Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Atlanta Media Availability | Saturday, February 22, 2025
Team members from Rick Ware Racing, including owner Rick Ware and drivers Corey LaJoie and Cody Ware, stopped by the Atlanta Motor Speedway infield media center to talk about last week’s performance in the Daytona 500 and what lies ahead in 2025.
COREY LAJOIE, No. 01 AirMedCare Network Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS WEEKEND, WHERE YOU’VE HAD SUCCESS? “Daytona, like you said, we checked every box that we set down there to do and when we went down there our goal was to pur ourselves in that spot and give us a shot to win. We were about a mile away, legitimately, after 499 miles of doing that, so I can’t say enough about the guys at the shop that built that car. We came out of the box with a lot of speed and that really allowed us over the course of the weekend to go do what we wanted to do and execute. It also kind of sets up everything I’m trying to do that Rick is allowing me to do with this Stacking Pennies performance of getting new brands into this sport, such as AirMedCare Network and other partners that have continued to sponsor me the last several years, to continue to grow those relationships just to see what the future holds. Daytona was great, but I’ve also been even closer to winning here at Atlanta. That’s why we circled this one to come here with AirMedCare Network, to go to contend and put ourselves in the same spot we did last week.”
CODY WARE, No. 51 Arby’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU WERE RIGHT THERE LAST WEEK IN THE 500. IS THAT INDICATIVE OF THE GAINS RWR HAS MADE? “Yeah, absolutely. I think even last year in 2024 our superspeedway program was pretty stout, and I feel like on the 51 team we did everything we said we were gonna do. Obviously, qualifying in the Duels didn’t work out quite like we wanted to, but we put ourselves in contention to win the race just like we have several times in the past at Daytona, so definitely heartbreaking. I felt like we actually made our way through that crash and then at the last minute I got caught up in the end with the 54 car coming off the wall, so frustrating, but I think, to Corey’s point, we also are gonna have a lot of speed this weekend. This is another plate style package we have going into Atlanta this weekend and feel like we can do more of the same and, hopefully, I can join Corey up front and get to the lead quick here on Sunday.”
RICK WARE, Owner, Rick Ware Racing – HOW IMPORTANT ARE THESE MOMENTS FOR YOUR TEAM AND THE VISION FOR MOVING FORWARD? “These are really important times for a smaller team and to have an anchor partner like Arby’s has been a long work in progress. It’s fortunate that we could get it put together and that they debut kind of in their backyard. The growth of the team, I think a lot of people know here, we’ve been working hard over several years and been taking baby steps and this is an extremely competitive sport. Coming into this year, we kind of had some plans to focus on some of the places that we know we can run really good. Of course, all of our biggest stages is the first race of the year, so with the scenario we put together with RFK and their alliance, things have gone really well. We worked something out to put them in good situation for a chartered car, which meant we had to go back as an open car. We wanted to stick to the plan and it’s worked really good with RWR in the past with the way we run with the primary car. We had talked back and forth with Corey and he was part of our program last year and did a fantastic job for us and going into, it’s been a while since I’ve had to race my way in as an open and I’ve missed, I think, by one spot several times over the last several years, and a few of those times I’ve been on the wrong side of racing against Corey through that as well. Going into it, I’m like, ‘I’m gonna put myself in a good situation and give him everything he needs.’ You can never count on getting in for sure, but I felt fairly optimistic and Corey did a fantastic job. We had two really different plans that I’m just thankful it worked out and, to Corey’s point, 499 miles later we had two cars you could throw a blanket over. I did let my guard down the last mile because I did actually get a little excited, but there was a time, I was telling Robby Benton, to come out with two top 25s there had been a time when it was like, ‘I’ll take it and we’ll go.’ But we were disappointed because there are certain places that we can run good and it’s been a long work in process, and the people that we have at the shop are just fantastic to help me to get here.”
