Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona 500 Media Day
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/Viva Towels Ford Mustang Dark Horse – BRAD SAID IF HE NEEDED ONE GUY TO USE A HACKSAW TO CUT OFF HIS LEG, IT WOULD BE YOU. COULD YOU DO THAT, IF HE ASKED? “If Brad asked me to as my owner and friend, yeah, I would do it for him. I don’t know if he’s ever seen the movie Saw, but I have and that would be very gruesome. I’m happy that we didn’t have to do that and I’m happy that he’s healing and he’s gonna be racing this Sunday. I told him, I’ll be Goose, he can be Maverick and we’ll find a way to the front.”
HE SAID YOU WOULDN’T GET SQUEAMISH. “I wouldn’t get squeamish. My wife, on the other hand, she doesn’t like blood. She might faint.”
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM YOUR FIRST DAYTONA 500? “I remember every single wreck I somehow made it through and ever since that day I have not made it through a wreck here, so we’re gonna try and get back to that 2019 energy of going to the apron, going everywhere and just getting absolutely every car going the way you need it to.”
HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THIS RACE? “I think it’s just understanding the game and then playing the game and changing the way you play it throughout that race. For me, I race so much that it’s not something that I just think, ‘I need to do this at this point in time and if I’m not in that position, then we’re not gonna win.’ That’s not the way I feel like the game is. I think, for me, I try to put myself in the right position and I know kind of where I want to be at the end of stage three, so if we can go do that, we’ll have an opportunity, but I’m not a big over-thinker. I will say that I’ve learned a few things from Brad as far as prep goes and how I want to prep to have a better understanding of all these things, but when I put that helmet on, I’m ready to play the game.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE PEOPLE DIDN’T KNOW WHO YOU WERE BEFORE WINNING THE CLASH? “Here’s what I’ll say is I felt like New England knew who I was. You go to the region of the northeast of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, they knew me. But you go to the southeast and some, but you go west they didn’t. It’s just not their style of racing, and I think the more we can win, the more the story will get out there and understanding that if you’re a racer and you love it, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard enough and, for me, I feel like I’m an example of that. I’m not saying I’m not talented, but I’m not the guy that somebody would have picked out of a crowd. I have a face for radio here, so I’m just a hard worker that hasn’t quit and I’m gonna do whatever it takes to win.”
YOU HAVE BET ON YOURSELF MANY TIMES. WHAT MAKES YOU SO CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITY AS A RACE CAR DRIVER? “I don’t know how to explain it other than I’m pretty confident. I’m not cocky. I’m just confident in knowing that if you put me in certain situations that I can get the job done. What I can say is when I was driving at four or five in the morning on the way down on 95 to New Smyrna that I felt lighter. I don’t know why other than of what I can simply say is that I was carrying weight on my back or shoulders that I didn’t realize I was, and who I am as a person – everything about racing is who I am. I dictate my entire life around it. I’ve dedicated my entire life around it. My family has taken a backseat to my career, so going out and doing that, yeah, I am super blessed and really thankful to have been able to experience winning at the Cup Series level, but now I want to do it more.”
HOW DO YOU BALANCE RACING AND FAMILY? “I’m lucky. I’m luckier than most I’m able to bring them with me. I have a motorhome. I have a Newmar Dutch Star and I’ll tell you this, years ago when I was first getting in the Cup Series everybody has a motorhome, most people do. I didn’t because I didn’t think I needed one. I’d rather spend my money on race cars and things I can go racing with. The wreck happened in 2023 and my life changed. I had a two-week old daughter, so I bought a motorhome and ever since then it’s just made everything way easier, so, to answer your question, it’s extremely difficult and every day is a challenge. Every day is learning how to be a better father and how to balance what I need to do as a race car driver, what I need to be as a father and then what I need to be as a husband. That’s a really difficult balance because you want to provide and in order to provide I have to succeed, and in order to succeed I have to spend a lot of time doing what I do, so there’s not really a set answer on it other than I’m trying to be the best version of me every single day and make sure I’m able to watch my kids grow up and not look back 10-12 years from now saying, ‘Where did the time go?’”
