Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Go Bowling at The Glen | Sunday, August 20, 2023
Ford Finishing Results:
7th – Chris Buescher
9th – Ryan Blaney
10th – Joey Logano
11th – Todd Gilliland
15th – Brad Keselowski
16th – Austin Cindric
17th – Ryan Preece
21st – Kevin Harvick
25th – Andy Lally
28th – Cole Custer
30th – Aric Almirola
33rd – Harrison Burton
35th – Chase Briscoe
36th – Michael McDowell
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang – “I knew we had the speed in our Fastenal Mustang, and I’m proud of everybody for what they did today. It was certainly a better car than we had last year – did it more on speed than strategy. I’m proud of that. It wasn’t a race-winning day, but it was certainly good, strong and competitive in a lot of different areas. We have a couple things to look at and to focus on so we can be a little bit better. If we can get a few things figured out, then we can be real contenders to win here next year.”
DID THE LONG GREEN FLAG RUNS HELP OR HURT YOUR PERFORMANCE? “The first one, we got stuck behind a slower car for a while. We lost a ton of ground, trying to be as clean as possible. But, we eventually had to go. Once we got ahead, got some clean air, we ran down cars that were way ahead of us – ran down a significant amount of lap time. We had good speed. It just took us a little while to get that clean air to be able to make a run at those top-fives.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang – “Overall, not a bad day. We didn’t qualify very well – at all. We kind of had our work cut out for us, but Jonathan [Hassler] did a really good job of getting us better all day – from practice to qualifying, and into today. We passed some guys in the beginning, did a couple good pit calls there under green and then had a good caution fall our way there. We made our stop and it cycled us ahead of some guys, and then we had the speed for ninth. Overall, I’m proud of the effort from practice to the race. That’s what it is. Trying to work it through and get better. It was a hard day’s work, and I’m proud of the effort.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang – “We executed a better race this time, which is nicer than last week, which is good. It just wasn’t really good, in general. I wasn’t fast. We did a good job as a team – just slow. That’s the bottom line. We have to go faster.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang – WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS OF OFFICIALLY CLINCHING A SPOT IN THE PLAYOFFS? “We’re really excited. A good weekend for us here at Watkins Glen – to get both RFK cars into the NASCAR Playoffs starting here in two weeks. There is a lot of momentum building. I’m happy for everyone at RFK and happy for everyone on the No. 6 car with our Build Subs Ford Mustang. We’re in a great spot with the best yet to come. We have really strong momentum, and we can’t take that for granted. But, we’re showing a lot of speed and clicking when it counts.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang – WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS OF OFFICIALLY CLINCHING A SPOT IN THE PLAYOFFS? “I wish we could have won a race before now. We’ve had our opportunities to win a few. We struggled on the road courses but other than that, it’s been okay. We just need to get our cars running better to really do anything.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang – YOU HAD A FAST FORD MUSTANG, WINNING THE FIRST STAGE, BUT YOU EXPERIENCED SOME ISSUES THROUGHOUT THE RACE. “Just the highs and lows of motorsports coming off of last weekend. But, I’m still really proud of my guys. This Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang was really fast. Had that penalty early, and we were still able to drive back through the field. Really proud of this team we have. Just wasn’t our day – a couple of pit road penalties, and the engine just shut off there. Not sure if it was the engine or electrical. But, I just came out of the carousel and it shut off.”
