Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Cracker Barrel 400 Media Availability
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Josh Berry, driver of the No. 21 Freightliner Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, was made available to the media ahead of the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Berry enters Sunday’s Nashville race 17th in the driver standings, -230 points to the leader, with one race win this season (Las Vegas).
LAST YEAR THIS CUP RACE ENDED IN A LITTLE BIT OF CHAOS WITH FIVE OVERTIMES AND YOU HAD A REALLY GOOD RUN GOING THAT ENDED WITH YOU SPINNING OUT. WHAT IS THE MINDSET THIS WEEKEND WITH THE WOOD BROTHERS? “Yeah, nothing has really changed too much from our side. We just go and try to have a good practice and qualifying today. Get us some decent track position and a good pit stall. Go to work tomorrow and go racing. I feel like this has been a place I have enjoyed coming to and ran pretty good over the years. We’ve had speed and everything. Obviously, Miles and the guys have been doing a great job over the course of the season bringing speed. If we can just execute from when we get on the track today then I think we have a chance at a good finish.”
I AM SURE YOU HAVE SEEN THE COMMENT FROM ELTON SAWYER THIS PAST WEEK ABOUT THE POTENTIAL INCREASE IN HORSEPOWER IN THE NEXT GEN CAR. AS SOMEONE WITH THE AMOUNT OF SHORT TRACK EXPERIENCE YOU HAVE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IS SOMETHING THIS CAR NEEDS TO IMPROVE THE PRODUCT ON SHORT TRACKS AND, IF SO, HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK IT NEEDS? “I definitely think it needs more. The question, I think, boils down to how much more does it need to move the needle? I don’t really have an answer to that. It probably needs to be pretty significant. What I would hate to happen is to go up 100 horsepower and it doesn’t really look that different and everyone goes ‘oh that wasn’t it.’ It is a combination of a lot of things. It is the aero side of the car, it is horsepower, it’s the tires. Honestly, it’s technology. I raced a Pro Late Model on Thursday night and when I got out front my car drove a lot better than when I was tucked up behind someone’s bumper. It’s just technology and the field is that close. It’s just physics and aero. It would definitely be a step in the right direction if they go in that direction. We will see what happens.”
HAVE YOU GOTTEN MUCH TIME ON THE SIMULATOR GOING INTO MEXICO AT THIS POINT? “Yeah, I have a little bit. It is definitely a pretty cool layout. It is going to be interesting. I think there are some passing zones. There’s definitely going to be issues with track limits in the esses, right? It’s just tight. You can just tell. To me, it is probably just a little bit worse than COTA. It doesn’t feel like there is going to be grass on both sides so it is just a little bit different. Overall, I think it should probably be a good race. That is what we want to see.”
IN A RACE AT A HIGHER ELEVATION IT IS GOING TO JUST SAP THE HORSEPOWER. IS THAT FACTORED IN? DOES IT FEEL A BIT SLOWER COMPARATIVELY? DO YOU GET A SENSE OF THAT? “It is hard to get a sense of that. Our engineers and Ford talk about that. We are trying to recreate it, I guess, to think about it. But, I will be honest, I never had that experience. I have never raced at a high elevation like that to know how it will change things or not. Obviously, a bunch of other forms of racing have raced there and we can communicate with those guys to get an idea but I am not really sure if it will be enough to notice or not.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU ARE DOING, OR CAN DO, TO PREPARE YOURSELF AND YOUR BODY TO RACE AT 7,000 FEET ELEVATION? “I don’t know? I have never done that. It is hard to say. Something to think about a little bit. Thankfully we are going to be there on Thursday so we will have a couple days to acclimate to it. But, I haven’t really thought about it too much, I guess.”