“I don’t bring them all the time because I drive my motorhome. I enjoy driving it, so the first time, I’d have to look at the schedule, but I love seeing the smile on my daughter’s face. So, yesterday, on Tuesday she was able to go to DisneyWorld with my mother and my brother and my nieces and they dressed up like princesses and got makeup done. I got to see it through photos because I’m working, but, boy, seeing the smile on her face it’s just like, it’s no different than me winning the Clash. You love it. You live for it, so, yeah, going to the racetrack it’s difficult, but I go with the mindset of I want to be able to give her everything that my father, my parents, my mother gave me, and gave me the opportunities. I’m gonna work really hard and that’s gonna be my way that I’m making sure I’m being a great father.”
“My performance dictates how I feel and sometimes, like any athlete, takes it home. It’s so hard to just say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna put it back here and I’ll revisit it on Friday.’ If you care about what you do, that’s how you live. So, I’m sure that, yeah, there was a brief moment of time where we weren’t running good or whatever it may be that I probably wasn’t the easiest person to live with, but that’s the thing, Heather has been there with me through the highs and she’s been there with me through the lows, so it’s great that we’re able to share the fact that we have two great kids. I have a four month old and a two-and-a-half year old and I really look forward to them growing up and seeing the humans, the people that they turn out to be.”
WHAT WAS THEIR REACTION TO YOUR WIN? “My wife was on Facetime. She was home with the kids. They were sleeping, so the first thing I did when I got home is I put the trophy inside our house so that my daughter could see it in the morning and understand what her dad just did. That was special to me, so I think Heather, she knew. She knew how hard I’ve worked and all the things because she was the one who said it to me and made me realize that that entire week, going to the Clash, that’s one of my favorite races of the year because it’s a quarter-mile. It’s like SVG going to a road course. I’ve raced on quarter miles all my life and I’ve been really good at them, and when the format changed because of the weather and how we had to qualify I felt defeated before I even went there, so to go and win I felt like I conquered the world.”
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING THE FINAL COUPLE OF LAPS IN THE CLASH? “I was looking ahead about half a track because I saw the train of like seven to eight cars stacked up behind somebody and I was just sitting there thinking, ‘Do not spin him out or do not bring the caution out,’ and it didn’t. But as a race car driver when you’re leading, it’s no different than when I was racing New Smyrna last night and we had a 30-lap green flag run and I”m leading by half-a-track or whatever it might have been. We had half a straightaway. We had a really good car and you’re just sitting there thinking, ‘What happens if the caution comes out?’ Because that’s when the game resets and most people when a caution comes out you come down for four tires and fuel – the feel goods. You didn’t have that at the Clash. You’re restarting on wore out tires, so I feel like I have a good balance of how to take care of them and make sure I can get them to the end.”
WHEN THE DAY COMES YOU GET YOUR FIRST POINTS CUP WIN, WILL IT FEEL LIKE A FIRST CAREER WIN OVER THE CLASH? “Every win at this level is gonna feel like the first. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve worked too hard to get here for it not to. There’s been different wins in my career on different stages that have meant a lot to me and winning that first points series race is gonna be a big deal. I hope my kids are there. I hope my family is there when it happens, but that’s the goal for 2026 is win.”
