Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Coke Zero Sugar 400 Qualifying — Daytona International Speedway
Friday, August 28, 2026
Ford Qualifying Results:
2nd – Chris Buescher
4th – Ryan Preece
8th – Austin Cindric
9th – Joey Logano
19th – Ryan Blaney
21st – Brad Keselowski
24th – Josh Berry
33rd – Todd Gilliland
34th – Zane Smith
37th – Noah Gragson
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s very bumpy today, but we expect that to get a little better as everybody comes up off the ground a little bit for race trim, but I’m proud of everybody. That’s a heck of a start with this Fifth Third Ford Mustang Dark Horse. That’s cool to start on the front row. I thought the 60 was gonna get us there after the first round, but the guys did a good job. We got it cooled off pretty well and were able to get that full lap in all the way to the checkers. It’s gonna be a great pit stall selection, just what we need to start this race and run up front and do our best to control it.” IS IT GOOD TO BE ON THE FRONT ROW WITH CLEAN AIR TO GET A FEEL FOR THIS NEW PACKAGE COMPARED TO SOMEONE MIDPACK? “There’s no safe place, but I feel better up front than I do at the back. We’ll learn all together if the package is a big enough change to where we’re all gonna be holding on or if it’s just kind of that first step in the right direction for us. Without practice time will tell. Night racing always grips up a little bit in general, so that will make it slightly easier than it would have been if we were racing two, three or four hours earlier.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Maytag Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I think having a good starting spot gives us an opportunity to learn about our car, but also still have a very reasonable shot at some good points. That first stage is super short, so that’s giving us a chance to start checking boxes early in the race.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/OIKOS Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I wanted the pole. Fourth is great but not what I wanted. The good thing is we have a fast Kroger/OIKOS Ford Mustang and we’ll race the hell out of them tomorrow.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse – DO YOU FEEL LIKE ONE OF THE FAVORITES THIS WEEKEND? THE ODDSMAKERS HAVE YOU AND BYRON TIED WITH THE SHORTEST ODDS. “I appreciate that. That’s nice of them to do that, but, no, I don’t consider myself a favorite. I feel like it’s gonna be a tough one no matter what. I think it should have been N/A for everybody this weekend because nobody has any idea of what to expect – who is gonna be good, who is not, what team hits it right, what teams figure it out the fastest, what drivers can kind of adapt really quickly, so, no, I don’t feel like a favorite going into any speedways because you never know. You just rely on hopefully you make the right decisions and your car is good enough to be able to contend.” HOW WAS YOUR PREP THIS WEEK WITH SO MANY UNKNOWNS? “When preparing for the unknown, I just try to keep an open mind. I try not to get too set in ways of if I don’t know the answer to things, I just try to keep an open mind and just kind of roll with things as I’m learning them. You try to do as much preparation as you can, but for this week there was only so much that you could do, and I didn’t want to get too set in ‘I think it’s gonna do this’ because if it does something different, then your whole mind is flip-flopped, so I’ve always just tried to be open-minded about these things and ready to adapt whatever you need to adapt in the moment.” HOW LONG DO YOU ANTICIPATE IT MIGHT TAKE BEFORE YOU HAVE AN IDEA OF WHAT IT’S GOING TO BE LIKE? “It’s gonna change depending on where you are. If you start on the front row, you’re gonna, ‘ok, this is kind of what I’ve got,’ and it’ll take you five laps. And then if you get kind of midpack, you’re gonna have to relearn because it’s gonna drive way different just like anything. So, it’ll go in stages. You’ll kind of get used to it, I think, after five or six laps in your spot, but then at some point of the race you’re gonna be thrown up front, you’re gonna be thrown in the back and you’re gonna have to relearn those things pretty quick. But I would say five to 10 laps in each scenario you’re in, and then different spots – not only where you’re at in the pack, but what different spots you’re putting yourself on the racetrack in traffic kind of peaking out to the right, peaking out to the left. How is it dead following somebody in the corner, so you’re trying to put yourself in those positions early to just kind of gather information quickly or at least as quick as you can.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Autotrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse – CAN THIS MOMENTUM CONTINUE THROUGH THE CHASE? “I hope the momentum rolls at this point. We’ve definitely had some fast cars here recently and have been able to get ourselves into the top 10 in points. Hopefully, we can get a couple more here this weekend because seventh isn’t that far out, so it’s definitely a possibility to get there. I don’t know what we’re gonna have and if anyone tells you they know what they’re gonna have, I think they’re lying because there’s no way to know. We’ll see what we have when we get out there. I think it’s about whoever can adjust the quickest and adapt to getting their cars driving good and adapt to the draft what that looks like first are the ones that score the most points.” HOW DO YOU BALANCE EARLY AGGRESSION WITHOUT WRECKING? “I think you need to know how things work. At some point, you’ve got to figure all that out. You’d rather figure it out earlier than later, but I think some of it probably depends on where you qualify and what that all is, but you’re gonna want to move forward as quickly as possible.” WHAT HAS THIS RUN BEEN LIKE FOR YOU AND THE REST OF TEAM PENSKE? “We’ve closed the gap quite a bit, so now I feel like early in the year we had to be absolutely perfect on execution and setup and everything to finish fifth. Now I feel like if we’re perfect we can win and if we’re off a little bit we can finish fifth to 10th. We’re in the hunt to where we can race for a championship now, so I feel good about that.”
