Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Martinsville Media Availability
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Ford’s Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney have combined to win three Martinsville playoff races in the NASCAR Cup Series and a win by either one tomorrow would result in another trip to the Championship 4. Both Team Penske drivers answered questions in the infield media center before today’s practice and qualifying sessions about their situation.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – THIS COULD BE THE LAST YEAR OF THE ONE RACE CHAMPIONSHIP. DURING THAT WEEK CAN YOU TREAT IT LIKE ANY OTHER WEEK? “No, because it’s not. It’s not a normal week. It’s the championship week. You have a chance of reaching your ultimate goal. It’s kind of hard to treat that like a normal week. I said this last year and I’ll say it forever, if you say it’s a normal week, it’s just a way to help you sleep because you can’t sleep. The facts are you know it inside. Everybody knows it inside. It’s more. The pressure is on. It’s bigger. You’re closer to reaching the dream. What are you willing to do? Everything is just a little more.”
AND HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT THAN THIS WEEK WHERE YOU PRETTY MUCH HAVE TO PERFORM AS WELL? “The 10 weeks are tough. It’s a grind. Every week is tough and the pressure ratchets up every week and it affects you, there’s no doubt. I would assume it affects everyone. I don’t see how it doesn’t if you care enough about it. If you care, you’re gonna be digging deep and trying to find that little bit more and what’s it gonna take and all that. The balance gets pretty offset in the playoffs a lot of times of what is your main goal and this time of year it’s always about winning championships and your balance kind of ticks a little bit more and you might have a little shorter fuse and all those type of things. That happens.”
HOW DO YOU COME BACK FROM THE MOMENTS WHEN YOU FEEL YOU’RE ON EDGE AND KEEP YOURSELF SANE ON A WEEKEND LIKE THIS? “When I say it affects you, it affects some people negatively, sure, but, to me, I’ve found ways to make it affect me in a positive way, where it just helps me find a little bit more, it’s a little extra motivation, it’s a little extra fire. Those things are all good things. Some people might overdue it. Some people might do it to where they make mistakes. We see that throughout the playoffs all the time, the way the pressure affects everyone – teams, not just drivers, but teams all the way through – crew members, the whole nine, everybody. That’s why I always say I love this format so much because it puts everyone in this crazy position, a really challenging position.”
DOES IT ADD TO THE CHALLENGE THAT YOU AND BLANEY ARE IN A MUST-WIN SITUATION? “It’s a good observation (laughing). Yeah, we’re not in the spot we want to be in, but there’s still a chance. We’re not out yet. It’s not the best position to be in, but it’s pretty simple on what to do unless something crazy happens in the first 50 laps to the other guys, which I wouldn’t expect. It’s pretty clear what we’ve got to do. We have to go out there and win and do whatever we’ve got to do to do it.”
HOW DO YOU COMPARE THE PRESSURE OF THIS RACE JUST TO MAKE THE TITLE RACE AS OPPOSED TO THE PRESSURE OF NEXT WEEK WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP? “Again, it ratchets up. It’s so hard to make the Championship 4. It’s an accomplishment to make the Championship 4. It’s a hard thing to do, but when you make the Championship 4, and I know it because I’ve been on both ends of it, the feeling of not winning after you’ve come that far hurts so bad because you never know. You may never get a chance to do that again. You don’t know, so all you want to do is make sure that you’ve done everything you can possibly do to be the most prepared you can be because the biggest fear that I have every weekend but probably even more when it’s a championship race is that you’re gonna go to sleep at the end of the day saying, ‘Gosh, I didn’t do everything I could have done,’ or, ‘I didn’ think of that. That was one piece that I just didn’t think would happen. I didn’t see that one coming. I didn’t cover that base.’ That’s my biggest fear. If something happens out of your control, so be it. I’ve been there as well, but if it’s something I can control and I didn’t think about it, that will haunt you the rest of your life.”
DOES IT HELP YOU SLEEP A LITTLE EASIER CONSIDERING THE FACT BLANEY HAS WON HERE AND AT PHOENIX TO WIN THE TITLE? “Not really. It’s been a good track for us. There’s no doubt it’s been a good track. I look at anybody in the position that we’re in right now, those bottom four cars, everyone’s got to win and everyone has done it here. That’s the crazy part is everybody is good here and that’s what it is. You get to this round of the playoffs and everybody is good. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what it’s supposed to be. You have the most solid teams in the Round of 8 and it’s a heavyweight fight right to the end here. You have a bunch of dogs out there trying to make it happen. It’s gonna be an exciting race. It’s gonna be something to watch, that’s for sure.”