DO YOU FEEL MORE PRESSURE TO PROVE YOURSELF AT THE CUP LEVEL OR WHEN YOU RUN OTHER SERIES? “I actually put more pressure on myself when I’m racing locally or regionally in a modified or a late model because I feel like as a race car driver in the Cup Series when you go down to different levels – wherever it is – you’re expected to win and that’s because you’re supposed to be the best at this discipline. A lot of people don’t do it, but that’s the reason I own my race cars because, first off, I typically don’t like driving for people anymore because if I figure things out, I don’t want them to know it because I want to still have that advantage when I go back, but also I’ve got a lot of passion for it, so I don’t know how to explain it. I guess in the Cup Series I don’t attack a race weekend any different than I do when I go racing at New Smyrna because I know the amount of pressure I put on myself when I go do stuff like that it’s the most amount of pressure anybody can put on themselves.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Body Guard Ford Mustang Dark Horse – DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST DAYTONA 500? “I’ll answer it truthfully. I have a vivid memory of all the wall textures of the fence right in between turns one and two, and not a whole lot of memory after that. There was a lot of frustration and not a good year for superspeedway racing for me. My rookie season was tough on me in the Cup Series, which was difficult to stomach because we did really well on the Xfinity side through many years, so that was my first 500 experience and it was not good.”
HOW HAVE YOU GOTTEN SO GOOD AT THESE SPEEDWAY RACES? “There’s no one thing. I will say probably a lot because of that first year I came down here for many years hating superspeedway racing, just kind of trying to get through it and accepting it as this big luck race and I was smart enough to be able to take a step back and realize it was the same group of people that were maybe not always winning, but at least running up front and in contention to win races. Obviously, that can’t be luck every time. That’s not how that works, so while there is a high level of luck that goes into these races and I will die on that hill, there’s also a very specific skill set, so it’s evolved for me to just tolerating it to saying, ‘OK, I can accept this for what it is and we’re gonna figure it out,’ to a point now where I actually enjoy speedway racing. Some of that is accepting the amount of luck, the percentage of luck that goes into these things, but also appreciating the skill set that goes into it, appreciating the work that the teams put in this thing to try and make it more enjoyable for me behind the wheel, and having a teammate like Brad, who has been so successful speedway racing through the years and being able to learn from him on that front, that’s just continued to build my confidence in these things and make me say I am here to have fun, that we will be contenders, we will lead laps at some point, that we will have a chance to win this thing. We need a certain amount of luck on our side. We need a strong level of execution on our side and we need friendly fire whenever we can find it.”
IS THERE A CERTAIN PLACE ON THE TRACK YOU LIKE TO BE ON THE TRACK? “The front is good (laughing). I think you want to be as far forward as possible. I think it matters if you have friends around, ultimately. I think that if you say you’re the only one of your team left, then somewhere between third and sixth is probably a good spot. You can probably find somebody who needs a drafting partner and can try to make something happen. If you’re leading and we have an RFK Ford behind us, I’m gonna take the lead every single day, so I think it really comes down to do you have teammates around you and how do you work together to put yourself in the best chance to win. That changes the answer drastically.”
HOW MUCH TO YOU GAUGE THE OTHER CARS DURING THE WEEK? “A certain amount. You have an idea of who is quick and then who can probably lead lanes well, and trying to make sure – and maybe more importantly – who straight up cannot lead a lane because that is a momentum killer. When you know you have a car that cannot lead and you see them tuck up into a lane, you know that lane is dead, so then it forces you to move. That’s probably the bigger part of it. There have been moments which the 500 usually, handling is usually good enough with the weather that everyone is handling pretty good. The beginning of the race is a little hairy, but it seems like as it cools off it always becomes less of a handling race, and then you don’t worry so much about those that were out of control off of turn four earlier on, or they’ve already taken care of themselves at that point.”
WHAT’S THE BEST PART OF THIS WEEK FOR YOU? “There are probably a couple things to it because, yes, it’s busy but it’s nothing like it used to be. We used to come down here and felt like we had our tongue hanging out from the absolute get-go. You were just constantly running, so now this car has changed it, the rules have changed where you don’t have cherry pickers in front of every garage after practice today pulling motors and pulling gears. It’s not that insane. The hours are long. The garage is open a lot, but what that means is you do get a lot of time with the team to kind of start off the year building up those relationships with anybody that may be new or just kind of getting back in a rhythm on the road with your group. You’re around them at the shop during the offseason a decent amount and so it’s not like it’s a bunch of strangers, but when you come down it’s essentially a week of team building that is a lot of fun to dive off into knowing that you’re about to spend the next 10 months together.”
