Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 | Friday, March 3, 2023
Ford Finishing Results:
2nd – Zane Smith
3rd – Ben Rhodes
5th – Ty Majeski
11th – Matt Crafton
21st – Max Gutierrez
25th – Kaden Honeycutt
27th – Mason Massey
32nd – Hailie Deegan
35th – Josh Reaume
BEN RHODES, No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 (Finished 3rd) – “As we went on I just got too tight in almost every run. Part of that is on me. I wanted to make sure we were okay on restarts because of how crazy it is here. I think we all saw the entertainment value in that. We had some close calls but nevertheless this Kubota Tractor Corporation Ford F-150 is still in one piece and we are able to take it on to the next race. Third place is a good showing but I was wanting a little bit more. We had to finish out Stage 2 for points where a lot of guys like Kyle (Busch) and Zane (Smith) were short pitting. It helps them get the track position so we had a lot more work to do but we need the stage points. It is a long season and some guys don’t have to do that. We didn’t have that luxury of short pitting.”
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Speedco Ford F-150 (Finished 2nd) – “I was happy with our day. We had a really good Speedco Ford. I was happy with our Stage win. We got shuffled back there on one of those late race restarts and then just kind of let Kyle (Busch) get away. It is so hard to execute pit road when facing him. I am still happy with our day. Another good points day. We will carry this momentum and go on to the next one.”
TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Curb Records Ford F-150 (Finished 5th) – “I wish we could have gotten a caution there. I had a really fast truck. We had a pit road penalty that set us back at the end of Stage 2 and then it went green to the end. We drove from last all the way to fifth. I felt like we could have contended maybe for a win. It didn’t go our way tonight but overall a really fast Curb Records Ford F-150. Hats off to Joe and all the guys. We really took everything that we learned last year and applied it to here and the speed was there. I am excited for the rest of the season with this group. It is going to be a good one.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Slim Jim/Menards Ford F-150 (Finished 11th) – “Definitely not the night we wanted. After practice, we had a lot of positives in practice but then didn’t qualify very well. We never really had the speed in the truck that we had earlier in practice for whatever reason. We fought tight all night. We kept working on it and made a lot of wholesale changes but didn’t get where we needed it to go. This is a really weird race night. It basically became a speedway race, running around wide open every lap. As a race car driver, that is not very fun.”