CAN YOU GIVE A GENERAL IDEA OF WHAT YOU GUYS ARE TALKING ABOUT WHEN PREPARING FOR THESE SITUATIONS? “It probably depends on what part of the week you want to talk about. I think everybody probably does it a little bit different – what works for you or your team and those type of things. Some drivers are different. Some drivers don’t want to know what’s in their car or really care about it. They just want to focus on the driving part. Every team is different. Every driver is different, so I can’t speculate on what anybody else is doing. I know, for me, I just want to know everything that’s going on. That’s why when you hear Coleman on the radio he’s constantly talking. A lot of drivers hate that. I love it. I want to know everything, so you can imagine if that’s how I am in the race, imagine what I’m like before the race. I just want to know everything that’s going on. It’s everything. To answer your question, D, all of the above.”
WAS THERE A NIGHT WHEN YOU WENT TO SLEEP AND FELT YOU HADN’T DONE ALL YOU COULD? “I think there are moments just in life that are like that. It doesn’t have to be just in a race car or in a race. There are times that you walk into a situation that you weren’t prepared for. I think everyone can relate to that, whether that’s walking into a meeting or something that just went completely sideways that you didn’t see coming because you didn’t take the time to get ready. Those type of things. Yes, it’s happened in races. It happens often and that’s why you get better at it because you’re like, ‘Geez, I didn’t see that one coming. The next time I’ll know.’ You don’t ever want to make the same mistake twice, but you also want to make sure that you’ve prepped in all the right areas, or at least the areas that will come your way the most. Yeah, it happens a lot for me.”
HOW DO YOU GO INTO AN EVENT TRYING TO PUT UP GUARDRAILS AND TRYING TO DO IT THE RIGHT WAY? “That’s a hard place to be because we’ve seen so many times desperate people do desperate things and what are you willing to do and can you justify that in your mind somehow. It’s tough because it’s a true test of your morals, if I’m being honest. There are times you’re just like, ‘Is this the right thing to do or not?’ And to your point, you kind of have to think about that stuff beforehand. Also, every action has a reaction and most likely depending on what you do to get in, you’ve still got to race next week. I’ve said it before, you may get in the Championship 4, but don’t win it doesn’t mean anything. It’s nice to say you got there, but you didn’t win, you don’t get the trophy, does it really matter? Not really. So, you kind of have to think more than just the race ahead of you. There’s gonna be a race next week. The same drivers will be out there. The same cars. You’ve got to think about all that stuff. It’s still a hard place to be. It’s a very challenging place to put us and I’m not saying I’ve done the right thing every time, but I can’t really think of things in my mind that I look back at and go, ‘Gosh, that was the wrong play.’ I haven’t done nothing that I can say that I feel like personally, and probably others will disagree, but, to me, a bump and run in turn three to make it to the Championship 4 is fine. Completely wiping him out and dumping him and backing him into the fence? Probably too far. That’s my opinion. Everyone is gonna have a different one.”
YOU PROBABLY TELL YOU KIDS YOU CAN’T WIN ALL THE TIME EVEN THOUGH YOU WANT TO WIN ALL THE TIME. HAVE YOU EVER HAD THAT? YOU CAN’T WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP EVERY YEAR. “You can. Honestly, that’s what I would tell my kids. Yeah, you can win every game. You can win every race. You have the opportunity to win all of them. I don’t know, Jimmie Johnson won five in a row, so I guess you can. He’s pretty good at that. I’m sure somebody told him that you can’t win all of them at some point and he probably laughed and said, ‘Watch this.’ And he won five of them in a row. I just have never had that attitude. Just because you’ve won three in the past means you’re all set and you can just coast the rest of your career. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do that to my team either, or my fans or my sponsors – to Roger. I can win them all. That at least better be my attitude. I know that’s never happened before that someone has won 36 races, but I promise you I try to win 36 of them.”
DO YOU SEEM YOU’RE MORE COMPETITIVE THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN? “Yeah, I feel like I’m still a great driver. I’m a smarter driver than I was last year. You keep becoming smarter. The game changes and you have to evolve. That’s a challenging piece. There’s no doubt as the cars change and those types of things. It’s a challenge, but the more experience you have, the smarter you will be. You have to use that as an advantage. That’s kind of what I have is an advantage at the moment over the majority now because I’ve been doing it longer and I’ve learned the hard way quite a few times. That’s valuable.”
IS THE FEELING ANY DIFFERENT WHEN YOU ARE THE REIGNING CHAMPION TRYING TO MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4 OR IS IT THE SAME FEELING NO MATTER WHAT? “It’s the same, no different.”