DO YOU THINK THE 500 HAS LOST SOME OF ITS PRESTIGE? “No, I don’t. I think that the week is different without a Clash down here ahead of it, but now we’re coming down here for the 500 solely. It’s a little less of a Speedweeks and a full marathon, but it’s Daytona 500 week and that certainly hasn’t changed.”
ALL OF THE RFK CARS HAVE THE FONT ON THEIR CAR NUMBERS TO HONOR GREG BIFFLE. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SEE THAT HAPPEN? “I can’t speak to the process, but obviously Greg meant so much to RFK as a whole through the years. The ability to be able to pull this off for all of our partners signing off to say, ‘Hey, we would love to have this little bit of remembrance to somebody who meant so much to Jack and RFK as a whole.’ It was a really neat feat and Kaulig with the 16 as well. That’s a really neat way to honor Greg and the Biffle family after such a tragic event. It’s special to be able to do that for this week and to have him riding aboard for the year is big for us to be able to pull that off. Again, trying to say it in the right way, it feels small in a way. It’s just a small way we can show appreciation or a little bit of remembrance. Every time I say that I feel like it’s not coming out right, but it’s a really neat thing that our organization put together and was able to do.”
JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK AT DAYTONA FOR ANOTHER CUP SERIES SEASON? “It’s exciting. There are obviously a lot of positives out of last year that we spent the offseason looking at trying to find ways to build upon and it’s a new year and a new opportunity. It’s a lot of fun coming in here with the Wood Brothers and the history that they have and having the David Pearson iconic paint scheme adds to that. Hopefully, we can have a solid Speedweeks here and find ourselves having a shot at the thing at the end.”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT THE NEXT GEN CAR HERE? “It’s really tough because we’re battling for track position, which is so important and managing that is so important and it’s so hard to get up front and stay up front that it makes all those moves when you’re up front so important. It’s so easy to make the wrong one, so it’s so important to be prepared and study and really have teammates around you and work with your teammates and your manufacturer at Ford – all those guys – as much as you can to just try to stay up front for what you can. In the 4 car in the summer race we were able to do that and you find yourself with a chance at it at the end. It’s definitely a balance for sure, but the biggest thing is you’ve got to be there at the end to have a chance.”
YOUR NAME IS ABOVE THE DOOR AND DAVID PEARSON’S IS BELOW THE DOOR. WHAT’S IT LIKE TO CLIMB IN AND SEE BOTH OF THOSE NAMES? “It’s a little different feeling seeing his name on there. It definitely adds some pressure to all of us to maybe not necessarily win this race on Sunday, but we want to be up front. We want to put a good show on for it, so there’s definitely some additional pressure with that. It’s such a cool deal. We’ve done so many cool paint schemes over the last year and this is another one that just shows the history of the Wood Brothers. It’s game on to try to do all we can to keep it up front.”
THE PETTY-PEARSON FINISH IS 50 YEARS OLD. HOW MUCH WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO WIN ON SUNDAY? “It would be unbelievable. It’s the Daytona 500. It’s the biggest race of the year. It’s one of the biggest races in the world, so winning it would truly be an amazing feeling and an amazing accomplishment, and then you add in the paint scheme and the history of the Wood Brothers in general, that adds a lot to it as well. They have a great history here at Daytona, especially in the 500, so to be able to add to that would be something special for sure.”
ERIK JONES IS IN THE 43 CAR. WHAT IF THE STARS ALIGNED AND IT CAME TO YOU TWO? “Well, they were a lot more spread out back in the day, so that made it feel a little different. It would be hard to get just the two of us out there with nobody else, but, sure, we could try I guess.”
