Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Quaker State 400 Qualifying
Friday, June 27, 2025
FORD RUNS ATLANTA CUP POLE STREAK TO SIX AS LOGANO CLAIMS TOP SPOT
- Joey Logano put his No. 22 Autotrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse on the pole today at EchoPark Speedway.
- Ford has won the last six NASCAR Cup Series poles at AMS (Joey Logano twice, Aric Almirola, Michael McDowell twice, and Ryan Blaney).
- Blaney won the pole for the race earlier this year at AMS.
- Ford has swept the front row in six straight AMS qualifying sessions – Logano/Berry (2025-2), Blaney/Cindric (2025-1), McDowell/Blaney (2024-2), McDowell/Logano (2024-1), Almirola/Blaney (2023-2), Logano/Cindric (2023-1).
- Team Penske has had at least one driver start on the front row in each of the last six races (Logano, 2025-2; Blaney and Cindric, 2025-1; Blaney, 2024-2; Logano, 2024-1; Blaney, 2023-2; Logano and Cindric, 2023-1)
- Ford swept the top 8 spots in the 2023 spring race.
- Ford swept the top 6 spots in the 2023 summer race.
- Ford swept the top 5 spots in the 2024 summer race.
- Ford swept the top 5 spots and 9 of the top 10 in the 2025 spring race.
- Ford swept the top 8 spots in the 2025 summer race.
Ford Qualifying Results
1st – Joey Logano
2nd – Josh Berry
3rd – Ryan Blaney
4th – Austin Cindric
5th – Ryan Preece
6th – Brad Keselowski
7th – Cole Custer
8th – Zane Smith
13th – Chris Buescher
17th – Todd Gilliland
25th – Corey LaJoie
27th – Noah Gragson
39th – Cody Ware
40th – David Starr
POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Autotrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW MUCH EASIER IS IT NOW TO CONTROL THE RACE WITH HOW QUALIFYING WENT? “It definitely helps at the start, for sure. Being up front and controlling this race is the name of the game. If you can get up there and solidify the top positions, I feel like you can stay there. The thing is there’s a lot of what-ifs that play out in this race, a lot of cautions that maybe timed in a different way where it can jumble up the field. It’s hard to say you’re gonna be leading every lap of this thing. It’s kind of a hard thing to try to accomplish. The good thing is we controlled what we could today. I’m super proud of Team Penske, Roush Yates, Ford, obviously, to keep our Mustangs up there. It really shows the ability to repeat from car to car. It’s really hard to do. When you see we tied with the 21 and I think all the other cars were all within a couple hundredths of a second, and you think of all the parts and pieces on a race car and how you can put them together, to make them all end up the same like that is pretty impressive. I’m super proud of what Team Penske has been able to do there. It shows the discipline and quality control is definitely there, so I’m proud to see that. That part is cool to show as an example today, but tomorrow is a whole new day.”
HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED OR SEEN A TIE LIKE THAT IN YOUR CAREER? “Not for the pole, no. I’m glad I’m on this end of it (laughing).”
HOW DIFFERENT IS QUALIFYING VERSUS THE RACE IN TERMS OF SETUP? DOES IT TRANSLATE? “You just don’t know, still. It’s by yourself. Everybody has the heights lowered and all that stuff for qualifying, so you don’t know. Tire pressures. Everything is different. I say everything is different, it’s not like you’re slinging springs at the thing because all we can do is pretty much adjust the heights and pressures from here. There’s no way to know.”
HAVE YOU GUYS TWEAKED YOUR GAME PLAN FOR TOMORROW OR JUST KEEP DOING WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DONE? “I’d say for stages it works really well. I’d say as the race continues, at times, we, A, get separated or, B, the intensity ratchets up and we get wrecked. Unfortunately, the wrecks nine times out of 10 start right in the front and that happens to be where we are most of the time, which is great, but with these speedway races recently the best cars, the cars that lead all the laps most of the time don’t win these days just because of the wrecks. I feel like here in Atlanta it’s a little bit different, especially tomorrow, handling is gonna come into play. It’s gonna look like the old 550 days a little bit, I think. The draft is still gonna be there, don’t get me wrong, but I think the field will definitely have a little bit of separation. Some lifting will definitely come into play, those type of things. It’s a speedway race, but it’s almost a 550 race – like right on the edge – kind of like Michigan used to be years ago.”
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH BEFORE THE END OF YOUR CAREER THAT YOU HAVEN’T ACHIEVED YET? “My goals are very short-term goals all the time. I know some people like having some goals that sit out there a long ways, but mine are simple. It’s, win the championship and win the next race. What else does it have to be? And where the stats end up, they’ll end up from there. I’ve never had a number that I was trying to reach or anything like that. I just want to win what I can win today and I’ll focus on tomorrow when that happens. I’m not saying the way he (Denny Hamlin) does it is wrong, I like the long-term plan on a lot of things, but on this one I’m looking at the hood pins.”
