Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Quaker State 400 Qualifying | Atlanta Motor Speedway
Saturday, September 7, 2024
FORD DOMINATES ATLANTA CUP QUALIFYING FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT RACE
- Ford has had at least seven drivers qualify in the top 10 in each of the last four Atlanta Cup races.
- Ford has won the last four NASCAR Cup Series poles at AMS (Logano, Almirola and McDowell twice).
- Ford has swept the front row in four straight AMS qualifying sessions (McDowell/Blaney (2024-2), McDowell/Logano (2024-1), Almirola/Blaney (2023-2), Logano/Cindric (2023-1).
- Ford swept the top eight spots in the 2023 spring race.
- Ford swept the top six spots in the 2023 summer race.
- Ford swept the top five spots in today’s qualifying session.
- All three Team Penske drivers have qualified in the top 10 in each of the last four races, including a sweep of the top three spots in the 2023 spring race.
- Team Penske has had at least one driver start on the front row in each of the last four Atlanta Cup races (Blaney, 2024-2; Logano, 2024-1; Blaney, 2023-2; Logano and Cindric, 2023-1)
Ford Performance Results:
1st – Michael McDowell
2nd – Ryan Blaney
3rd – Todd Gilliland
4th – Josh Berry
5th – Austin Cindric
7th – Joey Logano
10th – Chase Briscoe
12th – Harrison Burton
13th – Noah Gragson
17th – Chris Buescher
19th – Brad Keselowski
21st – Ryan Preece
29th – Justin Haley
31st – Cody Ware
POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 3 B’laster Work It Like A Pro Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY? “I think coming in to this weekend we sat on the pole in the spring race early in the season and felt that pressure to come back here and have another shot at it, so we executed our plan well today. As far as what it gives you as an indication for tomorrow, I don’t think it’s a huge indicator of anything other than we have the same speed we did here last time. The good thing for us was in the race our car raced really well and sometimes you trim them out and you get a lot of speed and you’ll get into the race and it’ll just be a handful, but we led a lot of laps, had a really fast car. I thought we had one of the better driving cars, so I don’t feel like we’re compromising anything going into the race with the speed that we have, and it was the same a couple weeks ago in Daytona. I felt like we had one of the fastest cars there, so it’s just about executing and being there at the end and giving yourself a shot at trying to win the race.”
IF SOMEONE TOLD YOU THAT YOU WOULD BE TIED FOR THE SERIES LEAD IN POLES ENTERING THE PLAYOFFS HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THAT? “I would have told you you’re lying. One of the goals for this year, you always set goals and some are super lofty and some are more of just personal achievements that you want to achieve. One of our goals this year was to get a pole. Last year, we had a lot of speed and I don’t know how many times we qualified third and fourth and second. A bunch of times and even led a lot of the first round qualifying, and then would get beat by a little bit going into the second round, so it was a personal thing going into this offseason of really focusing on qualifying and trying to get a pole. It’s an important part of a career and stats and we’ve been close. So, I think that more than anything is when we went to Daytona and we sat on the front row and saw how close we were, that was like, ‘Alright, we’re right there. We just have to do everything we can.’ And then we came to Atlanta and obviously got our first one and it’s kind of spiraled since then. Obviously, predominantly it’s been superspeedways. I did get the pole at Gateway, but what I’m probably most proud of our overall qualifying effort. I don’t know if it’s still the case because Darlington was so bad, but going into Darlington we had the best qualifying average of any Ford team for the season, not just for superspeedways. I think we’ve made it to the second round 12 or 14 times, so I’m proud of the speed that we’re bringing to the racetrack. On the flip side, it’s a little bit of a gut check too because we haven’t got to Victory Lane and we’ve had a decent amount of speed, but it’s hard. It’s hard winning races in the Cup Series. We’ve put ourselves in position several times and haven’t got it done, so we’ve still got 10 more shots at it and that’s how we’re looking at tomorrow and how we’re looking at Watkins Glen coming up. We have really good racetracks in front of us.”
