Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Straight Talk 500 Qualifying — Phoenix Raceway
Saturday, March 7, 2026
LOGANO CAPTURES FIRST CUP POLE OF THE YEAR FOR FORD RACING
- Joey Logano captured the first NASCAR Cup Series pole of the season for Ford Racing today.
- The pole is Logano’s 34th overall and third at Phoenix Raceway.
- Logano’s pole is his 29th with Ford Racing, which puts him fifth on the manufacturer’s all-time list. Only Fred Lorenzen (30), David Pearson (31), Mark Martin (39) and Bill Elliott (48) are ahead of him.
- The pole is Ford Racing’s 713th all-time in NASCAR’s top series.
Ford Qualifying Results:
1st – Joey Logano
3rd – Austin Cindric
5th – Ryan Blaney
10th – Josh Berry
13th – Ryan Preece
17th – Chris Buescher
24th – Zane Smith
30th – Todd Gilliland
35th – Noah Gragson
37th – Brad Keselowski
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE
TAKE US THROUGH YOUR LAP. “Today the car was really good. I don’t know if I can take much credit. The car drove really well and I just kind of took what it gave me. The car, I thought was good in race trim – a lot of sliding around from everybody. It’s funny because it doesn’t drive nice, but the pace was there, which was encouraging for tomorrow because it still feels like there are some areas to get better, and then Paul and Joe and the guys did a good job at dialing it in and getting the balance really good for qualifying to where I didn’t have to do anything crazy to make speed. It just happened, so I’m really proud of that. Obviously, this is a big weekend for Team Penske with the Indycars here. Malukas getting the pole for here in a few minutes when that race starts, and then us being able to do it on our end, too. There’s a little bit of a rivalry there. I don’t know if we’ve really talked about it, but I think internally all of us want to deliver some wins this weekend. On top of that, our paint scheme for this weekend is also really special. It’s the Scott McLaughlin Bathurst 1000 win, so that was really big for his career, but also really big for Team Penske. That car won, I think it was 18 or 16 races that year. It was a boat load. You start to lose count when you get to your toes, so he’s definitely done a lot in that paint job, so it’s neat to continue some of that success, at least in qualifying.”
TEAM PENSKE WON BOTH POLES AND ROGER IS HERE. THINGS ARE LOOKING GOOD THIS WEEKEND. “This is a big weekend for us. There are a lot of partners here. The hospitality trailer setup there going into turn one, so you want to make sure you have a good run. It’s the worst feeling, and I’ve been through it on both ends. I’ve been through it where everybody comes to the race and you don’t show up. There’s just nothing good to show them, and then there are times where everybody is there and you win and there’s really nothing better than that, so everybody is here and it’s nice to show that. All of the Team Penske cars are fast – our three cars, the three IndyCars all looked solid yesterday in practice as well. Now it’s just time to execute the race, which is the hard part.”
ALL THREE DRIVERS ARE STICKING AROUND TOMORROW FOR YOUR RACE. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? “I think they’ll be on the pit boxes, yeah. I don’t know what a timing stand is. Welcome to NASCAR over here. We’ve got to get them used to it. I’ve got to go up to the Fox booth here in a minute for the IndyCar race and my terminology is a little different than what they’re used to over there, so it’s gonna be fun. We’ve had a good time doing some fun things this week so far out here all together. We obviously are around each other a lot at home with our race shops being the same building, but this is the second time I can remember that we’re at the same racetrack together, so it’s fun to be able to talk to each other about the differences. Usually, we talk about the differences, but we’re at different racetracks. Now we’re at least at the same track and you can hear how they drive their cars and what they need out of it and those types of things versus us. It’s polar opposites. It’s so different, but fun to talk about.”
WERE YOU EXPECTING TO WIN THE POLE TODAY? “You never know anymore. When you have practice like we used to have, like a longer practice when you can put a set of tires on and you can maybe make a mock run. You’re like, ‘OK, I kind of see what we have for pace.’ But these days you just don’t know. You just go out there and you go as fast as you can and you don’t know if you’re gonna be 30th or first. It’s really hard to say before the run starts. Obviously, the 2 had a pretty good lap going out early and still was able to qualify, I think, in the top five, so that’s pretty impressive to do it as early as he did, so I felt like if I didn’t screw up, the speed was in the car. I just had to make sure I got all of it out of it. Like I said, the speed is there for the Penske cars right now.”
WHAT HAS ROGER MEANT TO YOU PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY? “I think probably everyone in this room has had some kind of interaction with Roger at some point, probably, and I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I’m sure it’s been the most professional thing that you can be involved around. As a driver for him, or even someone just on the team, those are the people that you want to be around – somebody that’s gonna do something the right way, that’s gonna do it in a professional way, but is also very competitive and wants to win no matter what it is. Business. Racing. You name it, he’s gonna want to be the best at it. You can imagine as a competitor no matter what your position is on a team, you want to be with the best. I say this all the time, but you can’t soar like and eagle when you’re working with turkeys and he’s an eagle. Those are the ones you want to attach to. You want to fly together and I’ve been very fortunate to drive for him for the last 14-15 years and I think when you look at the tenure of the employees, the sponsors, the drivers, no one really moves that often. Once you’re in, you want to be there. Nobody wants to leave because you’re gonna see success eventually, one way or another. Everyone works hard. Everyone has the same culture and the same thought process. It’s something I’m really proud of. I take a lot of pride in saying I drive for Team Penske because I think it’s a dream for almost all drivers to say that you’ve driving for Roger Penske. You see the list of legends that has driven for him and it’s ridiculous, so to have your name be part of that, it’s something I take a lot of pride in and I don’t take that lightly. Those guys are the ones that built the company over 60 years, and then for us to have the opportunity to carry the flag and continue that, that’s really special.”
