Motorcraft/Quick Lane Team Ready For Lower-Downforce Racing At Michigan

August 24, 2016

After a week at Bristol Motor Speedway with their car carrying the logos of Virginia Tech, Ryan Blaney and his Wood Brothers team return to their traditional Motorcraft/Quick Lane colors for this weekend’s Pure Michigan 400 at the Michigan International Speedway.

That’s the home track for Ford Motor Company, and therefore an important race for the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team.

For crew chief Jeremy Bullins, Michigan is fresh on his mind, as the team ran there just eight races ago.

“One of the cool things about the summer stretch in my mind is there are a couple of tracks that we race twice in a short span, and one of those is Michigan,” Bullins said. “Last time there, we had a top-five qualifying effort and had speed in our car in the race until sustaining some damage later in the event.”

That performance came with the same lower-downforce aerodynamic package that will be used this weekend.

Among the aerodynamic characteristics for this weekend are a smaller rear spoiler, the elimination of rear-axle offset, a smaller fin on the rear deck lid and smaller sides on the front splitter.

Bullins said that because his team has both raced and tested with the new package, he feels good about his team’s chances heading into Michigan.

“We definitely have some confidence that we have a solid baseline to work from,” he said. “It’s also going to be fun and challenging to work with the lower downforce package again.”

“It seems like Ryan adapts well to that package as we were also very fast at Kentucky. We are looking for a fast fun weekend for the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Fusion.”

Bullins also said he’s keeping a positive outlook despite disappointing finishes at Bristol and Indianapolis Motor Speedway that have put Blaney in a longshot position as far as making the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“Obviously some wrecks over the summer have put a damper on our points position, but we have our heads high knowing we are bringing fast cars to the track,” he said. “We will continue to push forward.”