Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sunday, February 23, 2020
EVENT: Pennzoil 400
Ford Finishing Order:
1st – Joey Logano
2nd – Matt DiBenedetto
7th – Brad Keselowski
8th – Kevin Harvick
11th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Clint Bowyer
14th – Chris Buescher
16th – Corey LaJoie
19th – Cole Custer
21st – Aric Almirola
24th – John Hunter Nemechek
27th – Ross Chastain
28th – JJ Yeley
31st – Joey Gase
36th – Michael McDowell
JOEY LOGANO REPEATS LAS VEGAS CUP VICTORY
- Joey Logano won his first race of the season with today’s victory.
- The win today is the 24th of his Cup Series career.
- The win is Mustang’s first of the season.
- Today’s win is Ford’s 687th all-time in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition.
- Of Team Penske’s 72 MENCS wins with Ford, 45 have come since rejoining Ford in 2013.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – WHAT ABOUT THE LAST PART OF THE RACE, WHETHER TO PIT OR NOT. “There was a little confusion, but it worked out really well. A lot of cars stayed out and that was key to that move. Winning the Pennzoil 400 with the Pennzoil car, this is huge. It means a lot to be able to do this two years in a row winning this race. I’m proud of the effort everybody here behind me did today. They prepared a great car and executed the race perfectly and that’s what we wanted. We fought hard and tried to keep every spot we possibly could and then ultimately, oh man, being able to pull it into Victory Lane here.”
YOUR SPOTTER WAS ON THE RADIO A LOT THE LAST 20 LAPS. HOW DID YOU STAY FOCUSED? WERE YOU LOOKING IN YOUR MIRROR OR JUST RELYING ON HIM? “Both. T.J. does a great job up there being able to just call the lanes and where the runs are coming from, so trying to block those and then also just staring in the mirror trying to watch a run come along, so between all of that I had my hands full in there. I think everyone had their hands full out there. It was a fun race. The track was wide and made it hard to maintain the lead when you got it.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – “We had a decent run today. There were times where I felt like we were the best car and then there were times where I felt like we struggled. We just didn’t quite have the long run speed all race long and we got to where we were really good in the middle of the runs and just learned a lot. This is a little different car than I’ve ever raced before, so I’m learning how to adapt to that. There are a lot of takeaways and I’m confident we were really close to being a winning car today. I just wish I could re-run the weekend a little bit and work through a few things, but certainly learned a lot and very confident we can win races.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE KIND OF RACING WE SAW OUT THERE? “The tire and the cars were really free. There was a big change there and without having a test nobody really knew that was coming, and then having limited practice as well, so that was a handful to work through and we did the best we could.”
YOUR TEAMMATE ENDS UP IN VICTORY LANE. “Yeah, it came down to that green-white-checkered at the end and it was exactly what you would expect in a green-white-checkered, a crashfest, but it would have been interesting to see if it would have stayed green and the cars with tires could have had a shot at it, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang – “The caution really decided that. I think there would have been some of us that got back close to the lead by the time we got off of turn four. I don’t even know where we restarted, but we were seventh or so going into turn one on the last lap with a big head of steam and the caution came out. Our Busch Light Ford was really good on the short runs. We just kind of lost the handling as we would get deep in those runs and that kind of hurt us, but it came down to what we wanted there at the end, but we just got too far back.”
WERE THE RESTARTS WHAT YOU WERE EXPECTING? “It was the same as last year, so that’s kind of what this package creates.”
A STRONG PERFORMANCE FOR YOU. “Yeah, it really was. Everybody on our Busch Light Ford did a great job, just battled. That was kind of the same thing we battled on this particular race track last year, just fell off at the end of the runs, but it came down to a late caution there, we just wound up too deep.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Mustang – “I was just overdriving there at the end for sure. It just got away from me there and got loose. There were a lot of small mistakes on my end, but I learned a ton.”
YOU LOOKED COMFORTABLE IN THE CAR. “Yeah, the car deserved a lot better finish. Obviously, we showed that early and I just didn’t have great restarts. These guys kind of ate me alive on the restarts and I’d lose three or four spots every time, and picked the wrong lines through one and two, and then three and four again I just kept making silly mistakes that I should learn from after I make the mistake once. I just have to be better.”
YOU DON’T SEEM LIKE YOU’RE TAKING ANY POSITIVES AWAY FROM TODAY. “It’s hard to get out of the car after you have a top 10 car and you go and run into people and pick the wrong lanes on restarts and then spin it out at the end. That’s pretty silly. Just a lot of mistakes on my end and then at the end just overdriving and for one position to be the first car a lap down, coming to less than 10 laps to go in a Cup race and I spin out in the middle of one and two. That’s unacceptable.”
DO YOU BEAT YOURSELF UP OVER THAT? “Yes, absolutely. RFR and everybody puts so much into these cars and ultimately I’m the one holding the wheel. We had such a good first stage and had so much confidence and from there I just started making mistakes.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – “It was just a crappy situation. We fight our butts off to get the lead there from third and get it. I had a good shot of holding the 88 off. I thought we could have once we got in clean air I thought our car was pretty decent. The caution came out and we pitted, some guys didn’t, some guys took two and we just end up getting absolutely destroyed with people not knowing how many cars were to the outside of them. It’s easy to look back on it and say we should have stayed out. That’s a tough call for Todd Gordon in his position, but I’ve got to thank him for giving me a really good car. We were great on long runs. We were so good on long runs and that’s something to hold our heads up high about, it just stinks about the finish.”
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Mustang – “This one was an encouraging second-place finish for sure. It’s so cool. It’s too dang surreal to be driving this thing in the first place, the legendary Motorcraft/Quick Lane No. 21. It’s so cool to have the support of them and Menards and Ford and this whole team. It took so many people and it’s so cool to be driving for the Wood Brothers. It took so many people to get me this thing and we’re close – the second race of the season and we’re already starting off with a second-place finish. That’s great. I’m happy for Joey. Those Penske cars were really fast and I can’t thank them enough for their help of our team as well. We were close. I made a real aggressive move there. Greg Erwin, my crew chief, made great calls and that’s what it took to get us up there and inch up there all day.”
A LITTLE LUCK STAYING OUT, BUT YOU WERE UP THERE ALL DAY. DID YOU EXPECT TO BE THIS STRONG SO EARLY? “Yeah, I knew the team has every bit of that capability. They’re so good with Greg Erwin leading these guys. This team is phenomenal. There’s no doubt about that. I was a little worried about our car, though. It wasn’t a picture-perfect day. We had to make huge adjustments and our communication was great from me screaming really loose and us being off to start and then dialing it in little by little every pit stop, and then getting it there at the end where I was comfortable staying out because I knew the car had great speed. It was best on the long runs and we just needed a little track position because we were a little stuck in the dirty air.”
WHAT DO YOU TAKE OUT OF THIS RACE? “How strong this team is and it’s encouraging. That’s what makes a great team. We didn’t start off great, but to know that we can close, make the right adjustments, do all the right things, my pit crew can do an excellent job – all the things that tie a race together.”
