Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Watkins Glen International | Sunday, August 8, 2021
FROM THE BULLPEN
The following quotes were obtained during Sunday’s pre-race bullpen session at Watkins Glen:
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Wabash National Ford Mustang — WILL YOU GO TO AUSTIN FOR SOME ADVICE ABOUT THE INDY ROAD COURSE? “I’ve talked a little bit to Austin about it, not a tremendous amount, but we’ve got a great team and great teammates, so we’ll work through it.”
HOW MUCH OF A WEIGHT WAS IT TO GET THE ANNOUNCEMENT OVER WITH AT THE START OF THE BREAK? “Yeah, it’s nice to move on. It was perfect timing and appreciate Team Penske allowing me to kind of work through all that stuff. It was nice to do the announcement and have two weeks to focus forward on Watkins Glen. We’ve got a great spot to start the race from and hope we capitalize on it.”
HAVE YOU HAD ANY CONVERSATIONS WITH RYAN AND CHRIS? “A little bit. We talked to Ryan about next year and some opportunities there, but from a competition standpoint I’m still racing those guys this year and I owe it to Team Penske to make sure that any of our trade secrets kind of stay in-house, so not a lot of detailed conversations.”
DOES INDY CHANGE BY BEING ON A ROAD COURSE? “I kind of go back and forth on that one. Some days yes, some days no. I still want to win it. I still want the trophy, but there’s something special about being on the oval track.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang — HOW HAS THIS SEASON BEEN WITH COVID PROTOCOLS AFTER HAVING GONE THROUGH 2020? “I think you had a lot of experience of what you were comfortable and not comfortable with after last year just because of the fact that we went through everything that we went through last year, so you kind of had an idea of what you like to do and what you didn’t like to do. I think this year you have to balance the new balance just because there are more people and different scenarios and kind of getting used to going back into all of that. It’s definitely back to a weekly challenge it seems with all of the new mask mandates and things that came this week.”
WHY DO YOU FEEL SO STRONGLY ABOUT WANTING TO RACE ONLY ON THE OVAL AT INDY? “For me, I grew up with a certain perception of how I wanted to race and I just believe that with the biggest racing series in the country that when you go to the Brickyard you race on the oval.”
LOUDON WAS A GOOD DAY FOR THE FORDS. DO YOU FEEL THE 750 PACKAGE IS COMING AROUND AND THERE’S REASON TO BE OPTIMISTIC WITH HOW MANY OF THOSE TRACKS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS? “I think that’s still yet to be determined. I think some of the faster cars all wrecked, so you’ve got to kind of judge yourself against all of them, but we definitely had some improvements for sure., but I don’t think we’re where we need to be yet.”
HOW HAS RODNEY BEEN THIS YEAR, TRYING TO GET THINGS GOING LIKE LAST YEAR AGAIN? “It’s really no different. Truly, it’s not been any different. You just go and you try to solve the problems and sometimes you’re solving problems and sometimes you’re saying, ‘Don’t screw it up,’ so it just depends on the year, but it’s really no different.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Go Bowling Ford Mustang — DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF IT’S THE OVAL OR ROAD COURSE AT INDY? “I think it does. I think it makes a difference. It’s still Indy. You’re still going to Indy. You’re still gonna cross that yard of bricks. It’s still gonna be very special, but it’s not the oval. It’s not the track that all of the legends raced on in Indy Car and NASCAR and everybody that showed up for the Brickyard 400. That has always been a crown jewel event and it still will be, but it’s definitely gonna be different being on the road course.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang — HOW DOES THE TRACK LOOK? “We got to see the track on Thursday. We were up there doing some promo stuff and got to see it in person and see some of the curbs. I think it’s gonna put on a good show. That one is definitely circled every year, no matter if it’s the road course or the oval, for RP and hopefully we can get it done for him. It would be nice.”
WHAT ABOUT THE CURBING AND THE WORK THEY HAVE DONE IN THAT AREA? “They added some curbs at Indy that weren’t there last year, some big curbs — bolt-in stuff — and they’re just trying to keep us off the grass. That’s the biggest thing is just not running through the grass. We had that issue at Daytona with the bus stop on the backstretch. People were running through the dirt and mud and you just can’t have that. Our cars can take it. You can dip your rights or lefts off into the mud and just kind of cut the track, so those will be interesting to see, but, at the end of the day, it’s the same for everybody and everyone has to deal with it.”
