have gained some very helpful things that have allowed us to increase the performance, but I don’t think we’ll see the true results of what that looks like until we get a few more months down the road. Right now, we’re just literally trying to figure out the internet and tooling. I don’t want to paint this picture that these last two weeks have been just because of this potential alliance, it’s really the hard work of everybody at Front Row. I think it’s definitely helped, but I know for sure going forward and going into the future for years to come that this is gonna be a really important part of Ford Performance and our team as well as Team Penske.”

TODD GILLILAND THINKS HE’S SEEN SOME CHANGES ALREADY. DO YOU FEEL THAT? “Yeah, definitely. I don’t want to paint a bad picture. We are definitely getting stuff from it, but we’ve had to change a lot of our procedures and a lot of our processes, which has slowed down a lot of things for us at the shop just like anything new. It’s just like moving into a new house. It’s like, ‘Yes, it’s nice and it’s clean and it’s awesome and it’s gonna be great, but right now I have 56 boxes sitting in the living room and I don’t know where my underwear are.’ That’s a little bit what we’re faced with right now. It’s gonna be good and it’s gonna get better, but such a late start has made it to where we are drinking from a fire hose and trying to maximize what we can, especially these first five weeks and then hopefully be up to speed with everything and procedures and processes to maximize it”

DO YOU FEEL THIS MIGHT BE THE MISSING PIECE THAT YOU’VE REALLY NEEDED AT FRONT ROW TO BE CONSISTENTLY WITH THE TOP TEAMS? “Our strength and relationship with Ford Performance, and I don’t even know what the technical word is, tier one, A program, whatever you want to call it, is definitely a big part of this relationship going forward and that information is definitely helpful for us to continue to be at a top level like we think we will be. So, yes, it’s gonna be good for us and we are seeing some of the results of that. I believe that this is what we needed to do, not only to be a championship contender, but to win more than a race. I’ve been talking about it for a little while. You’re not gonna sustain a race team and a career off of onesies every now and then. We’re gonna have to win multiple races in a season to really compete and contend and this is what needed to happen for us to be able to do that.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Knauf Insulation Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I thought we had a little bit closer for a pole there, but obviously still solid opportunity for a good pit selection. It was another great showing in qualifying for the Ford Mustang Dark Horse. I’m really encouraged by that. It’s been a really great track for us last year at Atlanta with Team Penske and the package that we bring here, so I’m super encouraged for the race and certainly feel like we have a good shot to contend tomorrow.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “The Fords definitely haven’t lost too much with the new body as far as superspeedway qualifying goes. The same guys that were on the front row for the 500 are on the front row here, so they obviously have something figured out a little bit more than the rest of us. For us, I was really happy with being fifth in the first round. The second round I don’t know if the wind got us or what, but I was really happy with ours. It was an improvement from what we had at Daytona, so hopefully we can continue to build on that.”

TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 Georgia Peanuts Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “My crew chief is the most ultra-competitive guy in the world, so I don’t even think he smiled that we qualified fourth because we still got beat by our teammate. We didn’t even bring the fastest car within our race shop, so that’s the type of stuff that’s going on at Front Row. We’re just pushing each other to be better each and every single week. To get a pole in the Cup Series just straight up like that is super hard to do, so I’m super proud of those guys. To have both of us up there is impressive also.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I’m pumped with how today went. Our Build Subs Ford Mustang was really fast and it put us in the top 10 and we were able to make another run at it. We were able to gain a little bit from our original run, so that’s a heck of a start for us here. It’s a good start to a recovery from Daytona. Like I said, we were fast but didn’t love the way the race played out for any of us. I want to get into this one and be up front and try to control some of this thing. We’ve been really fast here. We’ve led a lot of laps. We’ve watched Brad be in contention to win most of these races here as well. I’m excited to get out here and see what we can do tomorrow. It’s a really good start for us.”