Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Coca-Cola 600 | Monday, May 29, 2023
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Ryan Blaney
8th – Chris Buescher
10th – Zane Smith
11th – Kevin Harvick
13th – Ryan Preece
16th – JJ Yeley
18th – Harrison Burton
19th – Brad Keselowski
20th – Chase Briscoe
21st – Joey Logano
25th – Aric Almirola
28th – Michael McDowell
31st – Austin Cindric
33rd – Todd Gilliland
RYAN BLANEY AND MUSTANG WIN COCA-COLA 600
- Ryan Blaney won his first race of the season and eighth of his career today.
- The victory snaps a 59-race winless stretch for Blaney, whose last win came at Daytona on Aug. 28, 2021.
- This marks the first time Roger Penske has won the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same season.
- Blaney won Stage 3 and led the most laps in today’s race.
- Today’s win is Ford’s 722nd all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
- Of Team Penske’s 91 NCS wins with Ford, 64 have come since rejoining Ford in 2013.
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 BodyArmor Cherry Lime Ford Mustang – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW
HOW ARE YOU FEELING? “It’s just so cool. What a weekend with Newgarden and Roger winning at Indy and us winning the 600, I mean that’s just so cool. That kind of snaps our winless streak right there and that’s even better. I’m just really thankful to everybody who stuck around with us. It’s huge to have BodyArmor on the car. It’s such a cool car and looking forward to celebrate with these guys and I’m just really proud of the car and the effort that we had and was able to hang on.”
YOU WEREN’T SURE WHAT YOU HAD WITH YOUR CAR. HOW CONFIDENT WERE YOU AS THE RACE WENT ON? “We just kept working on it all night and I think the track took a change. I didn’t feel great at the end of Stage 3. I was kind of getting pressured by a couple guys and we had to work on our car, and it was getting cooler outside. We just did a great job. Jonathan did a great job of working on it all night and getting it close enough at the end to where we could really take advantage of restarts, and then once we got the lead was able to stretch it out.”
HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE WITH YOUR GUYS? “I don’t know. I’m looking forward to seeing those guys. Only time will tell. We’ll see.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang – YOU WON A STAGE, SO YOUR THOUGHTS ON TONIGHT’S EFFORT? “It was a really strong day. Our Fastenal Mustang was really good. We got hit on pit road and definitely took a decent amount out of us, so I’m upset about that, but at the end of the day it was a good recovery. We kept digging back and it’s cool to have this camo paint scheme up front for a lot of the day, but I want to do more.”
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Boot Barn Ford Mustang – “I am so happy, as happy as could be, really. I was worried when we didn’t take tires there and were running really good and had a really good day. It just worked out, so just a great job by this whole 38 Boot Barn FRM team. We got our Mustang better and better every single stop and that’s so cool. We run on half the budget, if that, than a lot of these guys, so to finish top 10 in our sixth start at the Coke 600 is really cool.”
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? “It’s been a rough three weeks for me. The Cup Series is a different level and obviously I’m trying to prove I belong here and it’s just an outstanding run. Ryan does an outstanding job and it’s so cool to finish this race, but better yet with a top 10.”
THIS MUST HAVE BEEN THE LONGEST RACE YOU’VE RUN? “Yeah, no doubt. I got to about halfway and I had heard that story coming into this of how long this race feels and I did a lot of preparation for the past month of just trying to prepare myself for this one. I feel like I could go another 100 more, so I did a good job there. I’m just so proud of everyone at FRM and on this 38 car. It’s an outstanding job, I thought.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang – “You’re patient for 550 miles, why be patient for the last 40? I probably could have helped myself there by not drifting up the racetrack and knowing my own strength and weaknesses. It’s just unfortunate to get so close to the end of this race and not being able to finish it last year and the same with this year. I felt we had a lot of positives from today – some really good pit stops. We had good speed at times, but just having to put the whole race together as a team. I definitely made some mistakes today and unfortunate not to be able to finish it off.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – WHAT HAPPENED WITH BUBBA WALLACE? “It was early in the race and I felt like he ran me all over the racetrack and then when he got by me he shot me the bird, so I just went by and asked him why you shot me the bird. I felt like I gave him a lot of room and a lot of respect and he started mouthing off and saying a lot of bad things and cussing at me after he shot me the bird, so I just wasn’t gonna take that.”
IS IT SQUASHED AT THIS POINT? “I think it’s squashed. I got my point across. I let him know it’s not acceptable. He’s not gonna cuss at me and shoot me the bird. It was a good night, honestly, for our Smithfield Ford Mustang. It’s Memorial Day and such an honor and privilege to race on Memorial Day. We were running 10th there with twenty-something to go and got caught up in that restart wreck in the middle of one and two and got a lot of heavy damage the really killed the race car after that. I hate we didn’t get out of here with a top 10. I felt we certainly had a top 10 race car, got loose on a restart early and hit the right-rear toe link, we fixed it, got two laps down, got all of our laps back and drove from the back to the top 10. I’m really proud of the effort and the fight, not the result, but we certainly fought hard. We’ll go get ready for Gateway. That was a really good racetrack for us last year.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang – “What a night. We battled all night long. Some of those cautions just did not work in our favor at all, but we had a good car and just needed track position and clean air. We made strong adjustments throughout the night and my crew was on it. I think we had a top-10 car. We’ll take 13th after a day like that and it’s definitely the momentum our team needed. Those top 10s and top fives are coming and I’m looking forward to St. Louis.”