IT FEELS YOU’VE ESTABLISHED YOURSELF AS A REGULAR AT THIS LEVEL OF THE SPORT. HOW DOES THAT FEEL GOING INTO THE SEASON? “A lot has happened in these couple of years and I’ve always heard people talk about 100 starts as kind of their point. I don’t think I’m there yet, but I’m getting pretty close to that number. You hear so much about that that it takes that time to adapt, so I feel like I’m in a great spot. Looking at last year, it’s so easy to focus on the negatives when you look at the playoffs and all the events that happened in those three weeks that were kind of unprecedented, but there are a lot of positives there. We shook off those three bad races and then nearly won New Hampshire the next week. We know what we’re capable of. It’s just about establishing that consistency and just not making those mistakes is what it comes down to. We’ve got to limit our mistakes. Pit road issues and mechanical stuff, we have to limit that stuff and we’re most definitely a team that can be in the Chase. I’ve still got a ways to go before I get to 100. It feels like more than that and then obviously the 4 car and that situation and the 21, but even time at HMS and those races, I still in a way feel like I’m ahead of schedule from what a lot of people say of winning a race. There are a number of races where I’ve spent a lot of time up front battling for it and that’s hard to do in this sport.”
WERE THOSE FIRST THREE PLAYOFF RACES THE WORST STRETCH IN YOUR CAREER? “It was the worst finishes, but when you look back on it each one was for different reasons. It was like you almost laughed at it at the end, but it wasn’t performance based. To me, when I go home and I’m down and upset about a race, it’s the races where you just run bad. For us, each one of those – we qualified great at Darlington. The car bottomed out. We wreck and then you take Bristol with the first. I mean, we’re running in the top five. Speed-wise, we were more than capable of advancing out of that first round, but things just didn’t work out.”
A YEAR AGO WE WERE HERE TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU AND THE WOODS SEEM LIKE A PERFECT MATCH. DO YOU STILL FEEL THAT WAY? “Yeah. I most definitely feel at home so well with the Wood Brothers. They’ve just been so great to work with and they’re such great people. I think I fit a lot of their brand and how they come to this sport. I think looking back on last year, like I said, there were a lot of positives to come out of it, a lot of things that we did really well and a lot to build on and look forward to this year that I think we can go out and accomplish and up our level and find ourselves up front more and more. I think at this point I love driving for them and hope I can do it for many years. The biggest thing is I want to keep putting them up front and keep giving ourselves the opportunity to take them to Victory Lane because it’s a lot of fun and they most certainly deserve it.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT ARE THOSE PRE-RACE MOMENTS FOR THIS RACE LIKE WHEN YOU’RE TRYING TO GET READY FOR THE RACE? “It’s kind of what we’re used to most weeks, but obviously this is just a massive scale. Pretty much all morning, the garage opens earlier and we’re pretty much doing stuff non-stop for what feels like four hours straight and it just flies by, but then about one hour before the race you get to the driver’s meeting, the red carpet, the driver intros, all of that stuff is where it kind of starts to slow down a little bit, kind of chill out a little bit more. It’s crazy because you’re going into the race, but I think once you get to the car it’s kind of business as usual even though there like a million people around you, which makes it even cooler and just gets you hyped up to get in and get racing.”
WHAT IS THE BEST PART OF THIS WEEK FOR YOU AS A DRIVER? “That’s a tough one. I enjoy every single part of it. Tonight, qualifying under the lights is really special and cool. Thursday night, the Duels. Obviously, there’s a lot of pressure because there’s a lot to gain in experience, but more to lose if you wreck your car and can really put yourself and your team behind for the rest of the week. Friday and Saturday are pretty chill days for the most part because you’ve already gone through a race with your car and it’s more so just kind of getting the car ready for 500 miles. And then Sunday has to be my favorite. The whole day is so hectic, but extremely fun and it’s not like any other sport I’ve been to and that makes it really special.”
