Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Kansas Lottery 200 | Friday, September 8, 2023
Ford Finishing Results:
5th – Zane Smith
18th – Ty Majeski
25th – Ben Rhodes
28th – Chase Janes
30th – Hailie Deegan
33rd – Matt Crafton
35th – Mason Maggio
36th – Spencer Davis
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 RTA rtatel.com Ford F-150 – HOW NERVE-RACKING WAS THAT FINAL RESTART? “It was a crazy one. I felt like we were in a really good position. I thought the No. 19 was coming with the push there, and he did as I would have. Had the run – three-wide, you get such a massive run when you’re behind two trucks like that. He just got me in a good spot , where he was able to run up the track… and just nowhere [to go]. Fortunately, I didn’t wreck. I shot at it, and I thought we were going to get it. But still, all-in-all, a good day. I felt like our truck was pretty strong. Just not quite fast enough.”
HOW DO YOU ASSESS GOING INTO THE ROUND OF 8 WITH ANOTHER TOP-FIVE PERFORMANCE? “To be honest, I forgot about points there. I was just going for the win. Happy our whole team at FRM and all our partners advance to the Round of 8. It’s a wild round as we know with Bristol, Talladega and Homestead. So, I feel like we’re in a good spot playoff position wise. So, we’ll try to carry some of this momentum into this next round.”
BEN RHODES, No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 – “We had some instability in general and as you noticed with the truck all night long, and I’m not quite sure what happened that got us into the wall. But, we ended up having a tire issue, and I have to do some research on that. But, lucky to be into the next round. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, I guess. But, thankful for all our supporters. We let them down a little bit tonight, but we’re going to rebound and be back stronger for the next round.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Flex Seal/Menards Ford F-150 – “It just started on the second lap of practice, when they did a half-assed job cleaning the racetrack off of Turn 2. Got in a hurry, and a bunch of people went through there and blew tires – we were one of them. At the end of the day, you have to thank the clean-up crew that didn’t do their job in Turn 4, and then that got us behind. So, we had to bring out a back-up truck. As the driver, I busted my butt trying to make something happen. Trying to get up there and get as many points as we could. That part’s on me – 100 percent on me. The practice still had nothing to do with any of us here. It was just a pathetic job of cleaning up.”
