NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
FORD PERFORMANCE DRIVER – POST RACE QUOTES
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2020
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd – Ryan Blaney
3rd – Brad Keselowski
4th – Joey Logano
7th – Matt DiBenedetto
12th – Ryan Newman
13th – Chris Buescher
14th – Michael McDowell
15th – Kevin Harvick
17th – Clint Bowyer
18th – Corey LaJoie
25th – John Hunter Nemechek
29th – Cole Custer
31st – JJ Yeley
33rd – Aric Almirola
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Cardell Ford Mustang — “A big shout-out to Todd Gordon and everybody on this 12 team because we were awful at the start of the race and went a lap down in the first 60 laps. That’s bad. Luckily, we got the car a lot better. Even the first stop and I got the lucky dog and really drove up through there and ran second the second stage. Then we had a penalty on pit road, which sent us back again, so I was happy we were able to come back up through second. I would have loved to restart towards the front with Martin to see, if I didn’t have to pass all those cars, if I could have raced with him. He was pretty good. I’m proud of this Menards/Cardell Ford Mustang, just a couple solid runs here we’ve got to string together. We just need to break through. Hopefully, we can do that soon.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang — “At the beginning of the race we were just lights out, super-fast. I don’t know why, but the balance was just right on and everyone was falling off so hard. Everyone looked like they were just really tight and no front tire left on it. I was just creeping around passing everyone, so that was a great feeling for a while. We were able to get a stage win. I’m proud of the stage win. Those playoff points add up. They mean a lot, so that’s good. We got a third-place in the middle stage, a lot of points, a lot of laps led. I say we didn’t keep up with the track, but we tried to. We were going the right direction with it, but we just couldn’t make the right adjustments. As the track rubbered up we lost the center two-thirds turn, and we tried freeing it up and just really couldn’t hit that spot that I needed and really lost our entry and exit, and lost a little bit of speed to the field. It was still good enough for a top five, finishing fourth. We’ll take that. Take the points that we got today. No grandfather clock. That’s the goal, but it’s nice to finally finish where we should. We’ve had issue after issue these last few races, so it’s nice to see a nice finish. It’s not what we wanted, but the direction is right.”
PENSKE FINISHED 2-3-4 TONIGHT. WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION? “Yeah, it looks like we had a good bit of speed for all of our cars. It seemed like they were strong at different points of the run. I might have been the short run car at the end of the race. Blaney was stout and Brad was a good long-runner. I think everyone had their shining moments throughout. It showed that we had speed. The 19 just got ahead there and that right-front all knocked off probably was a good thing for his tire.”
IT WAS A BIG DAY FOR NASCAR AS FAR AS THE NEWS ABOUT THE CONFEDERATE FLAG. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE DAY FOR NASCAR AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE SPORT? “You have monumental moments, big moments in sports and life. Obviously, there’s so much going on right now in our world when you think of the Black Lives Matters movement that’s going on, Coronavirus, and it’s forcing all of us to look internal, look at ourselves first. It says in the Bible, ‘Look at yourself before others,’ and I think you need to fix your heart, find your heart, know what’s right. I’m not speaking as myself, I’m speaking for everybody, that’s just the way we should be. It was really cool to see what Bubba was able to do. I didn’t see where he finished, but he should be proud of the movement he’s made for the African American community in our sport. He always has just by being here, but when you look at the comments he made on CNN the other day and then NASCAR completely answered it. Kudos to NASCAR. Kudos to Bubba for bringing it up and using his platform for something good. That’s the most important thing. We can win races. I say this all the time, winning a championship is nice, but what is it? It’s an empty trophy, it’s an empty cup. That’s what it is. If you do nothing with it, it’s really pointless at the end of the day, so kudos to him for really stepping up and being a leader and not just a race car driver.”
