Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
4EVER 400 Qualifying | Saturday, October 21, 2023
Ford Qualifying Results:
4th – Brad Keselowski
10th – Ryan Blaney
15th – Michael McDowell
17th – Chris Buescher
21st – Chase Briscoe
22nd – Kevin Harvick
26th – Austin Cindric
28th – Harrison Burton
29th – Ryan Preece
30th – Aric Almirola
31st – JJ Yeley
32nd – Todd Gilliland
34th – Ryan Newman
36th – Joey Logano
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang — (Qualified 4th)
“It was really solid. Our Mustang has reasonable speed and I am happy for that. I felt like we executed a really good lap and it was a really good day. The car feels really good in race trim so I am excited about tomorrow.”
YOU SPENT QUITE A BIT OF TIME TRYING TO FIGURE OUT YOUR PIT STALL SELECTION, THERE IS A LOT THAT GOES INTO THAT ISN’T THERE? “There is a lot that goes into our sport as a whole that people don’t realize but that is part of the fun of it, trying to get all of the details right.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang — (Qualified 10th)
“It was an okay lap. I thought we learned some stuff in that first round of qualifying and I am happy we snuck into the second round. I think our race run car was really strong and I was really happy with it on the long run. It wasn’t a great effort there in the second round, but I am happy with the speed we have for the race, so that is good.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang – (Qualified 17th)
“We definitely made some really big gains from practice with our fire-off speed with our Fastenal Mustang so I am happy with that. Just missed the second round though with it. At the same time, we needed just a little more there. Maybe a half a tenth, if I am remembering correctly. It was big pickup for us there on those laps. Our long run speed was pretty good in practice, it just took us way too long to get to that point to get decent. We had to make some changes that I think we have already started tackling for the qualifying lap and beyond to get going a little quicker but still maintain pace as we get deep into this thing. Good work today. There were some rather large changes there to get us in the ballpark and we are there now. We just missed the second round by just a little bit.”
WERE YOU TIGHT? “Yeah, we were really tight in practice and ended up just a little too tight still in our qualifying lap. Yeah, in practice we were plowing tight but really trying to get that long run in to see where it went so I didn’t want to come down and waste much time getting adjustments. Wanted to get 20-plus laps in on a run because we felt that was important to see. Our long run speed stayed decent because of that but we have to be able to get some more turn.”
