Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
UNOH 200 | Thursday, September 14, 2023
Ford Finishing Results:
7th – Ben Rhodes
15th – Conner Jones
16th – Matt Crafton
17th – Hailie Deegan
19th – Ty Majeski
24th – Zane Smith
34th – Stephen Mallozzi
33rd – Memphis Villarreal
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Speedco/Delo Ford F-150 – “It’s really a cool racetrack, but a terrible race. It’s just wherever you are is where you are. They said I was pitted outside my box by a little bit and I had to start at the tail end. I mean, we definitely had a rough night. You saw it, wherever you were gonna restart is where you’re gonna run. My truck was terrible in the second stage, but I had clean air. You just can’t pass. It just sucks.”
HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE NEXT TWO? “I’m not trying to be a negative Nellie, but it’s just an odd round for the final four. This is exactly how I raced last year and then Talladega to get in the final four is a little odd, so who know on that one. We’ve obviously won on superspeedways with FRM, but it’s anyone’s battle, and then I feel like the only real place that’s a true tell is Homestead, so hopefully we’ll run well there.”
IS THIS A SHORT TRACK PACKAGE PROBLEM BEING STUCK WHERE YOU ARE? “No. I don’t know. I mean, you just can’t move around and the PJ1 is so dominant. Like I said, you saw how dominant it was. I had 100 laps on tires and almost won the stage somehow. It just is what it is.”
BEN RHODES, No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 – “A good finish, but we didn’t run where we needed to all night long to maintain our points coming out of here, so that’s a little bit disappointing. That comes from a bad qualifying effort and then ultimately just getting run over by Rajah and the 4 tonight. It doesn’t seem like if they mess up a corner and you get down they just run you over. I don’t know what that’s all about, but us racing the playoffs I think everybody in the playoffs is on edge, so I don’t think many of us will take that much longer.”
TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 – “It just was not our night. We were in a bad position with a lapped truck. He was kind of going and making decent time on the bottom and the 11 pinned me and I just didn’t anticipate how much he was going to lift going in the corner. I got in the brake hard and had to in order to prevent from hitting him and got into the 11. That cut my right-front down and this track is honestly just really terrible. With the PJ1 on the bottom it’s so dominant. I mean, I’m three or four tenths faster than the guys in the back and you just can’t go anywhere. In my opinion, it’s a terrible product on such a great racetrack. I just wish we could pass and move around. You like to have options as a driver and I feel like the way this track is it doesn’t give us options.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THESE NEXT TWO RACES IN THE ROUND? “We won Homestead last year. Talladega, anybody can win there, so I don’t know. I’m not a huge fan of the plate races, but at the end of the day we have a chance to win there. If we repeat at Homestead again, we’re in the final four, so a lot to look forward to. We have a lot of good things going on within our race team, so we’ll keep our heads down and keep digging.”