FOR THE IN-SEASON CHALLENGE, THE TOP 32 AFTER TOMORROW NIGHT ARE IN THE FIELD. WITH THE FOCUS ON WINNING WEEK-TO-WEEK, HOW MUCH THOUGHT IS THERE OF THAT ? DOES THE MILLION DOLLAR PRIZE GET YOUR ATTENTION? “I think we all pay pretty close attention to it once it gets rolling. I think it is going to be exciting to follow and watch. I am sure we will go into the weekends knowing who we are paired against. Obviously, there is a lot of money on the line and potentially a lot of money on the line for a fan if they have a perfect bracket. I think it will be cool to follow. It should be fun.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, driver of the No. 6 Solomon Plumbing RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, was made available to the media ahead of the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Owner/Driver Keselowski is 32nd in the driver standings, -319 points to the leader. Nashville is the site of Keselowski’s first NASCAR win in 2008.
YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH SEASONS LIKE THIS BEFORE, HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO GET THE KIND OF FINISH YOU GOT AT CHARLOTTE? HOW HARD IS IT TO NOT TO TRY TOO HARD TO DIG OUT AND YOU CREATE NEW PROBLEMS? “That last part is what really stands out. You know, just trying not to do too much. We’re hitting our stride as an organization, in particular with the 6 team. The cars are developing more speed, our execution is getting better. It is an exciting time for us, outside of looking at where we are in the point standings. We need to build off of that and incrementally inch our way up to being able to win. I think we are really close to that right now. Trying not to jump the shark on that is important. But last week was a really positive moment for us. The last run of the race we passed at least a half dozen cars and ran the fastest laps and did a lot of positive things that would make you feel like you can go win.”
HOW DO YOU VIEW WHERE YOU SIT IN THE POINTS STANDINGS? DOES IT MAKE LIFE SIMPLE, JUST GO FOR WINS OR DO YOU VIEW IT ANOTHER WAY? “It is simple in some ways. Last year, I don’t think we had much pace but we were executing and getting good finishes out of it. We were sitting in the top 10 in points and all of those things. We have more potential now but we haven’t had the execution that we had last year.I am just eager to get the execution to go with the potential.”
THE 32 TEAMS FOR THE IN SEASON TOURNAMENT WILL BE LOCKED IN THIS WEEKEND. YOU ARE THE GUY ON THE BUBBLE, AT 32ND. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO GET A TEAM AND A DRIVER IN THAT TOURNAMENT CONSIDERING IT IS PROBABLY GOING TO GET A LOT OF TV TIME. “I can’t say I have thought a lot about it. I really just think about winning this weekend and what that takes. It will be fun to talk about when it gets going. It’s good for the sport, good for our fans. It’s a competition and if it is a competition, we want to win it. With that said, our heads are down and focused on one week at a time, really one day at a time, and that is Nashville and it is hard to look further ahead than that.”
AS WE LOOK AT GOING TO MEXICO FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THE CUP CARS, IS THERE SOMETHING YOU ARE HOPING TO EXPERIENCE MAKING THAT TRIP AND AROUND THAT EVENT? “It is an interesting event. There are all kinds of different sentiments; positive, negative. I think it is good for the Cup Series in general to see the schedule variability that has really been driven over the last half-dozen years or so. An international race just fitting the bill for everything else we have been doing. I am just really curious to see the reception of our fans. I think the reception from our partners has been pretty strong which is always fun and great for the teams. But I am really curious about the reception from our fans both here and in Mexico. Will they turn out the way we think they will turn out? It is one of those things that when it is all said and done, I think I will be able to answer a lot better than I can now. We will just have to see how it all plays out.”
TWO BIG PENALTIES IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME TO YOUR TEAMS. AS AN OWNER, WHAT’S THE MESSAGE? IS IT PUSHING TOO MUCH? IS IT CARLESSNESS? HOW DO YOU ADDRESS THIS SITUATION? “The situations at hand were not items I would call ‘pushing too much’ as much as I would call just not having enough regard to understanding the rule book and all of its complexities. Ultimately, that burden falls on us and we have had those conversations internally. I think everyone knows what is expected of them moving forward.”
