Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona 500 | Monday, February 19, 2024
UNOFFICIAL FORD FINISHING RESULTS
9th – Noah Gragson
10th – Chase Briscoe
18th – Chris Buescher
20th – David Ragan
22nd – Austin Cindric
23rd – Ryan Preece
24th – Josh Berry
26th – Justin Haley
30th – Ryan Blaney
32nd – Joey Logano
33rd – Brad Keselowski
35th – Todd Gilliland
36th – Michael McDowell
38th – Kaz Grala
39th – Harrison Burton
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DID YOU SEE THAT ROSS DIDN’T? “Me getting wrecked. He didn’t see that. It’s just a really unfortunate end. We had a shot to win the Daytona 500. We were really in great position with the outside lane breaking up and kind of one-on-one with the 24 with the whole pack behind, so you can’t really ask for anything else other than that out of myself and the team. It just sucks a little bit.”
YOU SAID YOU GOT WRECKED. DID YOU FEEL THERE WAS ANYTHING UNFAIR OR IS IT JUST THE NATURE OF RACING ON THE LAST LAP? “I guess. Corey finished fourth, so congrats. He tried to fit a car where there wasn’t a car and just continued to push through my left-rear until I wrecked. I understand trying to shuck me out or put up an opportunity because I was in probably the best spot possible coming to the white, but I’m in the care center and I don’t even know where I finished, so it really sucks but that’s racing.”
YOU DIDN’T HAVE ANY OTHER FORDS TO HELP WITH SO MANY GETTING TAKEN OUT IN THE PREVIOUS WRECK. DID THAT HURT? “Once you get that few laps left in the race it’s gridlock, so you’re pretty much doing your best to push. I mean, my job the whole rest of that race was to push the 24 as best as I could until I could get clear and we got to that point once the outside lane broke apart and had a great opportunity. I don’t know. Yeah, if I had maybe a teammate. Honestly, there are probably 39 other cars that probably would have taken care of that situation maybe a little better, but obviously not.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Speedway racing again. It’s a lot of fun until this happens. It was pretty interesting with a lot of pushing and shoving there at the end. Our car was able to take it. Our Mustang was so fast. It could lead a line really well. I kind of thought I had the cars I wanted around me. I had at least one I wanted around me, but just couldn’t make it work.”
YOU LED THE MOST LAPS AND THEN IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE IN POSITION UNTIL THE WRECK. “Yep. That’s very much how speedway racing is – boom and bang and crash and all that. It’s part of it. You’re pushing and shoving there at the end. We had the cars that could take it and were doing really well. I had Blaney behind me. I thought, ‘Man, if I could pick one, that’s the one I want. I’m in a great position here’ and just had to find the right opportunity to slip the 1 again because the 6 wasn’t working with us, so I felt if I could keep the 12 with me I’m gonna be in a decent spot, but it just didn’t work out. The car was so fast. The car was the fastest car on the track. I could lead a line. Whenever we weren’t saving fuel she was a rocket ship. It’s just how this game works. The wreck always starts in the front and you hope you’re in front of it. Second place isn’t far enough ahead.”
WITH 10 TO GO DO YOU EXPECT IT TO BE LIKE THAT? “The pushes are stupid the whole time. The whole thing – everybody just gets more and more intense. You know it’s gonna happen. Anyone can see it happening. You just know it. It happens every year. With 10 to go there’s gonna be a caution. You just hope you’re not in it and you can’t ride around. You can’t just sit there and not race because you’ll be too far back and won’t win that way. You just have to be one of the lucky guys right now like the 24, the 48, the 2, the 9 that are still alive to do it. It’s usually the people that start the wreck that stay alive. That’s the frustrating part.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Peak Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DID YOU SEE? “You’re kind of always watching when you’re in there and especially if you’re on top you can kind of watch and see how well their pushes are and it just looked like the 48 kind of got the 24 out of shape and just happened to get the 6 in the right-rear and unfortunately we were in the top lane. It’s an early end to our night, but we were up there in it and just wasn’t our weekend.”
