Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series at Texas Motor Speedway
Autotrader EchoPark 400 | Sunday, April 14, 2024
UNOFFICIAL FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd – Brad Keselowski
6th – Chase Briscoe
11th – Joey Logano
12th – Ryan Preece
15th – Chris Buescher
18th – Noah Gragson
24th – Justin Haley
25th – Austin Cindric
27th – Kaz Grala
28th – Harrison Burton
31st – Todd Gilliland
33rd – Ryan Blaney
35th – Michael McDowell
36th – Josh Berry
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Finished 2nd)
“I am not sure we finished third. I gotta see the replay from NASCAR on that first before I am going to concede that. We didn’t have a ton of speed. Honestly, I am more frustrated than anything because I feel like we have a great team and we don’t have the speed to go with it. We are doing all we can do to overcome that. The driver in me is frustrated because I feel like these are races I am good enough to win but don’t have the speed enough to do it. The owner in me is mad as hell because it is my fault for not making the cars faster. I am still proud of the team that we have with the pit stops and strategy and execution to put ourselves in position to get a finish we probably didn’t deserve but earned with some never-give-up spirit. It was a good job of executing with what we had. It is frustrating. You can still get good finishes by running good smart days, executing on pit road, and having great strategy and I am proud of our team for doing that today.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Finished 6th)
“That was frustrating. Our Mustang was really good. Obviously, we were able to finish fifth in both stages, and we had done everything perfectly up until the point of the wreck. We were going to be the leader. The 23 was on way older tires, and I knew if I was beside him going into three, I was going to come out the leader. We both ran into one so hard and let the 21 put us three wide. He was probably more worried about me, and honestly, it screwed both of us because we both wrecked. We kind of got lucky at the end when we went back to the back and caught a really lucky caution. Our Rush Truck Centers Ford was really good today. Way better than sixth place. I feel like I keep saying it is frustrating because we are way better than that speed wise but overall it was a really solid day and really solid points day. I feel like our win is right around the corner. We just have to clean up a little bit of stuff.”
IF THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN, DO YOU THINK YOU HAD A RACE-WINNING CAR? “It is hard to say because of that caution in the middle of that green flag cycle that changed a lot. We could have pitted earlier. Certainly, we would have been the leader there for a while up until the green flag pit stops, and then who knows what you do then. There are just so many variables with these races. We passed a lot of cars. I feel like we passed more than anybody else, so that is a good thing.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Finished 12th)
“I wish the cautions had worked out differently. Once we had the 8 and 22 behind us, it was a struggle not to keep getting put three-wide. Having as old tires as we did, it was trying to protect all you can. When I restarted on the outside that time, it was too much. We just needed a little bit more grip, and track position would have helped.”
JOSH BERRY, No. 4 Miner Docks Doors And Moore Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Accident on Lap 136)
“The first time I felt like we got stacked on the bottom a little bit and when the 47 moved down, either he barely clipped me or just the air off his car. It was super close. Honestly I think we made a little bit of contact and it just got me loose and out of control. The second time I was just out there riding around and I was just out there loose and trying to hang on to it and wrecked again.”
ANYTHING YOU WERE ABLE TO TAKE FROM THE FIRST 100 LAPS? “We were going to run fine. We were almost in the top 10. I felt like the car was pretty good. Rodney made good calls there on the strategy to keep tires on it and all that but we wrecked.”
ANYTHING YOU CAN COMPARE THIS TO? IT LOOKED SO TREACHEROUS: “No, I mean the track is just so slick outside the groove. The track is going to continue to get better like we saw the first stage we couldn’t move off the bottom and then as it started to take rubber it is definitely getting better. It is just so far behind when we start. The cars are edgy here anyway. It is a super hard tire and we are kinda edgy all the time anyway in the NextGen and this place just emphasizes that.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s/Fleedguard Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Accident on Lap 143)
WHAT HAPPENED? “I just got in those bumps, and the car got loose and took off. Track position was really important today, and I had the opportunity to take the lead and take control of the race. I just didn’t make it stick. It’s unfortunate, but we had a really fast car today.”
YOUR TEAM WAS ARGUING LIKE YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN BROUGHT BACK TO PIT ROAD. DID YOU HEAR THAT? “I was trying to get back to Pit Road. I was trying to straighten or backup or do whatever I could, and we wanted to be able to work on it and see if we could fix it. At the end of it, they told me to get out. I am not sure we could have fixed it, but it is all part of it.
“It is super disappointing but at the same time you have to go for it. We had a car fast enough to run up front, and you have to take the chance. It didn’t stick. I am bummed out, but I would be bummed out if I didn’t try.”
A COUPLE OF GUYS HAVE WRECKED ON THE BUMPS. ARE THE BUMPS GOOD FOR CHARACTER OR DOES SOMETHING NEED TO BE DONE? “That is a lot of character. I am not mad at the track. It is my fault that I spun, not the tracks fault. But for our cars as low as we run them, we should probably think about grinding that a little bit.”
