Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Coke Zero Sugar 400 Media Availability
Friday, August 22, 2025
Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Menards/Maytag Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske, has clinched a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after his win earlier this year at Talladega Superspeedway. He stopped by the Daytona infield media center to discuss this weekend’s regular season finale and what lies ahead.
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Maytag Ford Mustang Dark Horse – CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT MAKES DAYTONA SO SPECIAL? “When you first think of Daytona, you think of the Daytona 500, no doubt. I think the race, though, for me, that definitely started it here was the Rolex 24, just kind of as a teenage pounding the pavement trying to find something to drive, so it was definitely surreal for me to win a Daytona 500 before I win a Rolex 24. I think that’s always kind of what I go back to, so even going back to that event every year and definitely trying to win both. It’s a special place for a lot of people for a lot of reasons, and I think that’s why race fans come to it so often.”
WHAT DID YOU COOK THIS WEEK ON THE HILL? “I learned quite a bit about some Italian cooking. I think that I can handle myself well in the kitchen, but not necessarily like over the top. It was called Spidini, which I thought was essentially an Italian burrito. It was pretty interesting. I’m not the greatest with knives and you’ve got to butterfly the chicken breast and then you’ve got to pound it thin and wrap it in a bunch of stuff. It was good. It turned out great. I think it’s probably on the short list of restaurants I’ll probably come back to when we go there in a couple of weeks. It was a fun experience. I don’t get to cook as much as I’d like to during the season because I’m hardly ever home, so it’s good to kind of branch out and learn new things.”
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS SUMMER RACE AT DAYTONA THAT MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO WIN IN CONTRAST TO THE 500? “I think when you compare and contrast the two, one, I think it’s probably a different brand of desperation that is throughout the field. I think for the 500, there’s probably a higher respect for what the win means, where here it’s all-out, whatever it takes for a good half of the field. To your point about what makes the two races different, we did have a pretty hot 500 this year, so I would say there’s probably gonna be more similarities to the 500 than maybe in years past when it was 60 or 50 degrees later in the evening. I definitely expect handling to matter. I expect lane choice to be pretty fluid and that makes decision-making pretty difficult for guys in the pack to figure out where they want to be. Usually, general confusion causes wrecks or contact or whatever else. I think it usually takes a while throughout this race for everybody to kind of get their bearings on where their car is, where they need to make it better, but also strategically where to place themselves.”
ALL OF THE TEAM PENSKE CARS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS, BUT THAT’S NOT THE CASE FOR ALL ORGANIZATIONS. DOES THAT HELP YOU GUYS AT ALL OR DOES IT COMPLICATE THINGS? “I think as far as what’s best for the company, anyway we can get playoff points it’s pretty simple and no different than any other week. If one of us can win stages and win races, that only helps all of us into the playoffs – all four of us – but, otherwise, I think the only other main priority is Ryan’s got a great chance to get up to second in points, which is obviously a ton of playoff points, whereas Joey and I don’t really have that opportunity. I’m not saying the priority will be Ryan, but if we can get Ryan points, points don’t really matter for me regular season-wise, so I think that’s really the only thing that falls in the category of what else is out there, but I think, otherwise, if we can get one of us a win, even having another Ford in the playoffs is a big deal, so we’ll do our best to try and contribute to that cause.”
DOES HOW THOSE OTHER TEAMS WORK IMPACT THINGS AT ALL? “I definitely make sure as a competitor that I keep myself as educated as possible on what everybody’s priorities are because you have to understand the decision-making of those around you to make your own decisions, so there’s definitely a ton of priorities throughout the field. Who cares about points and who doesn’t and who just needs to win. Who has the experience enough to win versus who doesn’t. It’s a super interesting dynamic as a competitor to kind of overview this, whereas maybe the Daytona 500 is a little simpler. You just know everybody wants to win and that’s it.”
