Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Championship Race | Friday, November 8, 2024
FORD’S CHAMPIONSHIP STREAK
Ford’s championship streak continued tonight as Ty Majeski earned the manufacturer’s third straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title.
It also continues a streak that has seen Ford win the last five NASCAR championships dating back to Joey Logano’s Cup title in 2022.
Overall, Ford has won six of the last seven championships awarded in NASCAR’s top three divisions over the last three years.
MARK RUSHBROOK PRESS CONFERENCE
HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DO THIS SO CONSISTENTLY? “Great people. Great teams. Great drivers. That’s how you do anything in this sport, for sure. We look at them one at a time and celebrate them one at a time. I wasn’t even sure of those stats until you went through them, but every race means a lot to us. Every championship means a lot to us and, like I said, when we got ThorSport back in Ford we knew we could do great things together and to be back here with them again and celebrating another championship it means a lot.”
THIS IS BECOMING A TREND. YOU HAVE TWO MORE LEFT. HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR ODDS? “If you look at who we have in there, pretty good odds. Anything can happen in these races, as you know. In Xfinity the strength of Stewart-Haas and Cole Custer coming back here. He got it done last year, especially on that last restart and it was incredible to see him win and proud to have Cole and Stewart-Haas back here representing us again. For sure in Cup, the last two champions in Logano and Blaney. We’ve got a 50/50 shot there, so we’re looking forward to the race. Like I said, anything can happen. Great cars. Great drivers. Great teams and looking forward to it.”
WHAT’S IT LIKE BACK IN DEARBORN FOR THE EMPLOYEES? “They’re celebrating. I’m getting text messages tonight from Jim Farley, our CEO. From Jim Baumbick, Lisa Materazzo, our head of product development and head of marketing. They’re paying attention. Our employees are paying attention. It means a lot for Ford to be in motorsports and to be competing at this level and whenever we have that success we enjoy it. We know how hard it is. We’ve gone through long spells without getting the race wins or the championships sometimes, so to be able to celebrate every one is important.”
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE FORD TEAMS IN PARTICULAR THAT THEY CAN SEEMINGLY FLIP THE SWITCH IN CRUNCH TIME? “I wish it was as easy as flipping a switch (laughing). That’s the nature of racing at this level. It’s so competitive that you think you have an advantage and maybe you do, but it can be short-lived and when you’re at a disadvantage you just have to keep working hard on every element of your program and when it comes together it comes together and you celebrate it.”
IS THIS A FULL CIRCLE MOMENT FOR TY AFTER BEING WITH ROUSH A FEW YEARS AGO AND NOW BOUNCING BACK WITH THORSPORT? “I was actually thinking about that a lot during the race and the amount of time that has passed from when we first met Ty and having him in different programs with RFK. We even put him in IMSA and Mustang GT4’s for a while and to see that he’s found such a great home at ThorSport and see him celebrating success with race wins and especially this championship, it’s really a proud moment for us because, like I said, it’s all about the people and relationships. To have that duration with him means a lot.”
WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND WITH GUYS WHO FELL BACK AND THEN STARTED TO CHASE TY DOWN AT THE END OF THE RACE? “You’ve just got to roll with it knowing that anything can happen and you never know when a caution is going to be thrown or not. They made some changes on the truck on the last stop, so we know what’s going on with that, but you don’t know what the other trucks or cars are doing. Heim certainly had a bad set of tires or a bad setup the second-to-last run and we didn’t know if they were going to adjust it and make it better and come back stronger. When Corey got put to the back with the penalty that certainly helped, but he was still coming strong at the end.”
TWO STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR THORSPORT SINCE THEY CAME BACK TO FORD. WHAT HAS THE CONNECTION BEEN LIKE? “They had raced with us before and we had a strong relationship for sure. When they left we were disappointed, but understood why at the time. As soon as they reached out with an interest to come back, it was immediate. I literally drove from Michigan down to Ohio to meet with Duke personally and to understand why they wanted to come back and how they wanted to come back and the deal was done. We’re very happy because they’re like-minded people. They want to win. We want to give them the best resources to be able to win and it feels like family. It’s just very comfortable with them.”