WE’RE A QUARTER THROUGH THE SEASON AND THE THREE PENSKE DRIVERS ARE FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS AFTER THE CREW CHIEF SWAP. ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THAT? “No, not necessarily. I think if you look at what was going on last year we all had good speed, all of our cars were strong at different points of the season or different types of race tracks, so I really didn’t see much of a risk by doing it and I think I’ve seen just a longer runway for everybody because you’re really sharing information. Obviously, we share setups and we talk to each other, but I never drove Brad’s car. I never worked with Paul. Blaney never worked with Todd and Jeremy with Brad. We can talk about it and we can try to mimic setups, but it’s not the same, so this has been enlightening. At the same time, I’m bringing what we did last year to Paul and Paul is bringing what he did last year and we’re able to just kind of try to make the best of both worlds. It’s been fun. There have been a lot of interesting conversations that get sparked that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. As weird as it is to see what was your team for six or seven years working with Blaney, but I honestly can tell you that the relationships that you build with your team it becomes family, so I hope for their success and I’m glad to see Blaney is running really well and leading a lot of laps and a win is right around the corner.”
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Mustang — “It was a good start. I think we were pretty close at the start on the green race track and drove on up through there really quickly. I was surprised through a lot of the field, drove up toward the front in the top five, and then we pitted and the track just went through a lot of change. It was really surprising, a new tire that Goodyear brought to this race and the low downforce back on the cars, thank goodness, very much appreciated from my end and very happy about that, and the tire that wore out which is awesome. It just makes the racing back to like your good old, I would say Saturday night, but we raced on a Wednesday night which is even cooler, but kind of back to that old school feel. So tires really wore out. We just got really tight, battled that and couldn’t quite find the right adjustments for a bit, and then we finally found something that hit and recovered. We got a couple stage points in the first stage, but then really got off base and had to make some big swings. It’s just without practice and us being a new team working together this year I really feel like we’re making big gains as far as our communication. We’ve had some tough races, a little rough luck here and there, so just glad to click off a nice, solid points day. We’re getting better as a team and acclimated with each other more, so I’m happy about the end result and driving back up there we weren’t exactly where we wanted to be yet, but it was still a solid day.”
YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NASCAR NEWS OF THE DAY ON THE CONFEDERATE FLAG BEING BANNED FROM THE TRACK? “I’m supportive of whatever actions NASCAR chooses to take. I just want our fans and all different cultures, everyone that comes to these races, to feel as welcome as possible. I’ve heard many stories that are very heartwarming over the years of so many different people of different colors that have come to NASCAR races and even document their experiences and said they’ve never felt more welcome. So I’m just happy about that and continuing to try and improve our races and the experience here and all of that. I’m obviously, like Joey said, there’s a lot going on and a lot of change and it’s been a big day and a big week for NASCAR. There’s just a lot going on, but my stance is that I pray for everybody and obviously it’s crazy times we’re living in, but I wish the best for everyone. Hopefully, we get our lives and everything back to normal soon, but I just pray for everybody and support whatever everything that NASCAR chooses to do.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang — “Not a bad day for our Fastenal Ford Mustang. A long day. A hot day. We worked hard and kept getting better throughout. We overcame a really bad draw, and had to start 24th. We ended up having a nice clean day. The car is a little twisted in places like they normally are when leaving Martinsville. We escaped the rain, which was pretty fortunate looking at the radar and seeing all the rain that fell around us. I am really proud of the group. We really needed that after a tough couple of weeks. We will take that and head to Homestead and keep on digging.”
RYAN BLANEY PRESS CONFERENCE
RYAN BLANEY: It was a very interesting race. We started off really bad. I mean, we went from starting on the pole to being a lap down in 60 laps. That’s kind of tough to do. We found a way to do that. We already dug ourselves a hole early.
We pitted. Actually after the first pit stop, we got our car a lot better, a lot better. I think just the green racetrack didn’t really go well with what we had or something. We really wore our tires out. I had to run the top a lot, was getting passed. I don’t think that helped.
After that I felt more competitive. We got the Lucky Dog there right before the first stage end. After that we drove all the way up to second. We had a great long‑run car. That was great.
To be able to get the lead there at the start of the third stage, kind of biding our time, taking care of our stuff. Caution came out. We got a penalty on pit road. That set us all the way back again with not a lot of laps to go. We had 170 to go. Last restart we started ninth. 19 just got away from me. I couldn’t run him down. By the time I got to second, he was gone. My stuff was a little worn out having to pass a lot of cars.
Overall really proud of the effort from the 12 group, from where we started to where we ended. I can always be happier, winning the race, but we made huge gains today. Atlanta was the same way. We didn’t start off great, but we got a lot better very quickly. That just shows what this team can do. I’m really proud of everybody on this crew.
