Ford Performance NASCAR: Ford Sweeps Front Row as Chase Briscoe Captures First Career Cup Series Pole (NCS Qualifying)

Chase Briscoe, No. 14 HighPoing.com Ford Mustang -- THIS IS YOUR FIRST CAREER CUP SERIES POLE. HOW DOES THAT FEEL? “Yeah, I felt like yesterday in practice our car was really good. I thought we were a third to fifth-place car and I thought the 22 was the best car. The first round of qualifying I felt like I didn’t run a very good lap at all and wasn’t sure I would make the top five. To see how fast it was I knew we would be pretty good for the second round. The second round I kind of did the opposite and overdrove that one. I didn’t think the lap was going to hold up. I felt like Reddick or Joey would be able to get us but we were able to hold it off. It is super cool to be here. This is a cool race track and a cool area. There are a lot of really passionate race fans in the St. Louis area and a lot of great dirt tracks and race tracks in general. I remember coming here in the Truck Series and always having a huge crowd and it will be the same tomorrow. I am excited to be a part of the inaugural event here and it is really special to lead the field to green in front of a sold-out crowd here. I am looking forward to tomorrow for sure.”

YOU HAD TREMENDOUS CONFIDENCE WHEN WE TALKED TO YOU EARLIER. WHAT GAVE YOU THAT FEELING BEFORE QUALIFYING? “Yeah, I felt like when I ran here in the Truck Series, it was before they repaved it, but I was really fast that night too. I sat on the pole here in the trucks and led almost 100 laps and got beat at the end on strategy. I feel like I had a good understanding of the race track. It does race a lot like Phoenix and with this Next Gen car I feel like if you get a package pretty close at one race track and go to a similar race track your car is normally pretty close. In practice, it drove good. I felt like I was anywhere from a third to fifth-place car if we didn’t even change anything. We made it a little better. Hopefully we can finish it all off tomorrow. There is going to be a lot of attrition I think from restarts and opportunities to make mistakes from a down-shifting standpoint and heavy braking. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. It is nice to have clean air and hopefully we can keep it tomorrow.”

YOU SAID THIS FEELS LIKE A HOME RACE FOR YOU: “Outside of Indianapolis, this is definitely the closest race track to my hometown. It is only three or four hours. I have a lot of family here. My cousin married a guy from St. Louis so I have a lot of family in the area. It is cool to be here. I have a lot of folks here so hopefully I can put on a show tomorrow.”

THIS IS YOUR FIRST POLE. IS THERE ANY SENSE OF EXCITEMENT OR PRIDE OR ANYTHING OR IS IT ALL ABOUT WHAT YOU DO ON SUNDAY? “Yeah, I mean it is cool to be on the pole, right? I say it all the time. I never thought I would run a Cup race or even a Truck race. To be able to say you are a winner in the Cup Series and now a pole winner is really special. To do it at an inaugural event is even cooler. I think it will hit me a lot more tomorrow when we roll off and there is not a single seat available. I am excited for sure. Like you said, it doesn't really matter if you don't run good on Sunday. That is what pays the points and what you came here to do, race, not qualify. Qualifying is just icing on the cake. I think we have a good car that is capable of winning tomorrow, we just have to put it all together and minimize our mistakes. That is something as a driver I haven’t done a good enough job of this year. Hopefully we can put it all together tomorrow.”

WITH THIS POLE TODAY AND YOUR FIRST CAREER WIN AT PHOENIX EARLIER THIS YEAR, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE ONE OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP FAVORITES THIS YEAR? “You gotta get to Phoenix. If you don't get to Phoenix it doesn't matter how good you are there. If you had asked me that four or five weeks ago, or even two weeks ago at the All-Star race I would have said no way. But we got back to what we were doing at the beginning of the year and I feel like we have our speed back. Hopefully, we can continue this. I agree with you though, I don't think there is a championship favorite. There are a lot of guys capable. This Next Gen car, it is so weird how it is. One week you can be really good and the next week you can be way, way off. We just have to continue to get better and put ourselves in a position to keep trying to run up front. If we do that and get to Phoenix I am confident we can go there and battle. It is just a matter of getting there. If you aren’t one of the final four guys, it doesn't matter how good you are there.”

YOU GREW UP ABOUT THREE HOURS FROM HERE AND WERE AT THE DIRT TRACK THIS WEEKEND. WHAT KIND OF A BUZZ HAVE YOU SENSED BEING AROUND RACE FANS FOR THIS EVENT HERE IN THIS AREA? “Like I was saying earlier, in this area in general there are a lot of really passionate race fans. In December when we ran in the dome downtown there were a ton of fans there. There are a lot of different types of racing here. You have Winged Sprint Car if you go west. You have Winged Sprint Car in Illinois. You have Midget, Late Models, and Modifieds, there are just a ton of big divisions and a lot of passionate people about all those divisions. To tie it all together, we don't really have a race track around here anymore. This is a hotbed of it all and it is super cool to see the buzz. Last night at the dirt track down the road there were a ton of people talking about seeing us on Sunday and how excited they were about being there. It is definitely cool. With them announcing a sellout crowd there are going to be a ton of people here. I said earlier to somebody that I couldn’t believe how many people were here for practice yesterday. We don't see that anywhere. There is definitely a buzz. It is cool to see the city get behind it and the race track has done a phenomenal job. This place has always been a nice facility and they went over the top to have the Cup Series here. I am looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully, it is a great race. I know the atmosphere will be really cool with all the concerts and everything else. It should be an awesome weekend for the fans.”

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS

1st - Chase Briscoe

2nd - Austin Cindric

5th - Ryan Blaney

7th - Joey Logano

8th - Aric Almirola

9th - Harrison Burton

14th - Cole Custer

17th - Michael McDowell

20th - Kevin Harvick

22nd - Todd Gilliland

30th - Brad Keselowski

31st - Cody Ware

32nd - Zane Smith

34th - BJ McLeod

36th - Parker Kligerman