Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Toyota Owners 400 | Sunday, March 31, 2024
Ford Performance Results:
2nd – Joey Logano
8th – Brad Keselowski
9th – Chris Buescher
11th – Josh Berry
12th – Noah Gragson
18th – Chase Briscoe
19th – Ryan Blaney
21st – Todd Gilliland
23rd – Austin Cindric
26th – Michael McDowell
28th – Ryan Preece
31st – Kaz Grala
32nd – Justin Haley
34th – Harrison Burton
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – ANYTHING MORE YOU COULD HAVE DONE TO CATCHT THE 11? “Not once he cleared the 19. I had a chance. I didn’t get a good enough restart. I really wanted to pressure them down into one and force them to work up Truex, but I spun my tires there just trying to stay with them and that ultimately cost me to be close enough to do something. I don’t know. It feels good to be towards the front again. We haven’t had a run like that in a while, but it also stings to be that close and not capitalize on the win. I guess I have mixed emotions. We had a really good car, a car that was capable of winning if we were in the front, but we didn’t execute everywhere else good enough to get there.”
WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM? “This is definitely the hardest start to a season we’ve had, but last week we started scratching and clawing and got a little bit of momentum through the last three races and ultimately get to here to where we were in the hunt again. It feels good. It’s Richmond. It’s a unique racetrack. It’s our best racetrack as a team, so we expect to run good here. I don’t know if this completely takes us out of the deep end, but I think ultimately it’s a good momentum-builder for sure.”
JOSH BERRY, No. 4 SunnyD Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was a solid night. We had a really good car and a really good practice. We didn’t qualify like we should have, but we were able to come up through there and get some track position back. It was just little things. We lost a little track position and got stuck in the back half of the top 10, but, all in all, it was a really good night. We have a lot to be proud of. It was a good points night and we’ll go to Martinsville.”
YOU WERE ESPECIALLY STRONG IN STAGE ONE ON THE WET WEATHER TIRES. HOW DID THAT FEEL? “It felt kind of normal, honestly. It was weird. I really had no expectations of how that was gonna be and just kind of drove. I think we just had a really strong car. Rodney had a good plan for that and the car took off really well and we were able to get a lot of track position really quick.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That was respectable. I don’t think we had the speed to win the race, but we had the speed to run in that eighth to 12th range and we kind of did that most of the night. We ended up executing at the end to get an eighth, so it was respectable. We took a little step backwards, but we’ll learn from it and be better.”
WHAT WAS YOUR TAKE ON THE WET WEATHER TIRES? “It wasn’t that bad. I wish we would have run a little bit longer. They threw the yellow around lap 30 or 35 and I was just starting to get it figured out.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Nexletol Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That’s certainly not what we were hoping for. I was really excited coming back here. We had a good day, but nothing terrific to write home about. We’ll definitely dive into it and try to figure out what changed and see where we might be able to get better for the next go round.”
WHAT ABOUT THE WET WEATHER TIRES? “It was less of a circus than I expected, but I’m not a real big fan.”
NOAH GRAGSON, No. 10 Superior Essex Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We were just a little too disconnected from the start of the race compared to yesterday in practice. I felt like we had a really good car, but just kind of lost it. I don’t know if going to the night time was the difference, but I’m super proud of these guys. We kind of just maintained all day. We started 17th and finished 12th and could just never get a good handle on the car, but nobody quit. We kept our heads in it and I’m just appreciative of the opportunity.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It wasn’t our best night by any means. I feel like this was by far our worst race of the season. I guess it’s somewhat encouraging that we were still able to run top 20 even though that’s not really the goal. We just struggled all weekend. We could never really get the balance how we wanted and could never get the front to turn and then we would just unhook the back, so it was just a frustrating weekend to just try and get it to do what we wanted it to do. Honestly, the weather I thought probably helped us a little bit. We were able to leap frog some guys there and then with green flag pit stops we didn’t have the best night on pit road. It was just an up and down night for us, so we definitely have a lot of work to do, which is a little head scratching with how good we’ve been in the past. We’ve always kind of been in the mix, so we just need to go back and try to do our homework and come back better.”
KAZ GRALA, No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We were fighting the handling the entire race. Once the green-flag pit stops start, it’s easy to get caught a lap or two down and it just kind of snowballs from there if you don’t make big progress. I think we learned a lot and hopefully we can find something that will work better for us before we come back in August.”
JUSTIN HALEY, No. 51 Walmart Health & Wellness Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Our No. 51 Walmart Health and Wellness Ford Mustang Dark Horse was really good during the day. We struggled under the lights getting the balance right and just couldn’t seem to find the right adjustments to get it closer to where it needed to be. Our pit strategy in the second stage got messed up with that caution so maybe it wouldn’t have been quite as bad, but it was still a tough race. We at least have something to work with when we come back and the sun’s out. ”