DOES IT SPEAK TO HOW COMPETITIVE THIS ROUND IS WITH THE POSITION YOU GUYS ARE IN, OR IS IT JUST HOW TOUGH THE PLAYOFFS ARE OVERALL? “The playoffs are tough and we’re in this position that we’re in because we didn’t do good enough during the regular season. That’s the bottom line. If we had 30-plus more playoff points, which some had, we’d be sitting there saying, ‘Boy, we could point our way in,’ even with having a mediocre first two races of the round. We’d still have a chance because all of those races matter, but we didn’t have a really good regular season, so now we’re put in a spot to where we have to win. We’re not out. We still have a great chance, but we only have really one avenue of getting there. That’s the difference. That’s why we are where we are. It’s simple enough.”
ARE THERE THINGS YOU’RE ABLE TO GLEAN FROM WHAT THE 12 TEAM HAS DONE IN THE FALL RACES THAT PROVIDE ANY AH-HA MOMENTS FOR YOUR TEAM? “It’s hard to call them ah-ha moments. I can see it all and look at it all. Doing it, it takes a lot to apply things because it’s not just, ‘OK, we’ll just copy the trace.’ Well, why is he driving it that way? What does he need to do that? There’s no doubt that Ryan is really strong here. The last few races he’s been good. Last spring was maybe not one of his better ones, but the majority of the last 10 races here have been really solid, so we naturally look at that and it’s, ‘OK, what can I apply as a driver?’ Obviously, we see setup stuff of what they’re doing and that type of stuff, but he’s got a couple traits that are pretty apparent that he’s really good at and trying to fight your natural instincts to drive like someone is hard to do. It’s asking a basketball player to shoot a different style. I don’t know. This is how I do it. I’ve done this for years and now you’ve got to try something different and that’s hard to do. It doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it’s just you’ve got to try to buy into it and understand why and try to apply certain things like that. You do that every week with other drivers that are good at certain tracks and those types of things. You try to find those things, yeah.”
FROM THE START OF THE NEXT GEN CAR TO NOW, HOW HAS THE RACING EVOLVED IN THESE LAST FEW YEARS HERE AT MARTINSVILLE? “I’m assuming the left side tire is gonna wear a little bit more. We’ve kind of had that come back whereas before these cars were pretty much bolted to the racetrack all the time. The tires weren’t falling off. You’re shifting, your just matting the gas and you never paid a price. It’s starting to come back to where you’re gonna pay a little bit of a price if you hammer it too hard. That’s good for racing here. The way you pass cars is a lot different here now than it used to be. You used to be able to take the air off of the car in front of you a little bit and loosen him up on the exit. Now, the trailing car has a really hard time just maintaining directly behind. You see cars trying to widen out and trying to find air. That’s a lot different, so that changes a little bit of restarts and those type of things compared to the old car at least. It’s a lot different race. Even watching the Xfinity cars today. They’re so different. Those cars are so different from what we’re driving now. They don’t drive the same, but the definitely don’t race the same because the aerodynamics are so different. I know we’re at Martinsville, but it still plays an effect.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHERE DID YOUR SECOND GRANDFATHER CLOCK GO AND DO YOU HAVE PLANS FOR WHERE A THIRD ONE WOULD GO? “The second one is still at the race shop a year later. It’s in the box still, so I’ve got to find room for that. I’ll make some room. I haven’t found a home for the second one yet, but I will find it and if we’re lucky enough to get a third one, I’ll find that one a home too. Hopefully, it doesn’t live in the shop for another year. I’ve been lazy on picking it up, but we’ll find space.”
HASSLER SAID YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC FEEL FOR WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR OUT OF THE CAR AND YOU CAN TELL BY PRACTICE ON SATURDAY. HOW DO YOU ADAPT THROUGH A WEEKEND HERE TO FIND WHAT YOU NEED? “It’s kind of an interesting practice session to the race type thing. Bristol is pretty similar as far as practice to race. A lot of the concrete tracks like I put Dover in there too, you’re gonna have a completely different track to start a practice than what you end with, even in the second group. And then the end of the race it’s gonna be a lot different too just the amount of rubber that gets put down, so I try to think back on previous races here, like how were we in practice and what did we change or what did I need going into the race and was it the right direction or was it kind of different than what I thought it was gonna be and just kind of compare all that stuff. You just try to guess and it’s gonna be pretty cool today and tomorrow. I think it’s gonna be about the same temp as the race tomorrow when we get practice in today, so that helps. You’re not two completely different temperatures, so, yeah, just a lot of previous notes, history, and then just trying to have that feel and, ‘hey, if I’m this way in practice, I kind of need to be prepared for the track to take this little step in this certain direction and let’s guard against that or let’s work towards that, kind of if I need double of what I think I need at the time.’ A lot of track history and experience definitely helps that out and you hope you hit it right.”
