Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Grant Park 220 | Sunday, July 2, 2023
Ford Finishing Results:
6th – Austin Cindric
7th – Michael McDowell
8th – Joey Logano
10th – Chris Buescher
12th – Aric Almirola
15th – Ryan Preece
19th – Todd Gilliland
20th – Chase Briscoe
21st – Jenson Button
24th – Brad Keselowski
26th – Andy Lally
29th – Kevin Harvick
30th – Harrison Burton
33rd – Ryan Blaney
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – CONSIDERING WHERE YOU STARTED THE DAY, IT SEEMED TO WORK OUT. “The entire 2 team started the day with very wet shoes and socks. I know everyone was kind of in that same boat, but these guys have been working their tails off since I hit the same wall twice yesterday. I’m just really proud of the team, not just the effort. I mean, Jeremy made a great strategy call and had great forethought with what was gonna happen with the weather and the timing and everything. We kept it off the wall and was able to have some speed at the end of the race to really contend inside of the top 10 and really earn a good finish. I’m just proud of everybody on this Discount Tire Ford Mustang. It’s not what I want. I want to win, but we’ve had a really tough stretch and this is a good step in the right direction.”
WHAT ABOUT HOW THIS EVENT PLAYED OUT AND THE ADVERSITY EVERYONE HAD TO OVERCOME? “I really hope we come back. The city of Chicago, everything that NASCAR has done to do this for the first time, I give it an A-plus by both parties. I think we all really enjoyed it and I think that we know it would have been bigger without the weather and with the concerts. I was watching the whole race and people started coming back. By the end of the race, we had people lining fences on both sides every corner, so it’s cool to see. We have a lot of momentum in the sport, but I hope we come back.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Chicago Pneumatic Compressors – WHAT WERE YOUR OVERALL IMPRESSIONS OF RACING THIS TYPE OF COURSE? “Yeah, it was a wild race – starting in a decent amount of rain and then drying out. Even when it was dry though, there were wet spots which is pretty crazy. Unfortunately, with the race being shortened, our strategy wasn’t for that, right? So, we ended up restarting like 18th there. Happy to pass a lot of cars to get back there, but we just didn’t quite have enough to get to the front.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE RACES LIKE THIS ON THE SCHEDULE? “Yeah, I like it. I think that the weekend was such a great opportunity to put on a really good show, and hopefully we did. You know, I hate it for all the fans – missing all the concerts and all the extra activities. But, glad we got the race in. We all fought hard there.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang – WHAT WERE YOUR OVERALL IMPRESSIONS OF THE WEEKEND? “It was hard to race. I mean, there were some passes made. It’s not probably any harder than any other track that we go to. Overall, I’d say this was a success. I’d say more cautions than normal on a road course because of the walls, but hey, we got it in today. That was good.”
DO YOU THINK MOST DRIVERS WHO HADN’T EXPERIENCED THIS STYLE OF RACING CAME TO GRIPS QUICKLY TO IT? “Somewhat. It took longer than normal. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE RACES LIKE THIS ON THE SCHEDULE? “It’s not up to me. I thought as far as an event, for NASCAR, I think it was a total success from that standpoint. I think the racing was probably pretty decent, too. I don’t even get to see a part of the race – I was inside the car. It was probably a better race than I think.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – “What an awesome event. It’s almost dark out and the city’s lit up. Amazing event. My hat is off to NASCAR, the city of Chicago, everybody who thought about putting on this event. What an amazing event. I’m glad to have a good run, too – the start of the turnaround of our season, hopefully. It was pretty dicey there in the wet. I’m not going to lie. I was tiptoeing around just trying to not crash, trying to survive, and I’m so glad that it finally dried out and we got slicks on and got those rain tires off. I was way more competitive in those conditions. Just super proud of Drew and everybody on this Smithfield Ford Mustang team. We’re grinding. We’re fighting and hopefully this is the turn we need to go get us a win here in the next few races.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang – THAT WAS A WILD RACE. TAKE US THROUGH YOUR DAY. “It was pretty smooth for us in our Fastenal Mustang. I’m proud. We made some good changes after practice and had a fast race car there. We strategized to go to 100 laps and that call kind of mid-strategy really got us. I felt like then just trying to figure out all the cars getting spots back. I don’t understand. It felt like a lot of things didn’t make sense to me today, but the course was pretty decent. At the end of the day it was pretty decent. It put on some decent racing at certain times and in different spots. I think we had a better car than where we finished, I know we did, but we just got caught up in the way the race played out. I can’t believe we raced today, either. Congratulations to van Gisbergen. That’s pretty impressive to come to your first race and run that well and win the thing. He was really good yesterday, so that’s pretty impressive. Congrats to them. I’m proud of our team. That’s another top 10, but that should have been a better day and I don’t feel like we got any way to show it.”
YOU’VE HAD SPEED ALL YEAR. DOES THIS GIVE YOU MOMENTUM? “It certainly does. Our whole team has come so far in the last 18 months. We had some mulligans early last season and we’ve been rolling really well since. We’ve had a really strong year with lots of really good races for us. We’re working on the points part of it and working on working our way into the playoffs that way, but really just want to get a win. We’re in the hunt. We need a little bit more to be consistently hunting for that win, but these top 10s are stacking up and I’m really proud of our group for that and all the work that continues to go into it. I want a checkered flag.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang – WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE RACING TODAY ON THIS STYLE OF COURSE? “Truthfully, for a street course, I think it raced better than I thought it would. There are definitely parts that can be improved like widening the track and other certain things. But, all things considered, it surprised me compared to what I thought it was going to be. I thought there were a ton of fans here, and I thought the event was cool. I would have loved for the weather to cooperate, so we could have seen what this event could’ve really turned into. Because, there were still so many people out there for how bad the weather was. Hopefully, we can do it again, do a couple things better, and put on an even better race.”
DO YOU LIKE THE LEVEL OF VARIABILITY NASCAR HAS INCORPORATED INTO ITS SCHEDULE? “Yeah, I think so. We’re definitely the most diverse series there is with the amount of different things we run on. I do think that it opens up the playing field for guys to come in, and you don’t see the same guy winning week-in and week-out because it is so different week-in and week-out. I don’t know if we need more than one or two of them, but it was encouraging and really cool.”
JENSON BUTTON, No. 15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang – HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP THIS RACE? “I was enjoying it until I got turned around on the way into the pits. It was a real shame. I think we pitted at the right time. We went from wets to dries. It was a tricky choice. I couldn’t see out of the wind screen it was so dirty, but I think it was the right choice. When we got turned around we lost 15 place plus, so that made it very difficult, but it was fun out there. I had some good fights. I got overtaken by some, but I overtook a lot more, so it was enjoyable. There’s definitely a bit of work for us all to do to challenge the Toyotas especially.”
THE NEXT ONE IS THE INDY ROAD COURSE FOR YOU. THOUGHTS? “I feel that this one was more positive because it’s like a shorter track. I think it’s gonna be tricky in Indianapolis. I’m a little bit worried, but I’ll look forward to it and do the best that I can.”
