Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Zoom Media Availability | Tuesday, August 3, 2021
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang — HOW HAVE YOU ENJOYED ALL OF THE ROAD RACES THIS YEAR WITH THREE MORE STILL TO GO? “Personally, I enjoy the road racing stuff. It’s nice that we’ve added some new racetracks and nice going back to the Glen. We haven’t been there in a year. We didn’t go there last year, so it will be nice to go back. It’s gonna be cool to go to Indy next week, especially since Mr. Penske has turned it into a road course for us, so I’m excited for that. It’s nice to have two road courses in a row right here, but I’ve enjoyed going to some new places and then returning to some places we’ve been before. It’s definitely challenging figuring out these new racetracks, but at the end of the day it’s cool to bring the Cup Series or NASCAR in general to new places around the country and give fans that maybe have never seen a Cup race or a NASCAR race before a chance to maybe watch at their favorite racetrack.”
WHAT KIND OF RACE DO YOU ANTICIPATE AT INDY ON THE ROAD COURSE NEXT WEEK? “I thought that the race there last year was really good. I remember watching it and I thought it put on a great show. I know they’ve changed it up a little bit for us this year, just adding some more curbs in some places, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing those in person and staying off of RP’s grass. That’s a big thing. We don’t want to tear up his infield, so I’m excited to see what those are like. I think they’re the big sausage curbs that we’ve seen at the Roval and stuff like that, so it will be nice to see them in person and see exactly where they’re located. We’ve seen pictures, but until we get there we won’t be able to find out. I think it’s gonna be great. It should put on a good show and it’s nice to be there with the Indy Cars too. That’s gonna be great to have NASCAR and Indy Car together with all three series. I think that’s great for the sport.”
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN YOUR NEXT CREW CHIEF? “That search is still ongoing. It’s been trying to balance that out of focusing on this year, but then also you can’t just forget about next year. You’re always trying to prepare. You can’t wait until November, December and try to do something, so that’s still a work in progress. There are some people in mind that I think are really good fits, but I’m looking for someone — I think Todd and I got along so well because we’re kind of at the racetrack we’re almost kind of a yin and yang kind of thing. I can get fired up on the radio and Todd is very calm and it evens itself out of those personalities when we’re doing our jobs. Someone like that and, like I said, that’s ongoing. Someone who can when tense situations do come up of getting me back to where we need to be, and I think that’s how it always should be. You kind of have to have both of them. If you’re two people who clash a lot, and have the same personalities that can sometimes be good, but sometimes it can be a little rough. All the crew chiefs I’ve worked with have been very open-minded on listening to your ideas and what you have to say about the race cars and integrating them, so that’s never been an issue. So, that personality side that I talked about, for me personally.
HAS ROGER EVER TALKED TO YOU ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING AT INDY EITHER IN A JOKING OR SERIOUS MANNER? “It doesn’t need to be said.”
WITH THE ADDITIONAL ROAD COURSES HOW HAS IT CHANGED HOW MUCH TIME YOU SPEND AS FAR AS FEEDBACK? “I think it just makes everybody put a bigger emphasis on their road course program. We’re not just going to two a year. Before the Roval came about you didn’t have any in the playoffs, so it’s just like, ‘These are just two races a year.’ Obviously, they’re big and you want to win them, but I don’t think teams put as much emphasis on them. As far as now, we have seven now and one of them is in the playoffs, and they’re really close together. It’s nice to have them back-to-back the next two weeks, so I think it makes the drivers really pay attention more to it — really spend a lot of time here at the simulator. That’s where I’ve been doing Watkins Glen stuff this morning. We’ve spent a lot of time here just working on the road course stuff because they are very important. There are a bunch of them you can go out and try to win and get your points, so it just really made us push our program that much further and I think we’ve been inching in on it. It’s not just two anymore. There are a lot more and you really have to get better in that area as well.”
HAVE YOU TAKEN STUFF YOU’VE LEARNED FROM ROAD AMERICA AND COTA AND IMPLEMENTING THAT INTO THESE NEXT TWO WEEKS OR IS IT MORE LET’S USE THE NEXT TWO WEEKS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WE NEED FOR THE ROVAL IN THE PLAYOFFS? “It’s kind of all of them mashed up in one. You go to, COTA was kind of a one-off thing with it raining, but you can learn some stuff in the rain, kind of setup stuff of soft rear springs and things like that, but we’ve taken what we learned at Road America and Sonoma, things like that, and we just continue to apply them. Whether they work or don’t work, you either apply it or you can say, ‘Well, we tried this and it didn’t work. That’s out of here. Let’s work on something else.’ It all just kind of cycles, and then going back to the Glen we’re back on low downforce, so we’re all looking back on 2018 notes of, ‘OK, what were we like in 2018? Where do we need to be better? And what have we learned since the 2018 race there that we can apply — that maybe we’ve done in the last year or two that we’ve gotten better on road courses? So it’s all mashed up into it and you take things that you learn or don’t learn and either throw them out or apply them and see if they work at these certain road courses.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BACK AT WATKINS GLEN? “I’ve always really enjoyed the area. That racetrack puts on not only a great race, but I feel like the fan experience there is a very good time. They pack that place out and I’m looking forward to seeing it this weekend, seeing all the fans back there and really enjoying themselves. I was really bummed out last year when we couldn’t go just because, like I said, the racetrack is great and the area around it is just a beautiful place, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing some fans from inside the car and I’m sure they’ll be walking around the garage a little bit. It’s just nice to be back. You hate enjoying racing at these tracks growing up and then it just gets cut off like that. You hate it for the fans and hate it for the teams that we don’t get to go there, but we’re back and I’m looking forward to seeing everybody out there — all the fans and everybody.”