HOW MUCH LUCK OR FORTUNE DO YOU NEED TO WIN A RACE HERE? “I think that was just a figure of speech. I don’t think you need any luck to win here. I was really just saying lucky to have won here a few times. I just find myself lucky to be in not specifically anything lucky that happened during these races, it’s just lucky to have a car that can go win and be able to win in Victory Lane. It’s just a long race, like 500 laps around here is a lot and a lot of shifts, a lot of things that can go wrong, a lot of things that can go right, so you’ve just kind of have to stay in the game. We’ve stayed in the game the last two fall races here and been able to pull it off and come from behind to get the win, so we’ll see if we can just be in the game tomorrow. That’s all you can really ask for and hopefully our car has the speed to do it and hopefully we adjust on it through the day and through the race to make it happen. I wouldn’t say lucky by any means. I always feel lucky with the chances I’ve gotten through my life.”
IS IT PATIENCE? IS IT PERSEVERANCE TO BE ABLE TO GO THROUGH THREE OF THE BEST LIKE THE HENDRICK GUYS? WHAT DOES IT TAKE? “Yeah, I had to do that last year. Heck, I think last year it was the same thing – none of them were locked in, so you know you’re in for a battle and you’re in for a challenge when you’re racing against the guys that have to get in that are in the same spot as you and things like that. Gosh, last year was an awesome finish of the race between me, Chase and Kyle. Three guys under a blanket duking it out and we were able to come out on top. I expect the same thing – hard racing all the way through and fairly clean racing you hope. There’s gonna be contact, but you just hope it doesn’t turn into a cluster like we’ve seen here in the past. I think we’ve been doing it the right way and the way Martinsville is supposed to be raced. You know you’re in for a battle. It’s gonna be a crazy one tomorrow. Four guys gotta win. Two guys kind of having their own little points deal going on and battling not to be the bottom seed in case one of us do win, so it’ll be a wild day and hopefully we’re in the mix. That’s all you can ask for.”
WRAPPING THE CURVE IS SOMETHING A LOT OF PEOPLE FEEL YOU’RE REALLY GOOD AT. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO DO WELL TO SUCCEED HERE? “Yeah, I think it varies. I’ve seen races won here kind of like a big diamond in the middle of the corner, entering on the curb and fading up and then coming down the racetrack and exiting low. I’ve seen second lane dominance here win the race. I’ve seen curb wrapping win the race. I think each driver just has their own style of how they approach it and I have just always approached it that way of kind of trying to carry a ton of speed right along the curb. I feel like I’m at my best when I can do that because I’m comfortable doing that. I always look for my car to be able to do that, so, yeah, I think it’s just driver preference and then what will your car do. What does your car do the best and how do you kind of get the most out of it in that case.”
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE TIRES WITH THESE WEATHER CONDITIONS? “I don’t know. We get asked that a lot before practice when we have a new tire, ‘What do you expect?’ I have no idea. I’ll have a better answer for you in about an hour-and-a-half. It’s supposed to be softer with more wear. They’ve been working on that for the left side tire especially. The lefts seem to be tougher to wear out than the rights for sure, and I definitely think it’s on the right path, but I just hope it lays some rubber down. I know when it’s cool like this, it usually doesn’t like to lay rubber down, so hopefully this tire helps do that, but we’ll find out. I just hope it continues to go down the path that Goodyear has been working on of wearing out, and if you get too much of it, you’re gonna be in trouble, which I think it’s how race tires should be.”
CAN YOU SPEAK TO THE CONFIDENCE OF WINNING HERE IN THE FALL AND GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP RACE AND WINNING IT ALL? “When we were able to win this race in ‘23, we carried a bunch of confidence over that week. I felt like we were in a great mindset and doing it last year. I feel like we had the same mindset of I’m a big believer in momentum and confidence and things like that, and it can change your outlook on things. It’s just how you open your eyes in the morning. If you’re confident, it changes your outlook on the day ahead of you. It was definitely a big factor in us winning in ‘23. It was a big factor in us contending last year and almost getting it done again, so I’ve been fortunate to be part of two of those, winning Martinsville and going to Phoenix. And everyone remembers the most recent winner, not only the outside world, but your competitors. They remember who won last week and who is looking good, so it’s a big confidence boost and hopefully we can be in that position. We’ve got to get the job done tomorrow to have that week.”