YOU WERE HOLDING YOUR HAND. YOU OK? “Yeah, the wheel got ripped. I usually get my hands off the wheel, but I didn’t think I needed to and then it caught something and spun it weird, but it just tweaked it a little bit. It’s all good.”
WHAT HAPPENED? “I saw a replay and I kind of saw the 48 and 24 shoving hard and it looks like the 48 got out of shape and then the 24 was trying to find him and then by that time he got turned into Brad and then we were just a byproduct of being in the top lane. I couldn’t see a ton, but replay showed just hard pushing and it is what it is.”
YOU GRABBED YOUR WRIST. YOU OK? “It bent it pretty weird. I had my initial wreck and then my wheel grabbed something. I usually let go of the wheel, but I didn’t think I needed to and it just tweaked it a little bit. It’s all good.”
DO YOU ALMOST EXPECT SOMEONE TO GET TURNED GETTING PUSHED WITH 10 LAPS TO GO? “Yeah. I mean, there’s 10 to go in the 500. I didn’t think the 24’s push, from the replay I saw, it didn’t look bad. It looked like he just kind of got squirrely and then when he tried to get back to him he was kind of on the quarter, like a weird side of his bumper, but I can’t believe we didn’t wreck before that. I thought we were all going to because we were all shoving hard and stuff like that. It stinks, but I’m not as bad compared to the other night, so that’s good.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAPPENED? “I don’t know. I got hit in the back, so I couldn’t really tell you. It’s a shame. I was kind of making a move for the lead with eight laps to go in the Daytona 500 and I’m here talking to you. It’s just one of those deals. We were mixed up in the middle of the soup most of the race. We executed really well in the final stage and put ourselves in position, but that’s just the way Daytona goes.”
IT LOOKED LIKE YOU GOT HOOKED FROM BEHIND. “Yeah, that’s kind of what the replay shows. I don’t exactly know what happened, but it’s unfortunate. We were making the pass for the lead with just eight laps to go and now I’m here talking to you guys. It’s not exactly where I want to be, no offense, but that’s just part of how this deal goes sometimes.”
THE 48 LOOKED LIKE HE WAS PUSHING THE 24. WAS IT OVERAGGRESSIVE? “You guys saw more than I saw. I saw the 1 car and I was making a move on him and I couldn’t tell what happened from there.”
WERE YOU TRYING TO BACK UP TO JOEY TO TRY AND CONTROL THE END OF THE RACE? “Joey, Ryan and I, I thought we were in a good position, but things happen.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We had a fast Fastenal Ford Mustang and I am excited about that heading into next week. That is about where my excitement ends on the day. The crash, that sucks, there is no way around that. That definitely ruined our ultimate result. It was a really strange race. One of the most frustrating races I have been a part of in a long time. Tons of fuel saving and it was all about the pit stop, one pit stop for every stage and then some massive blocks by single cars that weren’t up to speed. It is a lot different than the last go around. I didn’t have as much fan as I hoped to but we will be good for next weekend.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Anytime you can finish this race in one piece is nice. It was hard to get track position. It seemed like wherever you kind of fell in after two or three laps of green flag pit stops you just kind of ran there the whole time. That was a weird race. It seems like everytime we run these superspeedways it turns into more and more of a fuel mileage race. I thought we would be okay there at the end and we had to start 12th or 13th on the restart and it was hard to do anything. We were all kind of bottled up. Coming out of here with an eighth place finish and missing the wrecks and not being in a huge points whole is nice. We have to play the same game next week at Atlanta and hopefully we can do it again but a couple of spots better.”
JOSH BERRY, No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I feel like I learned a lot and raced well. There were a couple moves I wish I could have back maybe here or there but overall I was pretty happy we could work toward the front and maintain it. I thought the car was really good I just hate we got turned on pit road. That got us behind. We were able to get in the Lucky Dog position but it just didn’t work out there at the end. Overall it was a good night to learn I just hate we didn’t get the finish we deserved.”
