Ford Drivers in the Top Ten

Topics:  Ford, LifeLock 400

Anthony Fontanelle
June 18, 2008

While the story of the 2008 LifeLock 400 is Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally winning a race, it is also a good race for Ford as four drivers racing Ford cars made it to the top ten. The quartet was led by Matt Kenseth who finished third.

With the third-place finish, Kenseth inched closer to the top twelve. Kenseth of Roush Fenway Racing is now 15th in the drivers' standings with good showings in the last four races where he finished within the top ten.

Talking after the race, Kenseth pointed out that they have had some problems in the pit and the strategy which may have cost them a better finish. "I thought it was a real fun race. I thought it was exciting, three- and four-wide racing, and track was real challenging today, so I thought that was a good time. But I thought we just kind of got beat on the pit deal again," said Kenseth.

"We had an official in front of our car when we did two and that cost us two spots leaving the pits, and that really hurt us. Then, we had a little miscue on our two-tire stop and that hurt us a little bit, too."

Carl Edwards, Kenseth's teammate finished seventh. Edwards, by virtue of his three wins this season is comfortably in fourth place of the standings. He has finished six times in a row in the top ten which helps him hang on to that spot. Edwards drives the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion equipped with racing parts as durable as truck parts.

Edwards congratulated Earnhardt after the race saying: "I thought we'd put a Ford in victory lane there. But, congrats to Dale Jr., It's been a long time since he’s won a race so it's good to see somebody succeed. But, heck, we just weren’t good enough at the end."

David Ragan driving the No. 6 AAA Insurance Ford Fusion was as tough as truck parts as he finished seventh. "A good run, a solid run. We just kind of hung out all day. Didn’t want to see that last caution come out, because I think we were going to finish—well, I don’t know, some guys were playing the fuel-mileage game," said Ragan after the race.

Jamie McMurray on the No. 26 Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Ford Fusion meanwhile finished tenth. He had this to say after the race: "We had a great day. We should've just challenged for the win there with the way the fuel strategy worked out—the 88 car and I would've had a great race. But, I guess Hornish spun out and brought the yellow out, and then we didn't know how long it was going to be under caution, so we came in, put tires on and finished 10th. It's still a solid day."

Source:  Amazines.com