Q. Bubba encouraged NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag, been very vocal on issues. Have you seen this activism in him for years or do you feel there has been a change in him in the last few months?
RYAN BLANEY: I’ll start off saying I’m really proud of what he’s doing, the effort he’s putting in, in wanting to kind of lead the charge. I stand behind him. A lot of guys stand behind him in NASCAR, not only the drivers, but a lot of teams, as well, crew members. The car he ran tonight was great. I loved that they were able to do that, came up with that idea.
As far as being an activist goes, I mean, not as much as he is now. He always has been. I mean, he and I, it’s nothing ‑‑ we’ve been really best friends for a long time. The way he and I have always thought growing up is everyone is equal. We always treat everyone equal no matter where you come from, what color you are. You treat people with respect, don’t judge people.
I feel like he’s taken a larger stand, just encouraging the cause right now, just wanting equality and understanding. I feel like he always has been one a little bit. But now in these times, I think it’s great he’s embracing it and leading the charge. I’m really proud and will stand behind him 100%.
Q. You talked about going to some protests in the last couple weeks. Do you think if you go now and people recognize you as a NASCAR driver that it means something that NASCAR has banned the Confederate flag?
RYAN BLANEY: Man, I went to one. It was last week. I was out in Charlotte, one was happening. I kind of joined in. You can’t tell who anyone is, they got masks on, stuff like that.
I’m not a person who if I go to a peaceful protest, I’m not going to like boast it out that I’m there. You’re there to learn. You’re there to understand and talk to people. You’re not there to say, Look, I’m here. I just want to go there and learn and talk people and support them as well.
I think it’s great. I think a lot of people should check the peaceful protests out. You can learn a lot from people just talking and hearing their stories. Kind of where I stand on that.
Q. Is this a case where a winning car finished second?
RYAN BLANEY: I’d like to think so. I don’t know. I haven’t really thought of that, to be honest with you. Just the race happened. It’s just the way it goes.
We had that penalty towards the end of the race. I thought the 19 and I were pretty even. I would have loved to line up beside him on the restart with 70 to go, whatever it was, and see what we could have done. But we’ll never know. I thought we had a really good car.
I was never really close enough to see on equally worn tires to see what we had for him.
Q. How close do you feel you are to the first win? You talked about the improvements you made at Atlanta. How close do you feel you are to a first win this season?
RYAN BLANEY: Very close. I mean, I thought it was going to be tonight. You keep bringing speed like this every weekend, eventually you’re going to find a little bit more and be able to win the race. We just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing. I think it’s going to come soon, we just got to keep working really hard.
Q. This week you had Atlanta, tonight Martinsville, Sunday Miami. Seems like a lot of warm weather. Describe what this week has been like, what the potential toll is on a driver’s body?
RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I mean, it’s tough. You get out and you’re worn out, things like that. Atlanta was hot. Worked really hard at Atlanta. It’s a long race. 500 miles is a long time.
Here obviously you’re working hard. It wasn’t cold here. Honestly, Miami will probably be the hottest one we go to, most humid.
Me personally, yeah, I got a little tired after the race. It’s never been a big issue for me. You just hydrate like you normally do, eat well, try to maintain a good physical condition. I mean, I’d race every night if I could. That part’s never gotten to me, getting tired or anything like that.
I think it’s great that you’re essentially having three races in a week, which is great for fans to watch. A lot of work on the teams. As far as personally physically, I’m all good.
Q. Because of your friendship with Bubba, you certainly have more of an inside view. What has the last week been like on him? He referenced in a short video before the race he hasn’t gotten much sleep. From your perspective, what have you seen?
RYAN BLANEY: I mean, I saw him before Atlanta. Went over to his house I think last Saturday or something like that, sometime last week. We just hung out, ate some food, drank some beer, had a good time.
Yeah, we talked about some of the issues. Myself, him and our good friend Dillon Smith (phonetic) was over there. We talked about some stuff, things like that. Just kind of talking about what we think.
It was great for me to kind of see what they feel like in certain situations. I’ve never been in their shoes. I’m not an African American male. I can’t relate to that. The best I can do is just learn about it, help out and understand.
But like I said before, I think it’s great, the initiative he’s showing and wanting to be a part of change, the right change. I feel like he’s on his way, man. He’s doing a really good job. I think he was on CNN the other night. He did a great job on that.