WHAT DO YOU RECALL ABOUT YOUR FIRST DAYTONA 500? “I remember getting to Sunday morning and waking up and just being so worn out, and I couldn’t believe that there’s still 36 more races ahead of me. I was excited, obviously, but it’s just crazy with the week leading up to it and the whole offseason with all the work, so I was super excited and couldn’t wait to get out there. Once I got on my helmet, I was almost a little bit emotional because I was super excited and couldn’t believe I was doing it, but now it’s more business as usual and enjoying it along the way.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU SAVOR THE PACE LAPS RIGHT BEFORE THE START? “Even at my first test here in an ARCA car, that first time you come off turn four there is no missing the grandstands. And then for the first Daytona 500 seeing a person in every single one of those seats in those grandstands is insane, so, for me, it’s kind of the driver intros when you’re coming off turn four and you’re out in the air and you can see and hear everyone all the way around the racetrack. It’s amazing and it’s definitely something you don’t take for granted at all, and then once you get racing it’s kind of one of those things that you block out and it’s more natural as a diver. I think you kind of forget about it and then with red flags and stuff is when you start to see and hear the fans again and you probably hear them more than you think, so it’s a lot of fun.”
WHAT DOES COTA MEAN TO YOU, A PLACE WHERE YOU WON A TRUCK RACE? “I think it’s a place that I have a lot of confidence at just because we were able to win there in the truck. We’ve had a lot of good runs there in the Cup car too, so it’s one of those places almost like Martinsville for me, where I feel like I know what I’m trying to achieve in the feel of my car and what I need to be successful there, so it gives me more confidence going in there. I’m excited and believe that we can have a really good run there.”
WHY DIDN’T YOU PRACTICE TODAY? “For us, we were just planning on getting through tech a few more times. We had some issues in tech last year. My crew chief got thrown out. It’s not related to that, but we were just making sure all of our t’s were crossed and i’s were dotted. Obviously, when you go out there you kind of scrape up the bottom of the car and just random things, so they felt confident enough that everything was gonna work out fine and just nailed tech the first time.”
WHAT TRACKS ARE THE MOST CHALLENGING FOR YOU? “For me, I’ve just never been great on the concrete tracks for whatever reason. I don’t know if it’s just in my head at this point, but Dover for sure. I’ve always run horrible there, but I’m still trying to figure it out. I get a clear mind every time I go there and it just hasn’t worked out yet for me, but hopefully in the future. And Bristol, too. I just have never had a great feel for it when it’s mostly around the bottom of the racetrack for whatever reason, so those are probably the things we’re working on the most. And then week in and week out I’d say mile-and-a-halves are our weakest suit compared to short tracks and road courses.”
ANY TALK OF BRINGING YOUR DAD OUT OF RETIREMENT TO HELP YOU GUYS OUT? “He’s got a lot of his own stuff going on. I think he’s honestly busier than he’s ever been with his Truck team. It’s obviously a different manufacturer, but it’s getting more and more challenging every single year, it seems like, but I’m very fortunate to have raced with him a few times at superspeedways. We had a lot of good runs together, and I think that’s why I’ve always loved superspeedways in general. It’s because I always watched him do fairly well at them. It’s a lot of fun and that would be great. To race a Cup race together would be really cool.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NEW FORMAT? “To be honest, I feel like for a team like ours the win and you’re in type situation was potentially probably our best way to the playoffs, but, for us, the last four or five years I’ve been in the Cup Series I’ve never made the playoffs, so I’ve pretty much just ran the full season anyway of points. I definitely think it does reward consistency and that’s a place we need to be a lot better at – running better throughout the middle of the races, getting more stage points throughout the year – so I think, for me, we always finish the race well and capitalize on other people’s mistakes, but I think running better throughout the middle of races is what’s gonna really help us out the most.”
