Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Verizon 200 at The Brickyard Media Availability | Saturday, August 12, 2023
Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 Purdue University Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, spoke with members of the media this morning about becoming a father, having a hometown sponsor and more ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
RYAN PREECE, No. 41 Purdue University Ford Mustang – YOU HAVE A SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME FOR THIS RACE, AND IT’S BEEN A BIG WEEK FOR YOU IN BECOMING A FATHER. TELL US ABOUT YOUR WEEK. “Obviously, becoming a father was awesome. Doing that with my wife, having my first daughter, it’s truly amazing. Going on the Purdue University motorsports program: Growing up a kid that spent a lot of time with race cars, working on race cars and really learning about them, it has created an opportunity for young kids that have always been intrigued by auto racing or motorsports. A fun little fact that I found out: 32 of 33 cars in the Indy 500 this year had Purdue graduates. That was really neat, and it’s a great way to create an opportunity for kids that don’t necessarily have family ties or some avenues to get into motorsports. So, it’s a great way to get started. Obviously, they have a really great program.”
CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH MONDAY MORNING WHEN YOU RECEIVED THE CALL FROM YOUR WIFE? “One thing that I am really lucky for is that my wife is very supportive of my racing. She raced herself. So, going into this journey, we hired a doula in case of the worst case scenario if I wasn’t home. But I got a call Monday morning at 2 a.m. – which I learned about a month ago to have my phone on ring just in case of a moment like that. She called me, and she was scared. Our doula came, brought her to the hospital. Unfortunately, I don’t have a private plane or anything like that. We didn’t anticipate having the baby that week. We actually had a c-section schedule for a week from then, so we really didn’t even think that it was something that could happen – not that it couldn’t happen, that was really planned to happen. But as our daughter kind of proved to us, is that she’s going to run the show. I was able to FaceTime my wife, and be present without actually being there. But definitely… really, really… thankful and happy that we have a healthy daughter. It’s awesome being a father.”
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF QUALIFYING, AND HOW IMPORTANT IS PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING? “Practice for a lot of us: I didn’t necessarily grow up road racing, so it’s really important. I was fortunate enough to have raced here back in 2021, so I have some laps. But, track position is always a topic, right? There were some things that we did with the Ford Performance sim to be able to prepare. But for a driver, it’s getting out there and doing it – the visuals and a lot of the braking marks that you tend to get. I mean when you think about it, how many laps are we really going to do in practice? I think nine, 10 laps maybe? Which kind of reminds me of the SRX race when we got five laps. The only difference was that I’ve raced Stafford all my life. I haven’t raced the Indy road course or anything like this. So, it’s going to be extremely important to get everything we have into this race car and qualify really well.”
HOW DOES THE BIRTH OF YOUR DAUGHTER THIS WEEK PUT RACING INTO PERSPECTIVE? “I need to provide. I need to do a very good job, so I can give my daughter every opportunity that she’s ever wanted. So, it’s driven me even more than ever. I’m a pretty determined person.”
WHEN YOU HAVE BACK-TO-BACK ROAD COURSE WEEKENDS, HOW MUCH INFORMATION DO YOU TAKE FROM ONE TRACK TO THE NEXT? “Indy road course and Watkins Glen… it seems to me like going to a short track versus an intermediate track. Watkins Glen is very high-speed and it kind of flows, whereas here, it reminds me somewhat of COTA where it’s a lot of transitions and making your car change direction really quickly – stop and go. So from the short track style of racing that I’ve done – the heavy braking and a lot of those things – I’m comfortable with. But there are certainly things that I can do better as a race car driver to be a better road racer – when it comes to the downshifting and all those things that really, growing up racing at the short track level, what I did is different. There’s definitely a lot of training that a driver can do to continue to grow from a road racing perspective. We saw it at Chicago with Jenson (Button) in the Cup series – SVG (Shane van Gisbergen) and those guys. They grew up and lived it. There is just a lot of preparation to do for a road race.”
THERE ARE SIX DRIVERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. COMPETING THIS WEEKEND. FROM A DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE, WHAT’S IT LIKE TO SEE ALL THESE RACERS FROM DIFFERENT DRIVING DISCIPLINES? “Exactly – disciplines. That’s something that I’ve always appreciated. Even from the North America side when I watch dirt racing or asphalt racing, road racing… you see guys from V8 Supercars, Formula 1 and all these different etiquettes and you see the different styles. I’m somebody who appreciates that.”
YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND TIME WITH GRAHAM RAHAL. HOW EXCITED WERE YOU TO SEE HIM WIN POLE FOR THIS WEEKEND’S INDYCAR RACE? “That was awesome. You can see the emotion he had. He said it: The pole was like a win for them, especially for some of the struggles they’ve been going through over the past few years. That’s what defines racers, defines people – hard work and being relentless. I’m pretty much going to say that I’m his lucky charm even though I haven’t been very lucky this year. But, certainly, really excited for Graham Rahal and their team, United Rentals and all our partners. Even going down on pit road and seeing the process – how their practices go and qualifying. It was an awesome opportunity to be able to be down there. Because usually, if I’m here. I’m walking around and I don’t really know anybody. So, I’m just walking down pit road. You don’t really experience it. You kind of see it, but my vantage point as a driver, I really didn’t get to experience it. Whereas yesterday, I did. I got to wear the headset and see how their intercom system works and how they run their practices. It’s just so different. It was really fascinating and a really great experience.”
Jenson Button, driver of the No. 15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, spoke with members of the media about his anticipations for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
JENSON BUTTON, No. 15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang – WHAT HAS THIS WEEK BEEN LIKE FOR YOU IN PREPARATION FOR INDIANAPOLIS? “Great. It’s a privilege to be here at the Indianapolis track. I’ve been here a few times before – in F1 actually, back in 2000. It was my first race when I was racing for Williams as a 20-year-old, and I think I qualified sixth. I had a great race, in these conditions actually – mixed conditions. I’ve really enjoyed coming here. The only problem with that race is the bricks at the start-finish line. They actually turned my car off that year. So, didn’t have a positive impact, but I’m excited to come back and hopefully have a better result than the one I had in F1. Good to be back. This is a great venue, and I love the idea of having so many different categories racing in one weekend. I think other series can really learn from this, having IndyCar racing today and the Cup series on Sunday. I think it works really well as a weekend package for the fans. I think it’s great. I’m looking forward to watching the IndyCar race. Obviously, more importantly, looking forward to getting out on-track with the Cup car.”
WHAT WAS THE CONVERSATION WITH KEELAN HARVICK LIKE? YOU SEEMED TO CALM HIM. “He’s a very grown-up 11-year-old. He obviously loves his racing. It’s funny when you look back, because I think he struggles to maybe listen to his dad. His dad has got so much information to give. He’s raced for years – decades in the sport. But when you’re that close to someone, sometimes it doesn’t work. It’s like you shouldn’t teach your kids how to drive on the road because you’re just going to cause arguments. So I think it’s a little bit close, and that’s why it causes some disruption. I basically just said, ‘Trust me. Your dad is the person that knows best. I remember learning from my dad as a young kid, and you’ll regret it if you don’t take his information on-board. At least listen to his comments.’ It was a really nice time with him. He has a long career ahead of him – lots of ups, lots of downs. It was actually pretty emotional as well, talking about his father being supportive and my father was always very supportive through my career. He’s the reason why I’m sitting here now. He’s got good times in-front of him. I have kids as well, so I think that also made it a little bit emotional for me, talking to him about his career and where he wants to go.”
HOW DO YOU LOOK AT QUALIFYING AND PRACTICE TODAY? “I’m in Group A once again. You guys have a very unusual qualifying system, where the quickest lap-time is where you end up on the grid, and you have two groups. Whereas, it should be A on one side of the grid and B on the other side. I think I said this in Chicago as well. It makes it very difficult when the circuit’s like this, because if the circuit is drying through qualifying, and you’re Group A, and you do a great job when you qualify sixth – you’re basically going to end up 13th on the grid if the circuit’s improving. It just means you need to get it done in qualifying. You have to be top-five, so you go into the shootout. These conditions are tricky because they’re always changing, which makes it fun for me. I like these kinds of conditions. I’m pretty good at adapting in cars that I know. I think I’ve come to grips with the Cup car now, so I have no excuses. I’m really looking forward to this. It’s nice to see that it’s a bit brighter out there, and I just can’t wait to get out on-track. It’s been many years since I’ve driven here. It’s also very different from when I last drove here. So yeah, I need to get some laps in. We only have 20 minutes. It’s not a lot.”
YOU MENTIONED YOU LIKE THESE PACKAGE RACES. WHAT CAN OTHER SERIES ADOPT FROM THIS EVENT FORMAT? “The fans just get more bang for their buck, I guess. Watching two great series, then you also have the feeder series, the junior series, IndyCar Next and obviously the Xfinity series. It’s a lot of racing over the course of a weekend, and it’s good to see. I’d love to see other categories doing the same thing. Seeing a NASCAR race on an F1 weekend for example. I think it brings in a different fanbase, and why not? I think the weekends need to be busier. Race weekends need to be busier for the fans. There is quite a lot of down time – always. It’s really cool. It’s a great idea.”
