Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
South Point 400 | Sunday, October 15, 2023
UNOFFICIAL FINISHING ORDER
Ford Finishing Results:
4th – Brad Keselowski
6th – Ryan Blaney
11th – Chris Buescher
12th – Joey Logano
14th – Aric Almirola
16th – Kevin Harvick
17th – Michael McDowell
20th – Harrison Burton
23rd – Austin Cindric
26th – Ryan Preece
27th – Todd Gilliland
29th – JJ Yeley
30th – Brennan Poole
33rd – Chase Briscoe
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang – “We just executed really well on pit road, with strategy and on restarts. We executed really well, but I feel like we needed a touch more speed and a few breaks to go our way to be able to win. Kyle was just a little faster. If we were in front of him, I think we might have been able to hold him off, but he was just really fast.”
WHAT MORE DID YOU NEED TODAY? “We just weren’t as fast as the 5 and the 20 and then the 8 there at the end. It was a really solid day. We executed on pit road really well and executed the restarts really well. That’s all we had.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Travel Centers of America Ford Mustang – “We got shuffled back a little bit in some dirty air and it was a struggle back there for a little bit. We got back going and needed some longer runs and green flag cycles to sort it out and we didn’t get it that way. We were able to make some decent work out of it and get a pretty decent finish out of the day.”
WHAT CAN YOU TAKE AWAY FROM BRAD’S DAY? “There will be plenty to dive into and study, but we’re a pretty open book so we’ve got a lot of info going back and forth between the groups all the time. We’ll figure out how to be better for next week.”
A TRACK POSITION RACE TODAY. WAS THAT THE STRUGGLE? “Yeah, that was it. It’s hard to get them back. The pit box was super slick today and that really made it difficult. We lost a lot of spots and trying to get them back was just tough on the day. We’ve got our work cut out for us now.”
IT’S THE FIRST RACE OF THE ROUND, SO IT’S NOT A WORST-CASE SCENARIO. “A worst-case scenario would have been in the garage 38th with a handful of the others that made big mistakes, so it’s not that. It just wasn’t good enough compared to the guys we’re gonna be racing, so it was a great day in a lot of ways, but just not good enough.”
TRACK POSITION WAS BIG. “We had a fast race car and happy to have TA on board. We had a restart there today in the middle and lost track position and it was hard to get it back. It got a little strung out there at the end and was able to start picking them off one by one. I guess you could say we ran out of time. It was a decent day. It’s good to be upset with 11th, I guess, but we just needed to outrun a lot of cars that we didn’t and that’s going to make the next two weeks that much more difficult.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Tarkett Ford Mustang – “We ran pretty good today, but it is what it is. We just have to keep running good and having good days and just keep running up front. Hopefully, you find yourself up front and can contend for a win.”
ARE GOOD DAYS AT HOMESTEAD AND MARTINSVILLE IN THE WORKS? “I hope so. Those are two decent tracks for us, so we just have go forward and have a good day.”
YOU BATTLED RIGHT TO THE END AND GAINED A SPOT OR TWO, WHICH COULD BE BIG AFTER MARTINSVILLE. “I thought we could have maybe run third. That was probably the best we were gonna get to, but lost some ground there on the last stop and ran out of laps to get it back. Overall, it wasn’t a bad effort. You’re trying to get every point that you can because all of them matter.”
YOU GOT EIGHT STAGE POINTS TODAY. THAT OBVIOUSLY HELPS. “I wish we would have got more stage points. The second stage was funky there of guys doing two, on scuffs, and just didn’t really get a good restart and didn’t get a ton of stage points. I wish I got more. It sucks being even further out of the cutoff after I put together a decent day, but we just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”
HOW WAS YOUR DAY? “It was a pretty decent day. We ran in the top five to eight all day. We had a great long run car, but it took us a lot to get going. Overall, not a bad day. We executed really well, just not quite enough. We have to keep trying to have days like that and find ourselves toward the front and then hopefully contend for wins.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 IHOP Ford Mustang – “It was a solid day for us. I’m happy with the effort. We ran top 15 all day. We honestly ran eighth to 15th all day. I know that’s not great, but, honestly, for where we’re at in our program, that’s a solid day for us. I’m proud of Drew and all the guys on the team. They’re working hard and keep on trying to find speed in our race cars. We’ll take that, learn from it and hopefully be better at Homestead.”