Like I said, I’ve just known him a long time and he’s just Bubba to me. I think of him as a brother. It’s good to talk to him, but I think he’s definitely not getting sleep because he’s so busy. It’s good things, a good cause that he’s striving towards.
Q. You mentioned the green track. You weren’t the only ones off at the start. Was it the track? The tire? The lack of practice?
RYAN BLANEY: All of the above I think. With a new tire, no practice, green racetrack, some teams hit it, some teams didn’t. Some teams actually never recovered from it. Some great teams never recovered from it. We were lucky that we did. Look at the 18 and the 11, they didn’t recover.
I think it was just everything up in the air. If we would have had practice, even an hour practice, you’d realize what your car is going to do, especially on a green track.
I think all those things that you mentioned were a factor in it. But we were on the lucky side of we got to where we were a lot more competitive than where we started. It’s just from a lack of knowledge, no knowledge about the tire or the racetrack or the conditions, what they’re going to be.
BRAD KESELOWSKI PRESS CONFERENCE
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 PPG Ford Mustang — Yeah, decent finish for us. We ended up third. I felt like we had a pretty good car. Had a rough start there. Started in the outside lane. I guess with the track not having any rubber, when you started on the outside lane, the tire completely blistered and corded. We lost almost two laps the first run, thought something was broken, didn’t know what was going on.
New tires on lap 60. We were a lap down. By the time we were able to get the lap back, we were at stage two, running 10th or 11th. Unfortunately I didn’t get any stage points, but rallied to get up to the lead there about 150 to go.
Wasn’t quite good enough to hold off the 19. He was super, super strong. He proved why he’s so good. He just kept passing cars, just flying. Pretty impressive.
All in all was really proud. The first time I’ve been here with Jeremy Bullins. This is a track you get a lot of reps with a crew chief, you reiterate, find small things to get to the front, to be the best. To come here our first time together and run third I think is a pretty good mark for us.
Q. With this being the first night race at Martinsville, did it feel different or play out any differently compared to a normal day race at Martinsville? Anything strategically that was a little different?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: No, not a big difference. I think probably the big thing that we noticed of course is not having any practice. That makes it really a different experience to try to dial the cars in. This tire was quite a bit different than any tire we’ve had here before. Those two things together was more of a challenge or certainly noteworthy from our perspective.
Q. Obviously NASCAR made the announcement today about banning the Confederate flag. Did the drivers talk to NASCAR at all about it this week? Once Bubba advocated for it, did you feel that pushed NASCAR to do it?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, I wasn’t really involved. I can’t say I was completely caught off guard, but I didn’t know there was any conversations going on there. So I can’t say I was involved intimately to know those things.
I think you know NASCAR well enough to know they do a lot of things without necessarily asking me (smiling). But with respect to that, I don’t want to say I was caught out in left field, that’s not accurate. It wasn’t something that I was necessarily expecting to hear when I woke up today either.
Q. Are you in general in favor of that decision?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: I think I’ve spoken about it before. I don’t really care for that, for that flag. I come from Michigan. I understand it might mean different things to different people. Where I come from, it doesn’t mean anything good.
But then I think I have some empathy towards those that it does mean something positive to. I can’t put myself in their shoes. I’ve never been there.
In general I’m a rights guy and I like when people have rights to do what they want to do. It’s ultimately not my decision. I support the fact that it’s NASCAR’s decision to make.
Q. Last part of the race you and your teammates were going pretty close with each other. What is going through your mind when you are all near the top? Heading towards Miami next, what are some of the quirks of that race that you like to expose there?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: I think probably what was going through my head racing my teammates is don’t wreck my teammates because I really want to have a job and not get fired (laughter). That’s probably the biggest thing.
We raced each other hard but didn’t wreck each other, so I think that’s good.
Then you asked about Homestead?
Q. What are some of your favorite parts of racing down in Miami?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: Favorite parts? Probably my 2012 championship because we used to run for the championship there. That’s what it will always be to me, those memories, deciding titles, championship parties, something I’ll never forget.
Q. Did you hear Bubba’s comments over the last few days? Your reaction to him and what you thought overall of his activism on the last two weeks?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: I heard a few of them. He’s done a lot of media. I don’t know how he keeps up with that. I can’t keep up with my own media let alone his. I can’t tell you I heard everything he said to know exactly his position articulately. He’s standing up for what he believes in, and I can support that.
