Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series — Verizon 200 at the Brickyard
Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Sunday, August 16, 2021
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd – Ryan Blaney
5th – Matt DiBenedetto
9th – Austin Cindric
10th – Ryan Newman
12th – Chris Buescher
14th – Kevin Harvick
18th – Josh Bilicki
19th – Aric Almirola
24th – Brad Keselowski
25th – Cole Custer
26th – Chase Briscoe
28th – Garrett Smithley
30th – Michael McDowell
34th – Joey Logano
38th – Anthony Alfredo
39th – Andy Lally
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Knauf Ford Mustang — FINISHED 2nd
“Our car looks better than most. That was a wild race, especially towards the end. I feel like we could have run 10th-12th all day and that is where we were. We just kind of got a couple good restarts and dodged some mess and we had a good shot to try to win the race. I just couldn’t put together a good enough lap and a half to get to A (Allmendinger) to try to pass. We survived all day and did a good job. The whole team did a good job sticking in there. The race got pretty crazy at the end. We almost made it a perfect weekend for Penske Racing, just missed it by one spot.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang — FINISHED 26th
“There at the restart, everybody is trying to out-brake each other getting into one and we all kind of missed it to a certain extent. I was getting ran wide and had nowhere else to go. I knew I was going to go through the grass. It was just a matter of do you go through it slow or gas it wide-open and hope you get through it. I don’t know if there would have been a penalty if I had gone through it slow but that was my only chance to win the race at that point. I went for that and stayed on him tight and knew the16 was right behind me. He was on newer tires. A lot of guys were getting lazy through that turn and would just swing it out wide and leave the bottom wide open. So I was kind of all over him (Hamlin) in the esses and when I went to go underneath him I just clipped him in the right rear. He was already trying to get back to the left so it just turned him right around. It is unfortunate for them. They were probably going to win the race if the 16 didn’t get to him. For us we got a penalty and I don’t even know where we finished. It is frustrating to be that close. You can taste it and imagine what it would be like and then it gets taken away. I have a lot to be proud of. I feel like I showed that I belong here and I will get another chance next year.”
YOU AND DENNY HAD A CONVERSATION, DO YOU FEEL LIKE HE UNDERSTANDS YOUR SIDE OF THINGS? “I don’t know. At first, I didn’t know if I was getting anywhere. Once I explained to him that I didn’t even know I had a penalty until I got to Turn 10. If I knew I had a penalty, there was no need for me to even try to pass him for the win. If I would have known that earlier, I would have done my stop and go and went on. As I understood it, at that moment in time I could still win the race and I was going for it and got into him accidentally. I think at the end he kind of started to understand. He has been there when you are trying to get your first win and especially in our playoff situation, you have to do what you have to do. That is what I get paid to do and that is what I was trying to do.”
HOW ABOUT THE EMOTIONS OF BEING POISED FOR POSSIBLE VICTORY DURING THOSE RED FLAG STOPS? “We had a lot of time to sit there and think about it with all those reds and everything else. I kept running things through my head. I felt like my best opportunity was to be that second row inside. When you are on the outside of one, everybody drives in there and misses it and you just get driven off the race track. I knew it was going to be hard for me to win the race from the front row. I knew if I could maintain somewhat beside him I would have the advantage through two but it didn’t work out that way. The emotions are tough when you sit there and feelo like you can get the win. Early in the race it felt like we were the car to beat and then we swung the other way and were down in the dumps and then at the end you have a shot again. It is unfortunate but we still have two races left to try to do it.”
MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang — FINISHED 5th
“There is nothing left of the car, I tell you that. We have no rad pan, no fenders, pretty much nothing left on the car. The toe was knocked out a mile and we finished fifth. All this credit goes to crew chief Jonathan Hassler for knowing the strategy and the spot we were in and throwing a hail mary and running all the way until we were about out of fuel and knowing that if any caution came out we could stay out and get all the track position. This is all him. All I had to do was kind of hang on until the end, hang onto the position. Obviously, our car was missing some pieces on it so I just had to hang on for whatever we could get.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 33 MoneyLion Ford Mustang — FINISHED 9th
“It is unfortunate. I felt like there were a lot of high expectations coming into today. Maybe not from my end, I just wanted to get to the end, which we did, just with a lot of damage and a lot of adversity. Then we got dumped by the 1 car at the worst time in the race. Right around the pit cycle and we lost 20 seconds. We came back from whatever it was, 26th to finish ninth. I probably could have gotten a few more spots but we stayed out of trouble on the restarts. We had a lot of close calls where I was in the middle of the pack. A lot of people I was racing around had to drop out of the race. It was a crazy day for our MoneyLion Ford Mustang. I am happy to end my Cup season with a top-10, it is what these guys deserve.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — (Involved in accident on lap 78)
YOU ARE SEEING THE REPLAY NOW. ARE YOU OKAY? “Yeah, I am okay. Thank God those tire packs were there. The hit wasn’t that hard at all. The tires absorbed a lot of it. I don’t believe in luck but that time I feel like it was just bad luck. Wrong place at the wrong time and unfortunately it ended our day. We had a decent run coming to us and maybe a top-five finish for our Shell Pennzoil Mustang and the next thing I knew I was airborne and headed to the wall. I had a lot of time to think about it. I was just along for the ride as a passenger knowing what the end result was going to be. All the fans were cheering right there. They were happy to see me get out which was good do see. It will be an exciting finish to watch on TV I guess.”
THEY HAVE DRAGGED AWAY THE CURB. IF THEY DIDN’T PUT ANYTHING ELSE THERE AND YOU WERE TOLD TO STAY LEFT OF THE BIG CURB, HOW WOULD YOU ATTACK IT? “You better stay left of the big curb because that one is a launchpad for sure. We are wide open through that kink anyway and you can kind of just shoot right through it. Maybe just a single file. Maybe we don’t need it. I don’t know. We will have to go back and look at it and see. It is unfortunate that a lot of cars got tore up.”