ANY PLANS TO RACE OTHER DISCIPLINES? “The Truck race is stacked full of people, so that will be fun to watch. I would love to make more starts in other series in late models or trucks. I’ve never made an O’Reilly start, so that would be fun. I would love to race more. We’re definitely getting to a point where I feel like I have a good handle on the schedule and could really do a lot more racing, so we’ll keep working on that. I don’t have anything really planned right now, but hopefully things will pop up in the year.”
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW WOULD IT BE IF CHANDLER COULD MAKE THE RACE AND THERE WERE FOUR FRONT ROW MUSTANGS IN THE 500? “Certainly, there’s an advantage just in numbers in superspeedway racing, not only us but all the Fords out there would love to see him get in. If it’s not him, we certainly do want another Ford to get in. Hopefully, they can lock in both of those spots and we get to all go team up on Sunday. With that said, I know Chandler and I battled in 2022 for a spot in the Duels, so I don’t know what 500 this is, but hopefully this is the year he can lock in and get in and we can all battle it out on Sunday.”
DO YOU LIKE THE NEW CHASE FORMAT? DOES IT BENEFIT YOU AS A DRIVER? “I think it’s only positive for everything with me. I feel like it should reward the guys that are consistent week in and week out, and I feel like with the old format we lost I think three or four spots to where we should have been in points. I feel like it’s only good for us and our team, so I love the change and I’m excited to see what this year brings with it.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY NOTES OR THINGS YOU’VE LEARNED THAT WILL HELP YOU IN THIS YEAR’S 500? “It’s definitely unique racing. I mean, what kind of comes to mind is this will be my fifth Daytona 500, so I’ve been fortunate enough to experience this week multiple times now, which I feel like that goes a long way. And then there’s takeaways from Atlanta and how things play out, maybe not quite the same because everything just happens faster at Atlanta, but I had nothing to take from last year’s Daytonas because they were both terrible for me, but both of our Talladega’s were actually pretty good and had a shot of winning the second Talladega, so I had some takeaways from that late last year to hopefully apply to this week, the Duels and the 500. Hopefully, we can definitely have a better Speedweeks than we had last year.”
YOU HAVE TWO TRUCK SERIES WINS AT DAYTONA, SO DOES THAT JUST GIVE YOU A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THIS PLACE? “I’ve always loved coming here. I’ve raced go-karts here right after Christmas and won the Speedweeks then. I got a couple Truck wins here in the Friday night race, and then I’ve won here in the IMSA Roar in the Mustang with Harrison (Burton) and that was really cool, so this place has been really good to me. We don’t have any trophies yet that have the Cup Series on it, so hopefully we can change that.”
YOUR SECOND HALF OF 2025 WAS PRETTY CONSISTENT. CAN YOU CARRY THAT MOMENTUM INTO THE START OF THIS SEASON? “I feel like we had areas that were circled of where we need to be stronger. We’re in that top 15-17 pretty much every weekend it seems like. We want to be a top 10 guy, a top 12 guy, and I feel like that is very doable for us and we just have different things that we needed to clean up. I feel like we accomplished a lot of that throughout the offseason, so that’s where a lot of excitement comes from going into this year. Hopefully, it’s true or else there will definitely be some head scratching, but time will tell.”
NOAH MENTIONED HOW THE FIRST FIVE RACES ARE KEY AS FAR AS EARNING POINTS AND BEING ABLE TO QUALIFY IN THE SECOND GROUP. HOW KEY DO YOU VIEW THE START OF THIS YEAR? “A good start is super important, especially when there are 41 cars here. You don’t want to have a bad week, and then on top of that, this is all throughout the year, when you have one bad week it instantly goes into the next, where you have to be in Group 1 and have to go out early in qualifying. When you get to go out later good weeks make another good week, so I learned that the hard way in my rookie year, but I feel like I cleaned up a lot of that last year. Hopefully, we can continue that trend this year.”
