Buescher Leads Ford Mustang Dark Horse Teams at COTA Road Course

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
Sunday, March 2, 2025

Ford Finishing Order:

7th – Chris Buescher
8th – Noah Gragson
10th – Todd Gilliland
15th – Brad Keselowski
19th – Ryan Blaney
23rd – Cole Custer
24th – Joey Logano
25th – Austin Cindric
26th – Josh Berry
29th – Zane Smith
31st – Cody Ware
33rd – Ryan Preece

CHRIS BUESCHER No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “This 17 team battled really hard to get our Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse up to P7 here. We are happy with that. It was a really hard day; a lot of ups and downs. We never got ourselves into the track position that we wanted to. We want to be better. It was a good day but I just feel like we are not quite competitive enough to win here at COTA. We have been very close at all of the other road courses – we feel like we have a chance to win at the others. We need to make a couple more tweaks to our Mustang here at this place. A good showing for this new course. We stayed out of the melee, for the most part, and I am proud of everyone on this Fastenal team. They did a good job today.”

NOAH GRAGSON, No. 4 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was not looking good after that first run. We were really, really bad. We kept our heads up and never quit. This Rush Trucks Centers team did just an awesome job of wrenching on this Ford Mustang Dark Horse. We persevered and didn’t let that early adversity get us down. It was a lot of hard work throughout the day but I am super proud of everyone’s efforts. It just matters what that scoreboard says at the end of the day, not what it took to get there. We brought it home in one piece and in the top-10.”

TODD GILLILAND, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We knew it would look different here today. We started 10th and finished 10th but we battled all day. We were OK at the beginning but we got stuck behind the [number] 9 literally in turn one. That is how it goes sometimes. I am just really proud of the fight in our team. We fought through a lot. We got a little lucky with the caution there at the end but overall we just kept fighting through everything. That brought home a top-10 finish for our Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse and we can be proud of what got us that result .”

COLE CUSTER, No. 41 Haas Brothers Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was a lot of ups and downs. A hard fought day for sure. Our guys did a great job rebounding throughout the day. We brought a fairly fast Ford Mustang Dark Horse but we had a few hiccups throughout the day. I feel like, to come back and get a solid result at the end of the day, wasn’t a bad thing. We will just keep building from here.”

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