Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
FireKeepers Casino 400 — Michigan International Speedway
Sunday, June 7, 2026
Ford Finishing Results:
7th – Joey Logano
8th – Ryan Blaney
9th – Chris Buescher
11th – Austin Cindric
15th – Josh Berry
22nd – Todd Gilliland
27th – Noah Gragson
28th – Ryan Preece
33rd – Zane Smith
34th – Brad Keselowski
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was a scrappy day and honestly not very good, but we kept working on it and got it a little bit better all day. We stayed out of some of the messes and we were able to salvage an eighth out of it. So, not a bad day overall. We’re still looking for the speed that we need to contend, but hopefully we can learn a lot and move on.” NOT THE RESULT YOU WANTED, BUT WHAT FIGHT THIS TEAM SHOWED TODAY. “Yeah, a lot of fight. We just stuck with it all day. Honestly, we weren’t very good. We kind of struggled after practice and didn’t qualify great. We were just kind of stuck in the 15th to 25th range depending on where you dropped us. We got working on it a little bit more and more and got it a little bit better for the day. We stayed out of some of the messes – a couple wrecks – and was able to scrap together an eighth. I’m proud of everybody for sticking with it all day, for sure. We definitely continue to work and try to get better. That’s all we can really do. We have a ways to make up to get to the 11. They’re on it right now, but second, third, fourth, they were within striking distance from us, so we’ll just try to keep working with it. I appreciate Menards, Richmond, Ford Racing for what they do with our program. I wish we could have got Ford in Victory Lane, but we’ll try again next week.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Kroger/OscarMayer/Rustik Oven Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That was a rollercoaster of a day. We ended up on pit road about twice as much as we wanted to and lost track position consistently. It’s a shame. This Kroger/Oscar Mayer/Rustik Oven Ford Mustang was really good and really fast. I felt like we were close to in the hunt. We didn’t quite have what it took to win today, but certainly we were able to run in the top 10 and thought we should have had a chance to at least have a top five without some of the damage on the day.” WHERE DID IT GO SIDEWAYS? “The first pit stop we had to do a little bit of nose repair. Then we had it happen two more times with just checking up for wrecks and we were constantly having to put tape on to try and protect this thing. It was certainly a tough day and not anything like we needed it to go, but I’m proud of everybody to keep after it and bring a top 10 out of the day. That’s solid.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Autotrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We’ve got the ball rolling again. That’s about what we had for speed in the car was right around there. For where we’re at, that’s best in class. We’ve just got to try to find a little more speed. These are the type of tracks that everything is gonna show up. We executed a really good race. Paul called a great race. The pit crew did great. I executed one restart good of them all. All the rest of them I was hanging on to, but, overall, we’re at the point where we’re proud of top 10s, which is not a good place to be, but we’re proud of a top 10.” THIS GETS YOU CLOSER TO THE CUT LINE. “The grind is gonna be all the way to the end here. We’ve got to keep having days like this and sort of stacking points. We were 30 back a couple weeks ago. I don’t know where we are now, but we’ve got to keep doing this. We can’t afford to have bad races. We’ve got to keep grinding out points here and there where we can.” WHAT HAS THIS BEEN LIKE WITH THE GRIND YOU’RE GOING THROUGH? “I’ve been in both spots multiple times. It’s really hard to stay up top when you are on top. We got ourselves caught behind the eight ball right now, so we just keep grinding. There’s no sense of panic or throw caution to the wind type moments. You just have to keep your head down and keep grinding and get whatever you can get. That’s kind of what we did today. We got what we could. We have no mulligans left. There are no bad races available, so you’ve just got to get as many points as possible every race.” IS MOMENTUM A THING WITH TWO TOP 10S IN THE LAST THREE RACES? “Yeah, it is. Confidence is a real thing. That’s what momentum is – just confidence within the team. There as a stretch of races there where you were just wondering what was going to go wrong next because it was just one thing after another. Now, it seems like, we’re back to our old ways where at least we can maximize finishes and that’s back to what the 22 is good at. That confidence is regaining for sure.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I just got hooked. I don’t even know how it happened. It was gonna be an alright day for everybody that wrecked, so not a good finish.”
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Aaron’s Rent to Own Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAPPENED? “I just blew a left-rear tire from what I could feel, but certainly not a good place to do that, getting into turn one here. That was unfortunate, but really all day again we had another really fast Aaron’s Ford Mustang. I’m proud of that, I just wish we had a result.” DID YOU HAVE ANY SIGNS OF WEAR PRIOR TO THAT? “No. It was all good. It came out of nowhere.” WHAT WAS THE SPECIFIC THING THAT KNOCKED YOU OUT? “A left-rear tire blew and I had two flats. I think the rear bumper was tore off on the driver’s side and toe links – all of the above probably.” WHAT HAS BEEN THE KEY TO THIS STRING OF STRONG RUNS? “It was a strong run again this week and was proud of the effort. I feel like we’re doing a great job. My car was great right before it blew a tire. It’s just unfortunate.” WHERE IS YOUR SPEED COMING FROM? “We’ve found a feel that I really like and I’m able to make aggressive moves and get close to the front.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS LAST INCIDENT? “It was an eventful day. We fought really hard to claw our way up to 12th and then blew a left-rear tire and worked on fixing it. We started to get it back right and had a restart there and the 44, for whatever reason, restarted way further in front than his car had the capability to run and then parked it in front of all of us and we had to check up and got ran into from behind. I shouldn’t have lifted. I should have just buried J.J. Yeley ass deep in the wall and that’s on me for not doing that. I will next time.”