WHAT ARE THE MAJOR DIFFERENCES YOU SEE WITH THIS ROAD COURSE, COMPARED TO THE ONE FORMULA 1 COMPETED ON UNTIL 2007? “So after Turn 4, you have that little chicane onto the back straight. We had a sharp right turn and then a sharp left turn, and then a sharp right turn. It’s opened it up a little bit, and it’s a little bit faster there. But then at the end of the lap where we had the banking, and when we had issues with the banking, they added the two corners. I kind of wish they kept that banking in the corner for NASCAR and for IndyCar, because I think it would be more of a spectacle, I guess. It gives us another overtaking opportunity into the third to last corner. They just changed the dynamics and idea around the circuit. But it looks like a good circuit to race on. I watched the Cup race last year, and there was quite a bit of overtaking. Turn 1 is obviously very difficult – heavy braking. There are a couple of places around this track where you can line someone up from three corners back and make the move. So, I think it’s a good racetrack.”
WHEN JUAN PABLO MONTOYA JOINED NASCAR FROM FORMULA 1, HE LIKED THE ASPECT OF GETTING OUT THERE AND JUST RACING. HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED THAT “COOL” ASPECT OF JUST RACING? “I still think there are politics in NASCAR. But, for me, there isn’t. For me, it’s get out there and go racing. I need to send a massive ‘thank you’ to Mobil 1 for giving me this opportunity to do three races in Cup this year. I never expected that. It’s been very enjoyable. I hope this race is better than the last two. Qualifying went well in Chicago, but we had a messy race. But yeah, looking forward to it. Since I left F1, I’ve had loads of fun things. This is definitely up there for the most fun I’ve had in a race car.”
KEVIN HARVICK MENTIONED AT RICHMOND HOW KEELAN HAD TO LEARN HOW TO DO RESTARTS AGAINST EUROPEANS WHO WERE FURTHER AHEAD . DO YOU NOTICE A DIFFERENCE IN LAUNCHING ON RESTARTS BETWEEN RACERS FROM EUROPE TO THOSE IN THE U.S.? “In NASCAR, it’s very different. In NASCAR, I feel that it’s so competitive on restarts. They are way more ‘on it’ than any racing series that I’ve raced in. But in karting, racing in Italy is the best place to race. I know Keelan’s done some racing there. I think it was a bit of a shock initially, but he became very competitive there. It’s the best place to be, and it’s the best place to learn racecraft. You’re also racing against the best guys in the world, because everybody ends up going to Italy to race karts. But when you get higher up in categories, the Cup series for me, from the first lap to the last lap, they are on it – every single lap. There is no rest. You cannot breathe in a race in the Cup series. It’s impressive. It really is. I was shocked when I did my first race in Austin.”
WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOU NEED TO IMPROVE THE MOST HEADING INTO YOUR THIRD NASCAR CUP SERIES START? “I think in terms of one-lap pace, I can pretty much get the best out of the car. I think that’s something I can do. The race is just a different situation, you know? The pit-stops are just very different to what I’m used to. I’ve got better at them, but still. You lose a half of a second in the pits and it’s a couple of places. It’s very, very competitive. These guys do pit-stops every weekend – quite a few times, getting used to not having a speed limiter. So that’s the big thing. Probably the only thing in qualifying that I can improve is one-lap pace. Getting out, and getting the tires working for lap one. I know that Shane, even though he won the race in Chicago, that’s something he found difficult as well. The Cup guys are just so go at getting the tires working immediately and trusting in the car. Whereas, it takes us a little bit longer to trust in what a tire can do. Sometimes, you don’t have that time to wait for a lap to run the tires, because they’ve dropped off already. That’s the only area where I need to improve for this weekend.”
DO YOU HEEL-TOE OR HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT BASED ON SHANE VAN GISBERGEN’S SUCCESS? “I would put his success down to his heel and toeing. I think he’s an immense talent, but also, street circuits are his thing. He races on a street circuit every other week basically. I think that’s just his strength. It was new to everyone, and he’s very quickly learning that type of circuit. So, no. Heel and toeing is an art. When you look at kids growing up now, they’re never going to learn that, because all cars these days normally have a paddle shift on the steering wheel. You use the clutch to maybe pull away, and that’s it. It’s an art that I think everyone should learn. The problem is, for me, is that I haven’t heel-and-toed since 1999. Nothing I race uses heel and toe apart from when I raced Goodwood in the classic cars. So for me to go and jump right to brake, it would feel very strange. I just don’t have the power in that leg to hit the pedal as hard as you need to.”