NOAH GRAGSON, No. 10 Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We came down there at the end. We led some laps early but we came down there at the end to fix some damage right before the final restart. We didn’t have a whole lot of area to go but I guess it is better than being wrecked. Overall we will take a top-10. We kind of got pinned on the bottom and didn’t have a lot of room to go and then the race ended. I feel so good being the wheel. This whole Stewart Haas team did a great job, especially getting the backup car going.”
JUSTIN HALEY, No. 51 Treetop Apple Juice/Jacob Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Our No. 51 team did great working through the adversity that comes with a race at Daytona. It was good to get up front and work with our Ford teammates; that was something I was really looking forward to and it was nice to be able to show early on that we’re capable of being there. We’ve got some things to clean up on pit road, but that’s expected with a new team. I feel good about what we did overall.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I have no clue as far as the wreck. I just got hit in the side and then hit everyone else with the nose and just got stuck down there with a flat tire. My gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse was really good out here. I think we really showed some good speed with all the Fords qualifying in the front row and then my Front Row team really brought me a good car personally. It’s really disappointing. I feel like we honestly could have had a shot with how fast my car was, but that’s how these races go sometimes. You just have to keep putting yourself in position and eventually it will all work out.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I don’t remember exactly who it was on my outside. It just looked like they either got a bad push or got loose and just hit me in the right side and sent me across. The grass was so wet that once I got in the grass I thought I’d be OK, but the car just kept going and going, so really sad that our day is over as quick as it was. We had a really fast DEX Imaging/Motorcraft Ford Mustang. It’s just a bummer. There’s nothing we can do but just move on and try to win next week.”
HAVE YOU SEEN A REPLAY? “I haven’t seen it yet. I felt contact on the right side. I don’t know exactly, I guess it was a Legacy car. I don’t know. It’s frustrating. Once I got in the grass I couldn’t slow down because it was so wet and I just slid and slid and slid and came across the rest of the field. It’s just a bummer. I don’t know what to say or to do different. I don’t even thing I got wide open at that point. I was just saving fuel and that’s it. That’s the nature of these beasts. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do but just move on and try to win next week.”
IS IT EARLY TO BE ON THE CHIP? “I didn’t see what they were doing. I assume they were just pushing coming right off turn four. I’ve seen that movie before off of two and that doesn’t normally go well, so I don’t mind top of three-wide. We should be good enough to do that, but I guess just the pushing end and the placement of the pushing was not ideal, obviously.”
WAS FUEL SAVING STACKING THINGS UP? “Fuel saving definitely stacks up a little bit and the leaders fuel saving puts that third lane into play. I’m OK. The hit was probably harder than it should have been just coming back across the field like that. It’s a pretty helpless feeling, but I’m OK. I felt fine. All good. I’m just over wrecking early that’s for sure.”
KAZ GRALA, No. 36 Ruedebusch Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I’m not sure. Two cars wrecked it looked like through the tri-oval grass and just rolled right back up into traffic and, unfortunately, there was nowhere that we could go. It’s pretty disappointing to end our day that early. It feels like we didn’t get a chance to race at all today. I’m disappointed that we’ll have to wait another year to go again in the Daytona 500 and that’s hoping I get an opportunity.”
DID YOU SEE HIM COMING UP? “I saw them in the grass, so you’re always thinking that they might come up and hoping they don’t, but at that time we were three-wide in the pack. You’ve got cars on all sides of you, behind you, in front of you, so you’re just filing through and hoping you don’t draw the unlucky straw where they come up in front of you and they did.”
COULD YOU SENSE THE ENERGY CHANGING A LAP BEFORE IT HAPPENED? “Yeah, I mean for sure. As soon as you get three-wide you know that everybody is pushing, but I figured that these guys wouldn’t want to wreck this early. I don’t know. Maybe somebody did.”
