Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ally 400 | Sunday, June 25, 2023
Ford Finishing Results:
11th – Brad Keselowski
16th – Ryan Preece
18th – Chris Buescher
19th – Joey Logano
21st – Harrison Burton
24th – Kevin Harvick
25th – Aric Almirola
27th – Austin Cindric
28th – Michael McDowell
29th – JJ Yeley
31st – Chase Briscoe
33rd – Brennan Poole
35th – Todd Gilliland
36th – Ryan Blaney
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang (Finished 11th) – WHAT WERE THE POSITIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM TONIGHT? “Pit road, we were so strong. We got better all night. I got better all night. The car got better all night. I was frustrated with the restarts there, but all-in-all, we got the best we could out of it.”
HOW DO YOU STRATEGIZE MOVING FORWARD FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON, AND DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM TONIGHT THAT ADDS PERSPECTIVE? “There’s always something to learn. I’d like to find more speed. Just felt like I was driving over my head. Guys would miss corners, and I’d hit a perfect lap and just keep up. Then they’d finally hit the groove and drive away from me. It’s just frustrating as hell. We’re not bad. We just need more speed. We have the pit crew to do this, and I needed to do a little better on the restarts, for sure. I got ran over a couple times. But, we’re dabbling with it and need a little bit more.”
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE RESTART? “Yeah, the guys behind me had so much power that they ran me over. I got a great launch, and there they go. I just got run over. Got hit so hard, it literally knocked it out of gear. They were just that much faster. It’s frustrating, but we got work to do.”
RYAN BLANEY MADE CONTACT WITH THE INSIDE WALL AT THE ENTRANCE INTO TURN ONE, AND IT WAS NOT A SAFER BARRIER. THERE HAVE BEEN IMPROVEMENTS THROUGH THE YEARS, BUT DO YOU THINK THERE’S MORE WORK TO BE DONE? “I hope he was okay – that’s the most important thing. Sounds like more work to do there, too.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 41 Morton Buildings Ford Mustang (Finished 16th) – “Today was tough for our team but that was a great rally at the end. I battled a loose race car all day long and then I lacked forward drive. We were fast but we just needed to make so many adjustments to get it in the right spot and then we’d lose time on pit road. Our car really came to life at the end of the race and the last two adjustments my guys made were spot on. We salvaged a really decent finish for the day we could have had so I’m happy about that. We’ll keep building on it and head to Chicago where who knows what will happen.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang (Finished 18th) – “We struggled a little bit today, and we chased a few things – a few gremlins – and couldn’t quite get on-top of them. So, I guess we’ll definitely learn something from it. We have some work to do. I thought we were in a better place, so I’m a little bummed with our result.”