IS THIS A MASTERCLASS OF HOW TO BUILD A TEAM AND GO FROM BUILDING TO WINNING POLES AND RACES? “It’s incredible. Sometimes I think it’s undervalued what Front Row has done and where they’ve come from in the last three or four years to what we’re doing week in and week out. At the other side of it, it’s a compliment that people aren’t really that shocked when we run well or challenge for wins, so it’s going in a good direction. It’s a tremendous amount of work. It’s a tremendous effort by everybody, but we’re still, I don’t want to say small. Bob doesn’t like it when I say small, but we’re still a medium-size team, so to do what we’re doing – not just here, but week in and week out – is a real testament to what hard work and dedication and being resourceful and being efficient can do because I promise you we’re not spending the most and we don’t have the most people, but we have a great group of men and women who fight really hard and this Next Gen car has given us the platform to do what we’re doing. Without that, it would have been a really tough road, but from that point forward we’ve been in the game and I think we’ve done a good job of trying to stay in the game. It’s getting harder and harder. It always does, like when you have the big powerhouse teams they always figure it out a little bit better as time goes on and you see that with Hendrick and with Gibbs and some of the other teams that are consistently fighting for those wins week in and week out. They’ve separated themselves a little bit, but we’re still in the game and this car has given us that opportunity.”
HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THE START OF QUALIFYING? HOW DO YOU FOCUS ON THOSE LAPS? “Two parts. For these weekends that do not have any practice, you do a lot of preparation as silly as it sounds because you’re just going around holding it wide-open and hitting your marks and your shifts, but because you don’t have that warm-up, so to speak, you have to get everything right the first time, so there is a lot of pressure to do that. You study and you execute your plan, and then on race day, more than anything, the preparation that you do during the week of which line you’re going to choose if you do get the pole, which lanes had momentum and what the handling and the balance did and how you have to move around. You do all of that leading up to it and then when you get in you just get laser focused on the task in front of you and you switch gears. The switching gears part is pretty fun because all the way up to the race you’re signing autographs and you’re doing interviews and it’s not that you’re not in the game, but you can’t be. You’re not locked in and then you get in the car and you click the belts and then all of a sudden it’s like a switch, it’s like a mode and you just get laser focused and locked in. It’s a cool feeling. It’s an adrenaline rush. I don’t know if it’s the same for everybody. Some guys will probably hear that and be like, ‘What? This guy is taking his job way too serious,’ but, to me, it’s awesome when you get in that locked in zone and you’re ready to go.”
WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE TO BE UP FRONT TOMORROW AND CONTEND FOR THE WIN? “It’s tough when you’re the pole-sitter because you’re trying to control the race and you’re trying to control the runs, but you’re also the sitting duck that people are building runs on and dragging back and building momentum. The last time here, I kind of let the first part of that race play out, but wanted to stay near the front in those first two rows, but you need to learn what your car is gonna do and balance and all that. We were able to win the first stage here in the spring race, so I felt like our car drove well and we did what we needed to do, so, to me, it’s more about just keeping yourself in position. It’s not do or die. It’s not a lap one, lap two, lap 10 and you’ve got to block every lane and every run that’s coming, but ideally you want to keep control of the race as long as you can. We all know that’s hard for the pole-sitter. It’s a great idea, but it’s hard to do without making big moves all the time and you kind of run out of those big moves eventually, so you try to save them for the end or at least try to take that approach. This is one of those races though where handling will matter. It will matter more so than Talladega and Daytona. We saw that in the first race here. If you’re able to take a run and stay wide-open and stay committed, you could clear a car and get back in line, where Daytona and Talladega it’s hard to actually clear somebody like that. I think there’s an extra emphasis on your car driving well and then when you get down to the end it’s just being in the right spot at the right time with the right push and hope nothing around you goes too far sideways.”
HOW CONFIDENT WERE YOU ON GETTING THE POLE? “Not super confident. I don’t think you ever go into it like, ‘Oh, we’ve got this.’ I knew that we would have a shot at it, but I knew when Blaney went faster than us that first round, even though it was only by a few hundredths, you know that it’s gonna come down to executing everything perfectly, where if you’re talking about a tenth, it’s hard to make up a tenth. But it’s easy to mess up a couple hundredths, so you’re nervous about doing your job well to make sure you give yourself the best chance. I think Daytona a few weeks ago we had everybody covered by more than a tenth and so it was less nerve racking and then this one I felt like it was gonna take everything being done perfect to have a shot at it.”