COREY LAJOIE CONTINUED – DOES YOUR DAYTONA HELP INCREASE TALK OF EXTRA RACES? “It certainly helps. Anytime you can run good and contend for wins that gets your existing partners fired up and it also allows you to put together some really cool marketing decks with the 01 leading the field at the 500 to go try to sell a couple more. I think, collectively, between Rick and I there’s a balance between having that second car, my car, be an asset to what the 51 is trying to do and without bogging the shop down and what their turnover rate is and their process to try to get the 51 prepared each and every week the best it can be. We want to pick and choose the races that are an asset, but also something we feel like we can go contend like we did this week, whether it’s Darlington or Martinsville, but we’re having really good conversations with partners and we want to make sure we’re choosing and pick the right ones and the right races to go to best execute.”
RICK WARE CONTINUED – WHAT ARE YOU SEEING FROM THE SPONSORSHIP SIDE OF THINGS? WHAT IS THE MARKET LIKE RIGHT NOW? “I’d say the marketing side of it is very bullish right now. We’re obviously one of the smaller teams and we’re having dramatically more conversations than we typically have had in the past. That doesn’t mean that we close them all, but the interest is there. I think that’s what’s important across the board. I think there’s so much competition out there in media and marketing opportunities that the dollar figures aren’t quite what they used to be. I think we’ve all seen that. So, I think you see even some of the cornerstone cars that it’s tough to see primary sponsors all year anymore, so you see people doing blocks of sponsorships. For ourselves to be able to get some of the sponsors that we’ve grown over the last three and four years – to expand them – I’ve been able to survive based on the platform, our motorsports platform. It allows me to do a value add and Arby’s was a perfect example. We put together a test market with our global Supercross program, our flat track program, our top fuel program and the NASCAR program to weigh out the benefits. My opinion is that every sport has benefits that some other sports don’t. Obviously, the Cup Series is the 800-pound gorilla. That’s the cornerstone of motorsports, especially in this country, and I think we’re gonna expand that globally here in the years to come, but as a sponsor they have different needs at different times and some forms of motorsports are more user friendly than others for different kinds of things, so that’s what has allowed us to keep growing. It also helps in that it’s a little bit harder to steal those sponsors when you have more to offer, so that’s always been very important, but I know we’re getting the kind of response and inquiries with where we are in motorsports, so it’s got to be even better the farther up you get to the top. Overall, the market is fantastic and it’s allowed us to even be able to put together additional things at a high level for an open car like we did for Corey that typically just haven’t been able to happen at our level. If you’re a Hendrick or something and you decide to run an extra car for a program, that’s a little bit different ask, but I think it shows where people are perceiving the NASCAR Cup Series right now.”
COREY LAJOIE CONTINUED – “And on my end I’ve been luck enough with the help of LeeAnn, who has been with me since BK, we’ve had four or five partners – Schluter, Celsius, AirMedCare Network has been with us three or four years, we’ve been able to go very deep in terms of how integrated we’ve gotten with the brands with personal services agreements, but also integrating on the race car, too. So, that’s really and truly, instead of casting a wide net and getting one race with six or seven people, we’ve really went deep and really integrated the Stacking Pennies brand, the podcast, with each and every one of our partners. That’s really and truly what’s allowed us to get this thing off the ground. It’s a weird position to be back where I was about four or five years ago. I had a nice little window of time where I could concentrate on being a race car driver and just get paid to do that, but I’m back into sales mode and, to be honest, it’s kind of fun because you can have different conversations than what you’ve had and, personally, I’m having great conversations with some really interesting brands, so we’ll see what comes out of that.”