YOU’VE GOT THE SIMULATOR AS A TOOL, BUT WILL THESE CURBS BE KIND OF A CURVEBALL? “We have sim this week before the race and we’ll add those curbs just to try to get a feel for them, but you don’t really know until you get there, really — until you see them in person. You’re not gonna want to touch them. They’re so big you don’t want to touch them at all, so you’ll have to be careful and mindful of those and racing around cars or getting forced onto them and that kind of ending your race. We’ll get a good idea, but you won’t really know until practice next week.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Socios Ford Mustang — DOES IT FEEL GOOD TO BE BACK AT THE TRACK? “We stayed with the regular business through the break. We’ve had a good start to the year and been right there on the edge of the playoffs for most of the season. Obviously, with a couple more new winners we’re in a different situation now, so we’ve had to go to work pretty hard to try to make sure we can win a race here so we can get into the playoffs. Ultimately, that’s what it’s gonna be for us now. It’s pretty much a must-win situation.”
ARE MICHIGAN AND DAYTONA YOUR TWO BEST SHOTS FOR THAT WIN? “I think the Indianapolis road course is a good opportunity as well. We’ve run pretty good on road courses. Some of them have been pretty good this year. Road America wasn’t as strong as we thought it would be, but we’ve learned some things from that. Obviously, there have been a handful of cars that have been extremely fast at all the tracks this year, and at the road courses as well, so it’s a tough challenge.”
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW BRAD? “Pretty well, overall, through the Ford side of things. As we start looking forward to that we realize we also have a lot more work cut out for us this year, specifically these races before the playoffs. It’s neat to know what’s coming in 2022 and to have him coming over to Roush, but in the immediate future we’re in a high-stress situation. We’re trying to see if we can get through these next few races and win a race because ultimately that’s what we have to do, but I think that will be a pretty easy friendship to build up just from the small amount of interaction we’ve had through the years.”
WHAT’S THE STRESS LIKE HAVING TO WIN A RACE? “It doesn’t really change the in-race levels. I put the same amount of pressure on myself every week, so that’s not gonna be different. It’s the prep work leading up and working on trying to figure out how to be better this time around than we were last time, knowing that our opportunity is smaller. I look back at our season and it’s been a solid season, not as strong as we would like, but it’s been a solid season and we’ve made a lot of gains over last season. If it was any other year and we weren’t looking at so many different winners, we’d be in a great spot on the points side, but that’s not the case and therefore it’s put us in a lot tighter box than we really would have expected.”
DO YOU LIKE BEING THE UNDERDOG? “I don’t know if it’s been something that’s really helped us. I haven’t minded it through my career. I like being under the radar in a lot of different racetracks and a lot of different series, coming through a lot of different ways and had success at every step along the way. With our season right now and as many different winners as we’ve had, it’s just different. It’s just not something that anybody would have guessed, especially it started out and you get five or six or eight winners. You’re like, ‘Alright, that’s got to be it,’ and it just keeps going. It’s just put us in this situation where we’ve got to be one of those winners at this point if we’re gonna get into the playoffs.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Verizon 5GFord Mustang — IS INDIANAPOLIS JUST ANOTHER WEEK? “Why? Why does it make it just another week (laughing). Absolutely not. Roger is so passionate about that racetrack. We hear about it a lot. The improvements he’s made, I got to go up there last week and take a look at the facility and what they’ve been able to do over the last year. The place is beautiful. It’s a country club. It’s nice and we’re all gonna enjoy it, I know that. You’re gonna know it’s a Penske entity, for sure. When you see it, you’ll realize it pretty quick.”
HAVE YOU GONE TO AUSTIN OR SOMEONE FROM THE INDY CAR CAMP FOR ANY ADVICE ON THE ROAD COURSE? “Yeah, we already have. We have that in-house, we might as well talk to them. The Indy Cars are so different compared to what we do that sometimes it’s hard to even comprehend how far they can drive it down in the corner. The things they change it couldn’t be more different, but when it comes to Cindric and the Xfinity car, there’s a lot that can help there.”
WHAT ABOUT THE PRESTIGE OF THAT RACE? IF IT’S NOT ON THE OVAL, DOES IT MATTER? “It doesn’t matter, nope. I don’t believe so. It’s Indy. It’s a racetrack that everyone in the world wants to win at — not just our country. It is a world-class facility and everyone in the world wants to say they’ve won at Indy, whether it’s on the road course or on the oval, in a stock car or an Indy Car or a tricycle. You want to say you’ve won at Indy, so I think that’s all it takes for me. I’ll still kiss the bricks at the end of it. It doesn’t matter.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 CarParts.com Ford Mustang — IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN TERMS OF PRESTIGE FROM RUNNING THE OVAL AT THE BRICKYARD VERSUS THE ROAD COURSE? “I think the venue is prestigious. Yes, the difference between the Brickyard 400 and running the road course, I think, is different, but I’m excited about running the road course. Obviously, I’m biased, but it will be the first time I actually get an opportunity to drive on the road course. I haven’t run anything else there, so I’m looking forward to it and a couple weeks of turning left and right is good for us, so I’m optimistic about the next few weeks.”