IS IT STARTING TO SINK IN THAT THE RACES ARE RUNNING DOWN WITH YOUR TIME AT FRONT ROW? “No, not yet. I haven’t let it creep in. I kept telling everyone we’re just focused on winning a race to get in the Playoffs. Now we’re here. The Playoffs are happening and I’ve just redirected that focus on winning a race before the season is over, so I haven’t really allowed myself to get to that place yet. It’s gonna be tough. There’s no doubt about it. This is home for me. It’s been home for me. It wasn’t an easy decision. As weird as it might sound, I feel like I’ve already mourned that decision if that makes sense – when it first happened of ‘do I really want to do this? This is where you’ve been and potentially where you could be and could finish’ and all those things. So, it was a tough decision. It wasn’t like I went into it like, ‘Here we go.’ It wasn’t a fun decision. It’s hard when you’re that close with people and your team and you felt like you’re a part of it, so I feel good about my decision though. I don’t have any regrets, but I know Phoenix is gonna be tough. It will be tough for sure because of what we’ve done and what we’ve built here. It’s a different atmosphere than any other race team that I’ve been to and we’ve accomplished a lot together. Obviously, they’ll continue to go on and accomplish a lot. They have a great program and great drivers coming into it, but I’ll wait until Phoenix to really start thinking about it.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WIN FOUR STRAIGHT SPEEDWAY POLES? “I don’t want this to come off as saying this wrong, but I think it means a whole lot more to the team, just that we’re bringing the fastest car to the racetrack and it’s hard to do. I know some people will sit there and be like, ‘Oh, it’s just a superspeedway,’ but the amount of detail and the amount of hours that go into making a superspeedway car fast, and the fact that we’re doing it better than everyone else right now is a huge testament to what the team is doing and how hard they’re working. These are hard. They’re hard to get. It’s not easy, so to get four in a row is remarkable and so, for me, what’s gratifying is just seeing my guys hard work pay off and seeing how excited they are, and I know that I have the fastest race car to compete with tomorrow in the race. It gives me confidence going in there to do my job and try to win the race. But, I’m really proud. It’s a proud moment. I think it was a huge moment in Daytona when both of our cars were on the front row. We were almost there again today and it’s an accomplishment that is not the end all, be all. It’s not the greatest thing. Winning tomorrow would be better, but it’s still something to be celebrated because of how hard it is to do at the top level of our sport.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WAS THERE ANY PART OF THE TRACK YOU WANTED A BIT MORE? “I don’t know. It’s hard to tell here. We just slowed down a little bit on our second run and I think the 34 picked up a little bit, but, overall, it’s a good day. We have good speed. We’re starting on the front row, so I’m proud of the effort and excited for tomorrow.”
ANYTHING YOU WANT TO CHANGE ON YOUR CAR? “You can do little changes for the race tomorrow, just kind of air-pressures and stuff like that, but I don’t know. I felt pretty decent in qualifying handling-wise, but getting in the pack is a whole different thing. It’s nice that we have the track position and I think the speed is good to hopefully control a lane, and I’m sure we’ll get back in the pack tomorrow at some point and we’ll see how I am in traffic. It’s all good right now. It’s a solid starting spot and I’m looking forward to hopefully being able to control the first part of the race, especially the first stage, and then see how it shakes out from there.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards Quaker State Mustang Dark Horse – “I think once again the Fords at speedways are really, really strong. I felt like our car handled extremely well in qualifying, which it’s not something you necessarily have to worry about here, but I think it just bodes well for us for the race tomorrow. I’m excited about it and feel like we can have a shot at the win.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 CITGARD Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Our cars have been really fast at all the superspeedways and it feels like we actually have cars very, very capable of winning every single superspeedway at this point and that doesn’t last forever. It always goes in waves, so, to me, even Daytona felt like a little bit of a missed opportunity with how fast my car was. I felt like even when I was in the back I could go to whatever line I felt like it would really move the line forward and those are hard to come by in these type of races when everyone is so close. I’m excited about it. I think we definitely need to take advantage of it while our cars are this fast.”
THAT FIRST POLE IS SO CLOSE, BUT JUST OUT OF YOUR GRASP. “Overall, qualifying went great. That’s the tough part. You can’t be too disappointed with third. Honestly, I was more disappointed at Daytona because I actually thought that one was really within our grasp. This week, it was kind of unrealistic to pick up more than a tenth to those guys because those guys are picking up more, too. I wasn’t as heartbroken this time. At Daytona, I was heartbroken. Overall, we just have some really, really fast Ford Mustangs coming out of Front Row Motorsports.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We ended up 10th there and I’m not really sure how we slowed down in the second round. I guess we didn’t slow down, everybody else kind of sped up, but I’m not really sure what happened there. We have a good starting spot. We’re starting inside the top 10 and should have a good pit stall selection, but it’s really hard to say what you’ve got just running one lap around here, but so far so good. It’s a good start to the weekend. Starting 10th is a lot better than starting 30th, so we’ll just have to see what we can do with it tomorrow.”