HOW MUCH PATIENCE DO YOU HAVE WITH SLOWER CARS BEFORE YOU START MOVING THEM? “It depends what moment of the race it is. I compare it to like last year when I was third and kind of running down the 9 and the 5, the 9 got around the 5 and I laid the bumper to the 5 pretty quickly because I didn’t have time. I didn’t have time to sit behind somebody with 20 laps to go in the race. You kind of have to move forward and not get stuck behind somebody because they can make your life hell sitting behind them. I just think it’s moments in time where you get more aggressive than others, where early in the race you might not do that, but it just depends. As a driver, that’s what you’re weighing in the moment and it can also say, hey, if you’re working a guy over for 20-30 laps and there’s a group behind you that’s catching you, I’ve got to go. I can’t risk losing two or three spots because you’re holding me up and I’ve played nice for 30 laps. I’ve kind of got to get moving, so it’s all situational to me of what time it is in the race, or what position you’re in front and back.”
FIVE OF THE LAST SIX WINNERS HERE HAVE STARTED OUTSIDE THE TOP 10, SO HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING HERE? “I’ll be the first to tell you, I suck at qualifying here. I’ve just never been able to qualify well for whatever reason. It’s two very different mindsets – race pace to qualifying pace. Lines, just kind of how you approach everything and I easily get stuck in the race pace line driving mode through practice because that’s what I’m thinking about, and then going out and qualifying it’s like the complete opposite. It’s a complete 180 from what you’ve just done for the last 70 laps in practice. Some guys can carry it over quick. To me, I struggle a little bit more and to kind of flip it onto the qualifying mode here, just because it’s so different, but it’s something you work on. You try your best. I don’t enjoy qualifying 15th or 20th when I come here, so hopefully that can change today, but, yeah, it’s a tough one for sure. I’d say this is the toughest place, and I’d say here and Darlington, are the toughest places to go from practice to qualifying, just from a driver mindset, strategy of how you attack the corner and things like that – completely different lines and lanes – so I’d say it’s important, for sure, a good pit stall and start you ahead of the mess a little bit, but we’ll see what happens. I hope I can qualify OK today. We’ll see.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE WITH MARTINSVILLE BEING A CUTOFF RACE? “I think each one has its own little element to it. Talladega has all of the wild cards just from the wrecks and the way drafting tracks work, so that deserves to get all of the buzz around it, and then this one it’s Martinsville. No matter if it’s a cutoff race, a playoff race or not, there’s always gonna be a lot of action here. It just comes with the size of the racetrack and what goes on for those laps, but I think both of them are very, very exciting and important in their own respective ways. You talk about two completely different racetracks. They all have their unique pieces to them and I think this weekend, this race, knowing it’s a cutoff race and Martinsville is just as exciting as Talladega and unpredictable in a way. It’s just a little bit different.”
THIS GROUP THAT ARE DO-OR-DIE, IT’S NOT A BIG GROUP OF DRIVERS. DO YOU THINK YOU KNOW HOW THEY’LL RACE HERE? “No. I never know. The beauty about racing against the same people every week is you kind of can get their tendencies a little bit, but I’ve tried to learn to not rely too much on other people’s tendencies because you never know what they’re thinking in that time or what position that they’re in, so you have to kind of be ready for everything, to be honest with you. Like I said earlier, I expect it to be a great race. I really do think it’s gonna be a fantastic race. You’ve got multiple things going on that we’re gonna be having to watch out for, like on TV people watching. In my mind, my job is just to win the race. I don’t have to worry about points or anything. I don’t want to be in this position like Macho Man says, I’m unjustifiably in a position I’d rather not be in. People are capable of anything and I don’t think just racing around the same guys every week or these eight guys you can’t really rely on what they’ve done in the past or their tendencies just because it can all change very quickly.”
WHERE ARE YOU MENTALLY THIS WEEKEND? YOU’VE BEEN IN THIS SITUATION BEFORE. “You just understand what needs to be done this weekend. You can’t control anything that happened last week. It’s in the past. It’s done. It’s how do we go into this weekend, we know what we have to do and just go try to be 100 percent of what this 12 group can be, and I’d say that’s all I’ve ever asked of people in our group is just give your best effort through the week, through the weekend. Just put up all of yourself and if it’s enough, that’s awesome, and we were able to do it. If not, at least you did everything you could and nothing was left on the table, and you hold your heads high, win or lose. That’s just the way I approach it. That’s the way this whole group approaches it and you just give it your all no matter the outcome. One outcome is obviously better than the other, but if you gave everything you had, you can still be proud of your effort. It’s pretty easy to get in these modes. It’s just a weekend where you have to go perform. We perform every weekend and it’s just how good can you perform compared to others this weekend, so I guess that’s how we approach this week leading up to this event.”