RICK WARE CONTINUED – WHAT’S THE FEEDBACK FROM COMPANIES ABOUT THE STREAMING PART OF THE SCHEDULE? “I think everybody has questions. I haven’t had anything remotely on concerns. I think there is a little bit of cautious optimism in that every new network has a little different idea how they want to go about doing things. Again, for a smaller team, it creates a little bit of an opportunity to do some things differently, which I’m hoping that we can be part of, to have some unique storylines. If there was four or five different networks, they all have a different idea of how they want to go about doing it and it allows us to be able to come in with ideas and offer platforms and different storylines. We’ve been leveraging, in all honesty, to give other opportunities. I don’t want to get the dates mixed up, but the five races leading into the million dollar shootout that I think starts at Charlotte (I think it’s TNT), but the points start at Charlotte. Anyway, that’s another storyline. That’s something else to talk about and it’s something to focus on when we put together our packages and we’ve purposely left a couple of those races open, I believe it’s Pocono and Michigan because there may be some different opportunities because of that, so it’s been a positive. I know there’s a lot of questions of is the streaming viewership gonna be different than the network. It very well could be. Ultimately, is it gonna be better for the sport? It very well could be, so I think the power ups in NASCAR are working hard to make the most of every one of those decisions. So far, it’s been very positive.”
HOW HAVE THESE MULTIPLE PLATFORMS KICKED OFF AND WHERE DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING? “There are a couple different questions in there. The first part we probably need to address the addiction problem of racing first off. To kind of go what we’ve been through over the years to get to where we are now, and, believe me, I know we still have a long way to go, you have to love it and have to have a passion because I grew up around different forms of racing early on in my years, I have an affinity and a love of it, and I also understood about the nuances of it. Literally, I feel like we probably wouldn’t have had Arby’s if I was just in NASCAR. Reason being is we had Parts Plus. I think we finished fourth with Parts Plus at Daytona and they had never spent any money outside of drag racing for like 10 or 11 years, so we started to put together some programs to not take away from the drag racing program, but to expand because racing enthusiasts are just that and Corporate America loves to be at the 50 yard line at the Super Bowl. They love to go to the basketball playoff games and the Daytona 500, etc. So, by offering this, you cover a wide spectrum of opportunities. We ended up having about 100 venues coast to coast that different distributors, buyers, sellers and sometimes just people that are race fan related within the industry, that they can always go to. Now, if you’re a race team, at the end of the day, you go racing because you want to win. We need to be realistic on what wins are for us. Right now, it’s a win for us to have top 10s and top 20 and top 5s, and to go for wins, but we still need to on a Monday or a Tuesday to have those stories to tell, and we do that. We won the world championship in Supercross, and we won the U.S. Nationals last year in top fuel and we won the flat track championship. It’s a fantastic asset because it’s on Fox Sports 1 just like the Truck Series is and Fox is here now, so those are all things that when co-combined the platform that we have, it’s important for a small team to be able to show pictures of hoisting trophies, people on podiums and even if we don’t win at a NASCAR race, Corey led last year for us at Talladega. Cody led last year for us at Talladega. Justin led laps last year at the 500 and Corey led this year, so those are all things that you add to it, so it’s imperative for my survival, I believe, to have a strong platform and we’ve been able to get enough sponsorship in the other series to be able to be at that level. This is a very expensive sport here. We’’re making strides every single day and it’s not always just about money, it’s about manufacturer support and the people. I don’t want to drag this on too long, but it’s a little bit of a complicated question, but it’s very important for me to survive with the platform we have because if you’re coming to talk to me about something or your company like this with Arby’s, in order to get through that front door, you’re gonna have to beat what we can do for them in the marketing standpoint over the course of a season.”
Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Menards/Delta Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske, is coming off an eighth-place finish in last week’s Daytona 500. He answered questions from the media about that race and his hopes for this weekend before today’s NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session.
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Delta Ford Mustang Dark Horse – ON DENNY HAMLIN’S COMMENT THAT AUSTIN CINDRIC IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SUPERSPEEDWAY DRIVERS NASCAR HAS. “For me, it is a very high compliment. It is not often times you get to earn the respect but also hear the level of respect your competitors have for you. As superspeedway racing goes, Denny has been one of the best for the last couple of decades. For him to have a high opinion like that is pretty cool. I think that is what made the end of the race significant and special to me.”