IT SEEMS LIKE PHOENIX IS SPECIAL PLACE FOR YOU. “Yeah, I mean it’s been special for the last few years because of the championship race and we’ve had some success out here racing for championships, so it’s been a special place for that reason. The cars have been fast here, but, to your point, Roger’s got some dealerships right up the road with the museum as well that’s really, really cool. So, yeah, I wouldn’t call it a home track, but it’s definitely one of our tracks that we consider close to home – maybe a vacation home if you will. It’s a place that everybody enjoys coming to because there are a lot of partners we have out here as well with Discount Tire and them as well, so it’s definitely a special place.”
HOW WILL YOUR MINDSET CHANGE FROM QUALIFYING TO THE RACE? “I think tomorrow the big thing that’s in our mind right now is that the track temp is going to be up significantly from what we just had in practice and what does that do to our race car. Obviously, we’re gonna go slower. The pace for the whole field will be down. The cars will be slipping and sliding. The track will rubber up. It will get wider, which is good. It was already getting wide in practice, so the track will be getting a little bit wider so we can have more options to pass. Fall off is gonna be a real thing. There’s a lot of thoughts right now and some things that we want to do to dial our car in a little bit better too as well.”
CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH HOW YOU MENTALLY PREPARE FOR A RACE AND HOW THAT CHANGES WHEN YOU GET IN THE CAR? “For me, I just want to be prepared to see everything that’s coming my way and that’s how I mentally prepare. I don’t have a psych you up music or something that tries to get you rolling or any superstitious stuff. That’s not who I am. I just want to know the facts and get as many of those in my mind as I can and that’s gonna mentally make me feel confident. If I can know as much about the race before it happens, that’s what’s gonna get me prepared and ready. That’s my job during the week and then you get your report card when it comes to Sunday.”
WHAT PERCENT OF THE SLIDING AROUND IS DUE TO THE 750, THE TIRE, AND JUST TEMPERATURE? “It’s hard to put a percent on it. I’d say the power is definitely in effect. It’s not huge, but it’s directionally that way. I think anytime you talk to a race car driver they’re gonna say to put more horsepower in it, but the fact that it seems like the fall off is pretty high, cars are searching around already. That has to go into the equation somehow. You’re on the brakes more. You’re on the gas a little bit less, but you’re spinning them more. It’s just easier to wear the tire out. That just promotes a wider track. That just promotes better racing, so whether it comes from tire wear or the engine, more power that creates tire wear. All of it kind of goes together. It’s all a package. It’s hard to say what is affecting it the most. There’s no doubt that Goodyear has done an incredible job of bringing a tire that actually falls off because for years here you’d run a whole run and it was like three-tenths, four-tenths slower than what you started. Now, you’re second off, so we’ve come a long, long way. Goodyear has done the biggest amount. If you were to say what’s what. Goodyear is the biggest component to that. The engine definitely is directionally better. I think we also have to be open for more. Just because we’re sitting up here saying this is good, it’s never good enough, but I think for what we’ve done at this racetrack, this is gonna be a great race tomorrow. One of our better races, in my opinion.”
WERE YOU SLIDING AROUND MORE? “I felt like it. I felt like I was sliding around a little bit more and the tire is the same, so I’ve got to assume that it’s the temperature a little bit, but also the power.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Our Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang Dark Horse had really good speed in practice and qualifying, so starting third puts us in a solid position. If we can keep tires on it and stay in the mix, I think we’ll have a shot. It’s been a tough start to the year with some of the damage we’ve dealt with, but today showed what this team is capable of.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s a really good day for us. It looks like we’re gonna be really good in qualifying. I thought our race speed was pretty good and the qualifying lap was OK. I kind of missed it a little bit. I didn’t have the cleanest one, but we’re starting fifth. I’m proud of the effort. All three of our Ford Mustangs are in the top five, 1-3-5. It’s awesome and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fry’s/Artesano/Kraft Ford Mustang Dark Horse – IS THERE CONCERN ABOUT TIRES? “Yeah. There’s some concern. It’s something we’ve got to figure out and dive into, knowing the issues we had here the last race I thought we took steps to correct. We’ll dive into that a little bit further. I would say that where we fired off and balance and long run speed, if you call 15 laps long run, I was fairly happy with our car, but at the end of it we need it to last a little longer. We’re gonna certainly dive into it. We’ve got our post-practice meetings coming up here, so we’ll try and figure out if we can diagnose if it’s something specific to us or another Phoenix.” DID YOU NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE WITH HORSEPOWER? “I would say I was not quite to the point of the run where it’s really gonna show up big. I unfortunately did get to watch a lot of SMT and it sure looks like it’s gonna be a handful as we get late in the run. I would say the amount of fall off that we’ve seen, that’s where you’re gonna feel it is that point where you’re not able to use it. When we fire off in qualifying and you can get wide-open, whether it’s 670 or 750, you don’t get that big seat-of-the-pants feel, but when you’re unable to use all you’ve got, that’s when you start noticing. I’d say it’s got potential to change this race a little bit.” YOUR TIRE PROBLEM WAS AT 15 LAPS, SO COULD IT BE AN ISSUE WITH INDYCAR OR NOAPS RUBBER? “Maybe. We were group one, so is there something to that? Maybe. It was a right side. I know the 35 had a left side. The 6 had a right side, so it’s strange to be both sides. I feel like that’s not very typical, so I don’t have the answers yet.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAPPENED? “I guess I blew a right-front tire going into turn three. It’s surprising. We had put a bunch of air in it after our teammate had issues and we still had an issue.” YOU’VE HAD A CHANCE TO ASSESS. WILL YOU GO TO A BACKUP? “Most likely. The front clip appears bent, but I’ll let these guys figure it out.”