Q. Some aren’t willing to stand up and be at the forefront, but he’s taking the lead on that.
BRAD KESELOWSKI: He’s obviously got a much different perspective than any of us do. That gives him an authoritative role with everything that’s going on. I don’t know if ‘authoritative’ is the right word, but certainly a credible perspective, how about that? That’s one that I don’t have. Most NASCAR drivers don’t have.
He’s kind of carrying that as the face of NASCAR right now, maybe whether he wants to or not. I don’t know if he wants to. I don’t know. In some ways I feel bad for him because that’s a tremendous burden to carry. In other ways I think he’s very fortunate, it’s a heck of an opportunity.
Q. You mentioned being with a new crew chief at this event. The top four finishers tonight were all new driver‑crew chief combinations. Truex had been with James Small as an engineer before. What strikes you about that?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: That’s a great stat. That’s a Bob Pockrass stat. Did you get that one from Bob (laughter)?
Q. I’m insulted now.
BRAD KESELOWSKI: You guys are friends (laughter).
No, that’s a great stat. I didn’t think about that. I don’t know why it worked out that way. Maybe that’s a coincidence or trying to tell us something. Generally that doesn’t seem like a coincidence. I would like to think we would have been better if we had more races together. I think that about the fall race. What do I know?
Q. You race at Atlanta, Martinsville, Miami. Heat, long races, challenging on the body. What has this week been like? What is it like for you after Miami?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: I mean, I’m hesitant to say it’s tough racing because I drive a car in circles for a living. I don’t think a lot of people want to kind of hear me whine and complain.
That said, it’s a tough week. It’s tough. Probably the toughest I’ve ever been a part of. Atlanta was a grueling race, very humid. 500 miles. I don’t know why it had to be 500 miles, but it was, at a track where the cars are a handful. Normally when we run Atlanta it’s in March or late February‑ish. Obviously running it in early June, late May is much different weather conditions, much harder. Same thing here in Martinsville.
I’m a little bit surprised that today was a 500‑lap race because with it being a Wednesday night race long into the night for some of our fans. It also is part of the challenge of being a racecar driver, is running 500 laps, 500 miles. It gives an endurance factor to it.
I think we see time over time with that endurance factor the storylines and the plot changes. I hate to shorten the races because I think it’s part of the storyline and plot of the Cup Series that you have to be good for so long. It wears you down physically, mentally, along with the car. I really appreciate that. I don’t know if there’s ever been a more grueling stretch in Cup racing.
I was talking to my dad about this. My dad was around in Cup in the ’60s and ’70s as a kid that went to a bunch of races with his dad who had a team. He and I were talking about it at dinner a week or two ago. He asked me, Are you going to be all right for this stretch of races?
I said, I’m just going to have to suck it up.
What are you going to do? You have to find a way and persevere through it. Everyone is telling me stories about the ’60s and ’70s when they ran more races. They had the longer schedule. They’d run a 400‑ or 500‑mile race one or two a week. The drivers would get out halfway. It wasn’t uncommon to where your big‑name drivers would run the first 200 or 300 laps, get out, either somebody else would finish the race or they’d get back in and finish the race at the end. I thought that was so interesting.
I think that just goes to show you how much the racing has changed and evolved. Even though you could maybe compare this specific period of time in NASCAR to the olden days when they raced more during the week, I think that kind of changes it because we don’t have driver changes mid race.
I think that creates, like I said, history for the most grueling few weeks on a driver that the Cup level has ever seen.
With respect to that, it’s the same for everybody. We all got to toughen up. I think it’s a great test of will, a great test of the drivers. I think it’s what makes these few weeks so compelling not just as a participant but as a fan myself.
Q. You, Ryan, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex all seemed to struggle at the beginning of the race. Would practice have helped you knock out whatever issues you faced the first stage?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: Yeah, I’d like to think so. I’d like to think if we ran a 50‑lap practice or 10‑lap practice we would have learned a few things. I can’t say I know for sure.
I know not having rubber on the track was a huge difference. I started at the top. I think that really changed a lot of people’s days. Not everybody even recovered. I think somewhere around the top 16 or 17 cars went a lap down in the front of the race. That’s amazing. How often do you see that? Just a really interesting race.