FORD HAS LED OVER HALF THE LAPS ON DRAFTING TRACKS IN THE NEXT GEN CAR. ANY MARCHING ORDERS IN TERMS OF HELPING RFK OR FRONT ROW, IF POSSIBLE? “I just think it’s highly encouraged. We can obviously help our own playoff situations with the cars that are already in the playoffs, but, otherwise, if one of those guys is in position to win, that’s a huge deal to have more Fords in the playoffs. If I have a choice to push a Ford or a different manufacturer across the line, I’m pushing that Ford every time, no doubt.”
WHERE IS THE STATUS OF THAT WHOLE PLAYOFF MODE WITH YOUR TEAM GOING INTO THIS FINAL REGULAR SEASON RACE? “I think there’s a lot that goes into that, but I think it’s just pressure on execution, where maybe others don’t have the luxury of going out and just trying to go for a win every week because that’s the situation they’re in, whereas the focus for the first two rounds of the playoffs has to be how well do you execute? How well do you keep yourself in the game? That’s what the playoffs are all about, I feel like, for the Round of 16 and the Round of 12 and if having that execution generates good finishes, then good thing to come I think for our group. So, obviously last weekend was a great example of really good execution top to bottom and really good speed, so we’ve got to keep that going. I think that’s not a highlight. I would say that’s a necessity to have a life in the playoffs for us.”
DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SCHEDULE BEFORE IT’S RELEASED OR IS IT A SURPRISE TO YOU? “I get an email two minutes before the press release comes out, which you guys might get that same email. I have probably already missed the email by the time I’ve seen the tweets.”
DO YOU LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE FROM A PERSONAL STANDPOINT OR IS IT MORE STRATEGIC? “I live week to week during the season, so I would say it’s definitely something as we do our end of year review that we look at and segment along. ‘OK, we have x amount of intermediates in a row here. This is gonna be a good gauge for where we’re at and what we can do and try.’ It’s kind of the relevancy and top of mind, but, otherwise, I think the only quick glance is you look at where the off week is and then you see that there’s two and you’re like, ‘Yes!’ But, honestly, I think that’s super important in the way it’s staggered, too. The way we had it this year by having it on Easter is great, but you’re kind of just getting into the rhythm of the season and then you have to grind all the way through November, whereas next year we have one right before the playoff push starts and everyone gets to rest. The summer does become a grind. It’s interesting because, for whatever reason, whether if it’s going out and promoting races or doing events with sponsors, everything happens during the summer to where it’s not just the summer stretch of driving, but the summer stretch of promoting and being an ambassador for your partners. That all seems to happen at once during the summertime, so it’s pretty easy to get burned out and this is coming from a guy that has no family or kids or a dog or anything else. It’s just like, if I’m not at my house, I’m not letting anybody down, so it’s a lot harder on others than just me, but I think for the guys and anyone that travels, as you all know. I think that’s exciting, but also the addition of some tracks and things shifting around are obviously highlights. The one thing that I didn’t see was the trucks going to St. Pete. I’m very jealous. That was always a favorite event for me. I look at it as that’s an event like, I don’t know if I’ll ever get to drive that track again. If I want to go to Laguna Seca, I can go do a track day at Laguna Seca. I can go get my fix, whereas they’re not gonna board up the streets of St. Petersburg just for me. I’m gonna have to go be in a car and race somewhere. I’d like to. That would be cool, but that’s definitely a cool addition.”
WOULD YOU RATHER GO TO A DESTINATION TRACK LIKE SAN DIEGO OR THE HISTORIC PLACE LIKE NORTH WILKESBORO? ANY PREFERENCE? “Now you’re starting to ask for my opinion and those don’t matter (laughing). There are a ton of racetracks in North America that I think we would all love to go to, whether those are short tracks or road courses or street circuits. There’s a long list, but I think NASCAR has done a really good job of creating a mixture, but also not being afraid to try new things and I think our fan base really relates to that as well because it’s something fun and new to watch. Even if it’s not a home run, it’s still gonna make you tune in and think about it and have everyone talking about it. I think having Chicagoland back on the schedule will really suit this car. I think everyone can agree on that. It’s been a while since we’ve been there, so it will be interesting to see what that track is like and how it’s aged.”
