Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Goodyear 400 | Sunday, May 12, 2024
BRAD KESELOWSKI TAKES FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE TO VICTORY LANE FOR FIRST TIME
- Brad Keselowski won the first race for the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse with today’s victory.
- It also marked Keselowski’s first win as owner/driver with RFK Racing and snapped a 110-race winless streak.
- The win is the 36th of Keselowski’s Cup Series career and 27th with Ford.
- This marks the first win for the No. 6 Ford since David Ragan won at Daytona on July 2, 2011.
- Today’s win is Ford’s 729th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
- The win is the 142nd NASCAR Cup Series triumph for car owner Jack Roush and the fifth under the Roush Fenway Keselowski banner.
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: WELCOME BACK TO VICTORY LANE. “It’s just so great to be here in Darlington. I love this track. I love coming here. It’s a special place to me whether you win or not, but to run up front all day and have a great car, qualify up front, it was just an awesome day for Castrol. I’m glad for Ford. Ford has been working really hard to get us up here and here we are. We got them a win, so they don’t have to hear about that anymore. I’m happy for Ford. Hopefully, there are more great things to come. It was a total team effort from the top to the bottom to get us to where we could have a fast car. We executed on pit road, led laps and were there when it counted at the end.”
CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE LAST 30 LAPS OR SO WITH ALL THE RACING THAT HAPPENED? “We were all just racing our guts out. I mean, there was nothing left on the table for any of us. I got underneath Tyler. We were kind of switching back and forth and I felt like he was probably holding me down. He probably felt like he was being pushed up. Chris got by both of us, but Chris’ car was falling off too much. He couldn’t drive away and we were just right there with him and it looked like the 45 tried to do a slide job and it just didn’t quite work and both of them had some kind of an issue. We were able to scoot back by them. A hell of a day. I don’t know if you could have asked for me. We thought Kansas was exciting. I think this was more exciting.”
WHAT ABOUT RFK AND YOUR JOURNEY TO GET HERE. “I thought Chris was gonna win it there when he got by me. I was like, ‘Dog gone it. Here’s another one that Chris got,’ but he did a hell of a job there. It’s good for us as a company, good for us as a team. It locks us into the playoffs. Just and incredible day for us here in Darlington.”
YOU ENDED THE BLUE OVAL DROUGHT. FORD FANS CAN SLEEP EASY TONIGHT. “It hasn’t been the month or two that the Ford guys have wanted, but it’s over now and they can’t hear about it now. Good for Ford. Good for everybody on this race team. We had a pretty fast car today. We just held them honest all day and ran up front and had great pit stops, good strategy and then just a dogfight at the end on the restarts. It had to be thrilling. I feel like I could hear the fans cheering in the car, but what a race. If you missed it, I’m sorry you missed a golden race. It was a hell of a day.”
WHAT ABOUT THAT DOGFIGHT WITH TYLER REDDICK AND WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND WITH BUESCHER PASSED YOU BOTH? “I was thinking that he just won this race. Clean air and he could just set sail and go. It didn’t play out that way for a number of reasons. I think he was getting free, but still a pretty epic day.”
YOU GOT THE LEAD AFTER THE 17 AND 45 GOT INTO EACH OTHER. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING THEN? “I just felt like we finally caught a break. We’ve been catching enough bad breaks that kept us from winning, so it’s nice to catch a good one.”
YOU LED FIVE TIMES FOR 37 LAPS. THIS TEAM IS STARTING TO COME TOGETHER, RIGHT? “Yeah. I feel like all along this has been a good team. We just weren’t getting the results. Some of that was in our control and some of it was not in our control, but this one we took the bull by the horns and made it happen.”
WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT THE LEGACY YOU’RE BUILDING? “I’ve got a lot more I want to do. Thirty six wins is great. It’s a nice stat to have, but I want to win a lot more.”
