Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Enjoy Illinois 300 | Friday, June 3, 2022
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Ford Mustang and Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Ford Mustang, both for Team Penske, finished 1st and 2nd in the opening Cup Series practice session at World Wide Technology Raceway Friday afternoon. Blaney and Logano met with media following the practice.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT BEING BACK OUT THERE ON THIS TRACK? “I’ve missed it. This is a fun race track. It was already fun out there and memories are coming back from 2008, although they repaved it and the track is a fair amount smoother than it used to be. Turn 1 and 2 is one of the best corners in our sport. You can move around and try different things and you are shifting. It is fun to be able to get off the gas pedal and on the brake and manage both pedals again. I have enjoyed that. 3 and 4 is a part of the track where you really gotta push yourself and hustle it. It makes for a pretty fun track to go around by yourself. We will see what the race is like. It seems like 1 and 2 are already taking rubber and cars are moving up the race track already.”
I ASSUME YOU ARE SHIFTING. ANY ISSUES? “Yeah, we are shifting. I felt like a trucker with as many gears as I grabbed.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT 50-MINUTES OF PRACTICE GIVES YOU? DID YOU LEARN A LOT IN THAT TIME? “Yeah, it is a lot more fun because you have items you can actually try and change and try to make your car better. You can throw tires on it and get clean reads and actually improve your car and feel confident about what you changed. So that is fun.”
ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THIS TRACK NOW? “Yeah, as comfortable as you can be without racing yet but I feel pretty comfortable, yeah.”
ANY CHARACTERISTICS OF OTHER TRACKS? “Probably Phoenix. I think Phoenix is probably the closest comparison you can make with 3 and 4 to 1 and 2 at Phoenix. There are also some differences. YOu have a flat long corner at Phoenix and a banked corner in Phoenix even though the shape is a triangle and this is a true oval. The way the corners are laid out there are some similarities there. You are definitely slowing down a lot more in 1 and 2 here than you do at 3 and 4 in Phoenix.”
ARE WE MAKING TOO MUCH OF THE SHIFTING HERE? “I think it is just unique and different. To hear third gear on an oval is probably surprising to most. It was surprising to me when I first heard it but it is what it is. We are going to shift and that is okay. I think it is fun. It adds something to it. Are we talking about it too much? I don’t know. Whatever. It is probably the unique story until the race starts and then you will have a new story to talk about.”
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Enjoy Illinois 300 | Friday, June 3, 2022
Page 5
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang — HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR PRACTICE SESSION? “I thought practice went fairly decent. We got a lot of laps in and I thought our Mustang was fairly good. It is a neat place. I raced here a long time ago but passing is going to be very rare on Sunday. That is the best way I can put it. If you get behind somebody you are stuck and can’t go anywhere. Hopefully the track widens out. Hopefully they do something about that. I figured they would have done something before we came here. I thought our practice was decent but it puts a bigger emphasis on qualifying up front tomorrow and then trying to stay up front.”
DO YOU THINK IT IS TOO NARROW TO PUT ON A GOOD SHOW SUNDAY? “The racing groove is just too narrow, yeah. These cars, it is going to be the same thing as Martinsville, a bigger Martinsville. I felt like in practice what traffic was like and they definitely need to do something. This racing groove is narrow. I would have thought they would add some resin or something. Who knows. Maybe we will be able to move around. Hopefully the trucks will. That is all you can do, hope.”
HOW MUCH DID YOUR TRUCK EXPERIENCE HERE HELP YOU TODAY? “It took me a little bit to kind of remember the place. That was eight years ago and it feels like a long time ago. I did have some things I remembered about it but it took me a handful of laps to get up to speed. I do think it helped a little bit. I think it helps the guys who have been here recently. Harrison Burton was really fast right out of the gate and he was here just a couple of years ago. Some of those guys that have been here recently I think it helps them out but I think it did help me a little. I am just trying to dig back into the memory bank of what it was like.”
DO YOU THINK IT WILL PLAY A FACTOR IN THE RACE ON SUNDAY, AN ADVANTAGE TO GUYS THAT HAVE BEEN HERE RECENTLY? “I don’t think so. Everyone learns so quickly and get up to speed so fast. Even if you have never been here I think you will learn it really quickly. I don’t know if it will be big. It might have helped in practice to get them going and getting up to speed fast. Everyone gets used to it after 50 minutes.”