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THESE TRACKS THAT BRINGS THAT LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE OUT IN YOU? “I think I could plead the Fifth and just just say that I have a fast race car every time; because I do. I feel confident that we can contend for the pole today and contend for the win tomorrow. But I think they are all different. I think if you expect yourself to contend every time we go to a drafting track, I feel like you have to prepare. The process I have refined for myself over the years is very solid. I don’t know if it is the best or not, hard to say, but I put a lot of work in. Usually those are the types of tracks that require that type of work.”
ABOUT WHAT TRANSLATES FROM DAYTONA TO ATLANTA. “You can translate the speed. I still expect us to bring the similar speed we had at Daytona for Speedweeks. But the handling elements of Atlanta – this track is aging and changing a bit – the conditions being so sensitive to this place. I feel like that is what really defines the racing each time we come here. Being able to stay close to guys is purely a factor of the handling of the cars. We’ve had some pretty good handling race cars here in the past. Handling matters at Daytona but maybe in some more specific areas. Whereas, if you want to compete this weekend, you have to have a car that can handle all the track.”
HOW DO YOU THINK THE CHANGES TO COTA NEXT WEEK WILL EFFECT THE DYNAMICS OF THE RACE. “I think shortening the track definitely changes quite a few things. The lap count, from a fan standpoint, I think that is more than anything else. How much do you prioritize the other corners that still exist on the race track? Past that, there are still plenty of elements to take away. It is a very unique circuit. WIth all 20 turns on it you can’t specialize your car. There is a fairly equal number of left and rights [hand turns], a fairly equal amount of high speed corners. Now, I feel like you can make the argument that there are more low speed corners. Being able to understand what it takes to be fast around there, being able to adapt to understand what is best. You still have a pretty good brake zone into turn one. You still have a pretty good brake zone going into turn 12, albeit you aren’t going 180 [mph] into the corner anymore.. I think you keep all of those passing zones even on the shorter course.”
ABOUT HIS EVOLUTION IN BECOMING A DRIVER THAT OTHERS WANT TO WORK WITH ON DRAFTING TRACKS. “It is something you never expect to hear. But, anything you work hard at, you certainly want to see the progress whether it is from your competitors, from within yourself or from your own team. I can remember the first two Truck races I did on superspeedways. I hated it! I hated it because I didn’t understand it. When we did the first race here, after they re-paved it, I hated it. But that is because I didn’t understand it. Now I feel like I look forward to it. That is a huge evolution. That is not just allowing it to happen and understanding that you have to get better to enjoy it. I only have fun if I am out there trying to be successful. If there is an impact on others out there around me, either positive or negative, sobeit but it is a challenging thing to make progress at a level this high. It is only one area in what we do. My goal as a race car driver in NASCAR is to be able to look at myself or have my competitors look at me in a similar fashion on all styles of race tracks.”
“I feel like I’m that middle phase. I use the Xfinity Series as an example. When I first got to the Xfinity Series everyone tried to stay away from me. By the time I was done in the Xfinity Series I felt like I could be trusted as a friendly source on how to get to the front. I feel like I am in the middle of that right now. I don’t ever expect anyone to go out of their way to help me.”
IS THE WAY THE CAR REACTED IN THE RYAN PREECE INCIDENT AT DAYTONA AN AREA OF CONCERN FOR YOU? “When I look at that wreck, it really isn’t all that different than what we saw at Bowman Gray. That is a car going, what 30 miles an hour? It has side-to-side contact and the nose pops up two or three feet off the ground. I feel like any car, at 160-170 miles an hour, if you popped the nose off the ground three or four feet you are going to get air to parachute under the car no matter how flat the floor is. I am not an engineer, I don’t study these things, but I’ve seen enough cars to have an understanding of how the car is going to work if you pool air up under the car. I feel like that wreck isn’t really similar at all to the wrecks we had at Daytona in August when you had guys spin around and get air up under the car. I think the car got in the air and stayed in the air a little awhile. I am sure Ryan [Preece] has a little different take on that but I would say that is why the car got into the air, because of contact not because of being put into a bad aero spot.”
