Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Championship Race Qualifying — Phoenix Raceway
Saturday, November 1, 2025
Ford Qualifying Results:
4th – Austin Cindric
5th – Ryan Blaney
7th – Josh Berry
9th – Chris Buescher
10th – Joey Logano
18th – Noah Gragson
19th – Brad Keselowski
21st – Ryan Preece
22nd – Zane Smith
27th – Cole Custer
30th – Todd Gilliland
33rd – Cody Ware
36th – Casey Mears
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Yesterday was definitely a difficult read with as many cautions as we had in practice, but I definitely thought we had a fast Discount Tire Ford. These single day qualifying sessions are kind of a beast of their own and go out there and run a fast lap in tricky conditions, so it’s a good, solid start. Qualifying and pit selection are all very important here, so we’ll take that and go try to get a great result from it.”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FOR NEXT SEASON WITH ALL OF THE TIRE CHANGES THIS YEAR? “This year, talk about just the playoffs. We were talking about it yesterday as a team, I think there may be one or two races, period, that carried over the same tire that we would have raced the last time there and some of these have been completely new and untested tires. It’s been a huge story, I think, from behind the scenes for the teams trying to understand what you’re even gonna have. At least this weekend we had a chance to adjust on it. Look, it’s the same for everybody, but it’s been chaotic from that standpoint and you have not been able to really rely on a notebook. It’s kind of been more of best judgment.”
HOW DO YOU EVALUATE YOUR 2025 SEASON OVERALL? “I think performance-wise, I’m sure even points-wise it probably reflects it, but it’s definitely been my best season and most complete season behind a Cup Series car. But not getting the end results of races has been frustrating for us. Like even last weekend, the worst we were running was where we finished, and that’s for a number of reasons and it’s not just one race, but it’s a great example. I feel like there’s been so many races where we’ve had so much potential, so I think we carry that. You can either look at it as a negative or a positive and we’ve been in the hunt all year. I think that’s been a big positive for us. I don’t feel like we’ve really dropped the ball at all and that’s from the top down on the 2 car. I feel like as a group as well I’m really proud of my guys because I feel like we’re really contributing at a high level to the team as a whole, and I think that’s really important for us moving forward.”
HOW DID JOSH BERRY FIT IN THIS YEAR AS A NEWCOMER? “I think Josh has been a great fit and fit in really well, whether if that’s from team dynamics in meetings or speedway racing or just kind of thoughts in general. He kind of brings in a different perspective, especially from what I have. You can’t really pick two more different guys as far as their racing backgrounds than myself and Josh. I haven’t even sat in a late model, where he could probably build one before I could ever figure out how to drive it. It’s been good to have him and I’ve enjoyed getting to know him.”
HOW MOTIVATED ARE YOU TO PLAY SPOILER THIS WEEKEND? “I think so. At the end of the day, it’s still another race we can go out and try to win, but at the same point, I guess with everything else going on you have to be conscious of where the playoff guys are at and what’s on the line. I’ve been in that position before, and I think these guys all deserve a lot of respect from their competition to go out and race for that championship tomorrow.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST AREA OF IMPROVEMENT GOING INTO NEXT YEAR? “I hate to say just finishing. I know I kind of talked about that and at the end of the day some of that is out of your control, but we just haven’t been able to finish off races. If we do that, I think we’re a serious contender more so than I feel like we’ve unfortunately shown with our race finishes. I think there have been a ton of positives throughout the year, but I think finishing the job on most days is going to really probably change the narrative, but also make us feel a little better after races because a lot of the competitiveness has been there.”
