Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
South Point 400 Qualifying | Saturday, October 14, 2023
Ford Qualifying Results:
5th – Chris Buescher
9th – Joey Logano
12th – Ryan Blaney
13th – Aric Almirola
17th – Chase Briscoe
18th – Michael McDowell
19th – Austin Cindric
21st – Brad Keselowski
24th – Kevin Harvick
26th – JJ Yeley
29th – Todd Gillilland
32nd – Ryan Preece
33rd – Harrison Burton
34th – Brennan Poole
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Travel Centers of America Ford Mustang – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT STARTING FIFTH? “Pretty good. That was certainly strong for us. We were wide-open there, so as far as trying to figure out how to get a little bit more it’s gonna be tricky, but it’s a heck of a start for us. I’m proud to take TA to a good starting spot. I’m looking forward to a great race tomorrow as well.”
DID YOU SEE ANYTHING IN PRACTICE THAT BODES WELL FOR TOMORROW? “Our speed and driveability is great. We’re working on some of the longer run stuff, but we’ve got a great spot to start. On the not-so-great side, we’re looking at a couple of tire failures in practice and that certainly got our attention. What we can do at this point to prevent any of that we don’t know, but it’s a really strong start for us.”
YOU SAID EARLIER THAT YOU FEEL THESE TRACKS HAVE GOTTEN BETTER FOR YOU OF LATE. DID TODAY REINFORCE THAT? “This place has been a little hard on us, these mile-and-a-halves, but I haven’t felt like we’ve been that bad at them. We’ve certainly been better than we have been the last year, so I felt like we were capable of being much better for these things, but also didn’t always have the results. Some of that was out of our control, but I thought internally we felt like we were stronger at these things than what we got credit for and I think this is showing that right now.”
HOW DO YOU VIEW TOMORROW AS FAR AS TRYING TO RACE HARD BUT HAVE THE BIG PICTURE IN MIND AS WELL? “Just go race. There’s something that can happen every week and there’s always something on the line whether you realize it or not, but those points matter just as much when we were here the first time and things happen in a hurry. For us, it’s a great starting spot. Typically, you get up there and the racing is better, it’s cleaner, you actually feel like you’re in a better spot. For us, that’s a great place to start and gives us a lot of confidence going in that we’ll be in a place where we can go grab some good stage finishes, too. That’s obviously high on the list and go fight for a chance to win this thing.”