HOW COUNTERINTUITIVE IS IT TO SAVE FUEL AT A PLACE LIKE THIS WHEN YOU’RE USED TO MATTING THE GAS? “I don’t know. I guess at this point it’s not really counterintuitive. I mean, you look at other forms of racing. The Indy 500, for example. I feel like that race plays out no differently. I think just how you use your current situation in the race to your advantage or your situational awareness and what’s tough to cover is that I feel like everybody’s situation is different. A lot of the time, everybody isn’t saving fuel or saving the same amount of fuel or doing the same tactics. There’s a lot of things that are probably really difficult to cover as far as what goes on, but it just emphasizes the pit cycles and what’s important about that, but you have a caution and everything changes.”
DO YOU THINK SOME DRIVERS ARE BETTER AT IT THAN OTHERS? “I think it’s subjective. It’s situation-based. Just because I made a better fuel number, like I saved more gas and had better gas mileage, does not mean I’m going to gain positions from it. I’m not guaranteed that. It’s a play for track position. It’s a play for lane choice, and when you add the element of handling that you’ll have on Saturday night, it’s just another factor that complicates your decision-making. So, I think it is key to expecting to be towards the front of the field, to have that in your playbook.”
HOW HAPPY ARE YOU TO SEE GATEWAY IN THE PLAYOFFS SINCE YOU WON THERE LAST YEAR? “Our team, for whatever reason, has really been strong at that racetrack. I do feel like it suits our engine package with the Ford Mustang and Roush Yates. I feel like there’s no reason why we can’t go back and have some strengths, but we have a different tire there this time and obviously it’s a different time of year as well. It’s a fun racetrack for sure. It’s very unique compared to other tracks of that size on the schedule, but Darlington and the Southern 500, having that before that race and then Bristol afterwards, you can look at St. Louis as a race everyone wants to have a base hit at because the other two are so unpredictable. I feel like after Darlington, two or three guys in the playoff grid are already in dire straits, so it’s kind of about getting there and still having the freedom to go push hard, instead of being in savings mode.”
DO YOU ENVISION SOME OF THE GUYS NEEDING A WIN TO PUSH HARDER AND NOT LAY BACK TO SAVE FUEL? “You just described what’s difficult about my job this weekend. No doubt. If I had the answer, I would probably go out and win the race, so I think that all shifts because they’re all human-based decisions, whether it’s because I sat in some meeting with my manufacturer and we all decided we were gonna do this, or I sat in a meeting with my team and we all decided we were gonna do this, or I drive for a single-car team and I’m gonna do whatever I want, or I’m tired of saving fuel and I’m just gonna go to the front and hope a caution comes out or whatever else. There are a million ways to do it and that’s why I like to say it’s very situational about where you’re at, where you’re running, where you restarted, how your car is handling. All the things. What gives you the highest percentage chance of going for it, but there have definitely been shifts of guys pushing different strategies to try and think outside of the box, and I do feel like we have a lot of versatility with the fuel mileage that we make and with the speed in our cars that we can make most of those things work. When people ask me what’s made us so good at speedway racing, I’m telling you it’s because I have a fast race car. I’m pretty confident my guys have built me another fast race car for this weekend and hoping that we can get the strategy right, read the field and understand what it takes to be up at the front.”
RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse, and Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 60 Kroger Ford Mustang Dark Horse, both need a victory in tomorrow night’s scheduled NASCAR Cup Series race in order to qualify for the playoffs. Both men spoke about their situations before qualifying this afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DO YOU HANDLE BOTH TRYING TO HELP EACH OTHER, KNOWING YOU NEED TEAMMATES TO GET TO THE FRONT BUT THEN KNOWING YOU’RE PROBABLY GOING TO HAVE TO LEAVE THE OTHER ONE TO TRY AND WIN? “If I dump him stage one, I don’t have have to worry about it later is what you’re getting at, right? We know how plate racing has been for RFK and how competitive we’ve been at these things and how much fun they are for us and how important it is to work together as teammates. Ultimately, there’s only ever one winner, so every time you come into a speedway race and you work with your teammates and you always have the mindset of push each other and get each other as far forward as possible until there are no cars left to pass, and then you work it out amongst yourselves. I still say that there’s no doubt in my mind that you come off of turn four and if you’re helping each other all day, then all bets are off at that point – or maybe earlier, I don’t know. But, you know what? It’ll be a race and I think the normal teammate, I don’t know, I wouldn’t even say agreement, but the normal kind of mindset is you’re gonna race each other hard, but be respectful about it. Ultimately, you hope that we have three of our Mustangs with the ability to have a shot to win the race at the end and we’ll just duke it out all the way to the line.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/Little Bites/Capri Sun Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “To be honest with you, Chris has always been somebody that I’ve found myself trying to work with, whether I was teammates with him or not, so that makes it that much easier. Brad has always been, statistically, when you look at these races, even when he gets wrecked or something happens, he’s racing for the win, so the way I look at this race is our jobs are to get up in the first few rows and work with each other to get there, but if Brad and Chris are in the first two rows, it’s my job to find myself there to work with them and put RFK or one of us in position coming to the line winning. Whether that be Chris out front or Brad or myself, you want to be selfish as a driver, but understanding the main goal for the company and the employees and everybody there it’s very important that one of these cars gets into the playoffs because our speed, we’ve shown it throughout this year. Chris has had multiple times where things didn’t come together, myself included as well as Brad, so I think if one of our cars can get into the playoffs, it’s gonna be a serious threat.”
CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE SCHEDULE FOR NEXT YEAR OR HAVEN’T YOU LOOKED THAT FAR AHEAD YET? “I haven’t actually looked at it yet. Somebody said something about San Diego and Sonoma were close together, so I checked in to see if that was the case and that’s the extent of my skimming through. There’s been a lot going on as we’ve headed into this week, so that just hasn’t quite made it to the front of the list yet.”
RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – “There are some different changes for sure. I’m a fan of I believe it goes Iowa, Richmond or Richmond, Iowa, whichever way, and then New Hampshire, so those are three specific tracks that I’m actually excited about going to all in a certain period leading up into the playoffs. I think that was a neat change as well as some of the different ones like going to San Diego. I saw the Dover change to the All-Star and being from the northeast area, I think if there’s some changes, then I’m excited to see what the All-Star format ends up being and potentially whatever is changed or not changed, I think that could play out to be something special and different. Outside of that, I think it was definitely important to add a weekend off, not just for us but I think for all of these crew guys with families. I thought that was a good addition just because how many weeks did we go straight – 28 weeks straight? That’s a tough schedule for a lot of these guys that have families at home, so I thought that was a great addition as well.”
CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – SO THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THAT IS NOT A BIG DEAL TO YOU GUYS AS IT IS TO EVERYBODY ELSE? “I’ve heard some of this just in passing and I think you’ve heard about the possibility of Homestead becoming the last race again. We found that out for sure, but there are a lot of neat changes through there and I think that’s really cool to have something different or coming back to Homestead. The extra off weekend. I just haven’t dove off into next year and it’s probably something I normally would more, it’s just cut off week.”
RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – CINDRIC SAID IT WOULD BE GOOD TO GET ANOTHER FORD IN THE PLAYOFFS, SO YOU MIGHT GET SOME ADDITIONAL HELP WHICH IS SOMETHING YOU WOULD PROBABLY LOOK FORWARD TO, RIGHT? “Yeah, I think it’s a good move from an OEM standpoint. All of us racing for Ford, the main goal is for Ford to compete for a championship and the more cars that are Fords that are in it, that gives us more opportunity. I feel like all of us, not only within RFK, but Penske and Front Row and Rick Ware, we work well together and we try to make sure that at the end of these races the Blue Oval is the one going to Victory Lane. If we have the opportunity to have the support from Penske, who are locked in already, it would be a great opportunity for one of our cars to get locked in as well.”
CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – “I think that’s fair. You’ve seen OEM’s sticking together a lot as we’ve gone speedway racing. It’s really been a thing probably sneaking up on a decade now. It’s become a big part of how we approach these and who you work with because you need friends when you come down, you go through your pit cycles, you need the numbers to make speed, and we have better tools now to have more communication across different organizations as well, so it just helps it play into everyone’s hands where the OEM’s or you’re able to bump up your numbers. Teams that have five cars kind of have their own group already, but for teams that have one, two, three cars, you need to have some sort of an alliance and that’s helped us be able to stack numbers through the years. So, yeah, it’s something that we’ve already practiced quite a bit, but certainly knowing that there’s a handful within our group that are locked in, we’ll take all the assistance we can get. We don’t want anything given to us, but we’ll take all we can for a little push or shove here or there.”
CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – HAS THERE BEEN ANY DISCUSSION AT RFK ABOUT THE ETIQUETTE IF YOU THREE ARE BATTLING EACH OTHER FOR THE WIN? ARE THERE CERTAIN EXPECTATIONS? “All bets are off might be a little stretch, but is it thou shall not wreck their teammate? Until at least they can go across the line backwards and finish second (laughing). I don’t know. Maybe there’s a timing etiquette in there that’s important, but, again, we have worked really well together through the years and even like Ryan was talking about before we were teammates. We’ve been around each other. We’ve been able to find ourselves towards the front of these races and it’s hard to win them. So much happens in those closing laps, but you’ve got to make the best decisions you can in the moment and it’s not really feasible to say you’re three cars acting as one the entire time. You do your best, but a lot of times there’s just not the opportunity to keep three cars in a line pushing and making best speed at all given points, so, yes, there have been conversations and there is a mindset. You certainly don’t want to be wiping each other out. That’s not what we’re getting at when we say we’re gonna race each other hard all the way to the line, but I still say had things materialized a little differently, and I’ll say this because Brad isn’t here, but I still say had a run materialized a little bit differently behind him a couple years back that there would have been tire marks all up and down the side of my car to the start-finish line and maybe it’s a little easier for him because he’s the owner too and not just a teammate. I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but it’s not how that last corner played out and just the momentum shifted, but it’s in my mind. He probably would have turned me if we would have gotten all the way to the tri-oval had it been necessary.”
RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – “For me and Chris and Brad, we’ve talked about it. The end goal is that one of us ends up in the playoffs, so it’s really hard to sit here and tell you what we’re all gonna do because we don’t know how that last lap is gonna play out, what order we’re gonna be in. We just know that if there’s an opportunity and when there is an opportunity throughout the race is to help each other, use each other to get to the front and control the race and if you’re not up front, it’s your job to get there. So, I guess it’s really tough to say. I think we’re all pretty selfish as race car drivers. That’s what we want to be and do, but in the back of our minds at the same time we know how important it is for the company to make sure that one of us gets in the playoffs, so whoever that is, that has the best opportunity at that point in time, we’re gonna do the best we can to make sure that it happens.”
CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE FORD HAS WON A RACE. COULD YOU TALK ABOUT IF YOU FEEL THIS IS A PLACE FORD HAS AN ADVANTAGE? “I did not realize that either. I know that ultimately we’ve been close and we’ve had really good days and we’ve had some rough days mixed in there as well over the past couple of months. I think a lot of it is situational and we just know that it’s hard to win these races now. The field is closer than ever and you just have to be perfect. It comes down to details in all these races to be able to pull it off and we just haven’t been able to get all the details right in any one given race, so that’s kind of where we’ve fallen short a couple of times. I don’t look at our chances as being worse from a Ford or manufacturers side here, or an RFK side or any of that. There was a time we looked at speedway racing within our little core group at RFK and speedway racing was circled as a better chance than anywhere else, but I’m pretty proud to say that’s not our company right now. We feel good no matter where we’re heading into and feel like we have equal opportunities at a lot of different styles of racetracks and this one being another one of those. Obviously, there’s a factor in this one that is chaos, it’s mindsets of cut offs. There are probably only three or four cars that are legitimately trying to chase any points in the race. A lot of different things that will come into it and keep it exciting throughout the evening. I know we don’t practice and a single lap of qualifying doesn’t really show you anything for the race, but I know our cars will be fast. I know they will drive really well. They will push and take a push really well. The field knows that and we’re able to find help because of that as well, so I think that we have a very strong opportunity here, not because it’s a speedway, simply because this has been a good track for our organization as a whole.”
RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – DOES IT MAKE IT EASIER OR HARDER THAT ALL THREE OF YOU GENUINELY SEEM TO LIKE EACH OTHER? “Chris and I, it’s a genuine, easy relationship to have. As far as not just a working relationship, but just very similar interests. When we’re around each other it’s not a competitive nature of, ‘Man, I need to beat my teammate.’ It’s, ‘Hey, what can I do to help him,’ just as I assume when he’s around me I notice that same reciprocation of whenever I need help, he helps me, or if I catch him at a mile-and-a-half or whatever, he doesn’t make it very difficult for me to get by. He’ll help me as I feel like you do for Brad, I do for Brad and Brad does for us. It’s a relationship and a great team atmosphere to try and make sure at the end of the day we’re all getting the best results for our team. If we’re racing for one, two, three, then we’ve got to race. But if one of us is extremely fast in that moment, I think we’re really good with our race craft and our race knowledge and not trying to hurt each other in the building. We are all trying to help rise each other up, so that makes it fun. I would echo Chris because there are moments in the past where when we come to a superspeedway this is your only opportunity to truthfully have a shot at winning. I feel like us at RFK and really how strong of a foundation it is right now, when we go to mile-and-a-halves, road courses, Daytona, Talladega and working on the short track stuff, we have speed and we have an opportunity every single weekend that we feel like we can win, so that makes it fun as a race car driver.”
CHRIS BUESCHER CONTINUED – HENDRICK AND GIBBS EACH HAVE ONE CAR THAT AREN’T LOCKED IN. DO THEY HAVE AN ADVANTAGE IN THAT THE OTHERS CAN TRY TO HELP THAT ONE, WHEREAS ALL THREE OF YOU NEED TO GET IN? IS IT A MORE DIFFICULT DYNAMIC FOR YOU GUYS? “Yeah, I wish we had three locked in right now. I would definitely like the role reversal there. That would make our day easier. The part where it’s coming down and there’s basically one spot available and there are three of us. It’s not what we wanted to be doing at this point in the year. It’s the same questions that we’ve been talking through for three or even four months now about playoffs and cuts and all this and ultimately it’s gonna take a win to get in. I think we’ve understood where it’s been the entire time. This isn’t any kind of shock or surprise for us. I just thought we’d be able to win a race by now. One of our big goals this season over last on the 17 side was how do we make sure we’re more competitive in these first two or three months than we have been year over year, and we certainly have done that. We’ve been strong, it’s just, again, it takes everything going right in that moment to lock yourself in to where you’re able to come in here in a better scenario, so it’s a better situation to have cars locked in. Does it change the way our race goes? Probably not really because we all need to be up front and having an opportunity to win, so that puts each of our individual best interests at RFK aligned, that we all just want to work together and make good decisions and be up front at the end and, like Ryan said, you’re not just racing your teammates. That’s not what we’re trying to accomplish here. We’re racing the field, but as a racer and as competitors you want to be a part of those highlight moments in sports. That doesn’t mean you have to wreck anybody to get in. It means you have good, hard racing and you put a tire mark on a door down to the line and look back and say, ‘Man, that was a good race.’ So, we’re just trying to get to that point. It’s a very roundabout answer to your question, but, yes, I would trade with them and have three or two of our three locked in and be in that scenario. That’s definitely a better spot to be, but does it change how our races are approached? I don’t necessarily think so.”
RYAN PREECE CONTINUED – “For me, when I sit in our meetings it’s the will to win. I see Chris’ team. I see Brad’s team. I see our team, and I see fast race cars when we come to superspeedways. Honestly, yeah, they have three cars that are locked in, but we have three race teams that have extremely fast race cars that take control of these races, so if you’re gonna try to win this race, I guarantee you’re gonna have to go through an RFK car to win. I feel like we’re in a strong position to get one of our cars in and good luck to the other ones that are gonna have to get through us.”