THIS WEEK AND INDY CAR TEAM ANNOUNCED IT WAS PLACING SOMEONE IN CHARGE OF OVERSEEING THE RULES. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO LOOK INTO MORE? “The rules are extremely complex. It is a bit like an IRS tax code. You have to read this paper and you have to reference this paper, to reference this paper to reference this paper. When you’re head down and digging, running 38 weeks a year, oversights are going to happen. From our perspective, that’s not an excuse, I can’t really speak to other teams and how they handle it. I can speak to ours and we made a small restructuring this week to be better prepared and more mindful of what it takes to be in compliance.”
RYAN PREECE MIGHT BE THE MOST IMPROVED DRIVER OF THE YEAR. AS A TEAM OWNER, HOW IS IT TO SEE HIM SUCCEED SO EARLY AND TO FIND THAT SPEED AND EARN POINTS? “Yeah, I am really happy for him. When we brought him on, it reminded me a lot of the Chris Buescher story. When people said ‘what do you see in him?’ and ‘I don’t know if this is a good move?’ I just felt really strong about it. I like his work ethic, I like his talent. I just felt like he wasn’t in the right situation, just like I felt about Chris. It just felt like the burden was on us to put him in the right position. To allow him to thrive in the scheme that was made for him and he has done just that. He has put in the effort. He is very hungry. He is very driven. He is in a spot where he has people who believe in him, who are engaged with him. In a system that is very supportive and he is showing what he can do. I am thrilled for him. I am here to see him win. He’s been close a few times. I can’t wait to see him break through. That will be a great moment for him. Three or four years ago I feel like we were having the same conversation about Chris Buescher and now Chris is clearly the guy for the 17 car. He is doing all the right things and producing results. I feel like we are going to be saying the same thing over the next few years about Ryan.”
YOU HAVE HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS ON CONCRETE TRACKS BEFORE AT DOVER AND BRISTOL. WHAT MAKES THIS CONCRETE DIFFERENT WHERE YOU ARE STILL LOOKING FOR YOUR FIRST TOP TEN RESULT AT NASHVILLE? “We have had some really good runs here at Nashville. We haven’t been able to get the finish on the Cup side here. I won my first race ever here in NASCAR which is great, in 2008. What I have always enjoyed about it is that the concrete is just really, really unforgiving and takes a lot of discipline. When you get sideways the car is much more difficult to recover, generally. I just think it is a different type of racing than asphalt racing. I enjoy it. It is the only track above one mile that is concrete. It is something different, interesting, that kind of breaks up the schedule a little bit. We have to survive the restarts and bring speed. I think we can do both of those.”
WAS IT KIND OF NOSTALGIC LOOKING BACK WHEN YOU DROVE IN? “I was thinking that as I did the track walk this morning. I remember coming here in 2006 for an ARCA race where I worked on a team. That was 19 years ago and now I am here owning a team in the Cup series. It has been quite a ride. I am really proud to be where I am at and this track has kind of aged like fine wine. The surface here is 25-26 years old and it is in great condition. The facilities are in great condition. It is really just kind of a walk back in time for me.”
DID YOU NOTICE ANYTHING ABOUT THE BUMP IN TURN 4 BEING MORE PRONOUNCED? “No. The only thing I really noticed on the track walk is there is some significant grinding to the track in the middle of turn three and four but not at the exit of turn four. The key to this race track in the Next Gen car is that these cars are very sensitive to rough surfaces. We will get a better answer to that after practice.”
OTHER DRIVERS HAVE BEEN IN HERE TALKING ABOUT SIM TIME AND WORKOUTS. WITH YOU, AS AN OWNER, HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DELEGATE YOUR TIME SO YOU CAN DO THOSE THINGS TOO? “It is a delicate balance. Trying to make sure we have fulfilled the needs of the team and I am doing the things I need to do to be prepared as a race car driver. There is obviously a lot going on. We have a great cast of people to support me to help me be efficient with my time which is really important. Otherwise it is not achievable. There is a lot of juggling but it is part of the fun.”
ABOUT BABY WATCH PLANS? “Our baby is due in August. We have two months, which is not what my wife wants to hear. It will be around the corner which is all the more reason that a win this weekend would be great.”