WHAT IS THE KEY YOU NEED TO GET THAT SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON? “I think right now, personally, we’ve got some things to clean up. I think we’ve been doing a really good job of getting our cars more competitive. I think you saw at New Hampshire all the Penske cars were really fast. Brad and I won both the stages and we led a bunch of laps and not only our cars got better, but all the Fords, I thought, took a big step forward with the 10 winning. Kevin ran really good. The 21 was good, so I think all of us took a big step forward, but that aside, we’ve got to clean up some stuff in some other areas and have some smoother stops and things like that, and just put whole days together. We’re working on the speed right now and then there’s some things to clean up on the other side and I think we can do it. But Loudon was a very good race for us, for our whole group, and I think we can build off that for sure.”
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE NEXT YEAR’S MOVES OUT OF THE WAY SO YOU CAN FOCUS ON THE REST OF THIS SEASON? “I think it’s really important to figure next year out for me, but, at the same time, we’ve still got a year to go. We’ve still got to finish out this year strong. We’ve got four races until the playoffs start and then we’ve got to make this playoff run, so, like I said before, it’s all about balancing out this year and next year and obviously this year is the priority, but next year and beyond that is the future, so you’ve got to pay attention to both things and work on both sides of it. My thoughts this year — when Todd announced he was retiring I wasn’t upset about it or nothing, I was motivated to make it a good last year for Todd. That’s my main priority right now and keep working on a crew chief for 2022 and beyond. That’s the second priority, but we’re still working on that. Right now, my priority is to go try to win races and go try to get a championship for Todd in his last year.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL GOING INTO THE REMAINING OF THE SEASON FROM A MOMENTUM STANDPOINT? “We’ kind of went through a rough spell for a month or two and just couldn’t really get any speed out of our cars and struggling and doing that stuff, and the past handful of races — five, six, seven races — have been pretty decent for us. Really all but Road America here recently has been a pretty good showing for our group, so I’ve been proud of the effort. We’re working really hard to find speed in our cars and you just hope to keep improving that. You hope to keep finding a little bit more speed here and there, getting a little bit more competitive and you want to peak right here at the playoffs. Hopefully, I think we’re on a really good track right now as a whole group at Team Penske and Ford, and hopefully we keep striving towards that.”
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT GOING TO THE FIRST ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS TO HAVE STRENGTH, ESPECIALLY WITH THE 750 PACKAGE? “That’s a great point on the first round is all 750 packages. It’s really encouraging that we had a strong run at Loudon because that’s what we’re gonna have. Loudon, besides these two road courses, that’s the last 750 package we’re gonna have until the playoffs start, but looking back on that first round we got knocked out in the first round last year. We kind of started behind the eight-ball there at Darlington with the penalty and having to start at the back and getting tore up. And then next week at Richmond not being our best track, but I’m really proud of the improvements we’ve made at Richmond and Darlington this year. I thought we had good runs there at both of those racetracks. They weren’t the cleanest races either from our group, and I thought we ran really well, so I’m looking forward to actually going back to those two places this year and building off of the good runs that we had there earlier this year. But, a huge focus. That Loudon race is a big, big race for us to be like, ‘OK, our 750 package is pretty close to where it needs to be,’ but still need to work on it obviously. That definitely helps when you have a good race like that even though it’s over a month later, it definitely is encouraging.”
HOW ARE YOU LOOKING AT THESE NEXT FOUR RACES? HOW MUCH FOCUS DO YOU PUT INTO IT VERSUS LOOKING AHEAD TO PLAYOFF TRACKS? “You pay attention to the next four races here just as much as any because they are chances to win, chances to get playoff points, chances to gain position and regular season points that help you out, too. So these are just as important. I don’t think anyone is gonna overlook these or anything like that just because you can still really help out your playoffs, but, at the same time, we’re already getting ready for playoffs. That’s going on in the shop right now. You’re always looking forward to that. Me and my team we have a meeting next week and going to talk through all the racetracks in the playoffs and try to get a head start on it and places we’ve been to this year — what can we build off of and then just start to get it planned. You can never start off too early about that, but you’ve got to do both — you’ve got to be able to focus on the final four races here, but then you also have to start preparing for the playoffs. I don’t think any focus has been taken away from these remaining four. You’re just trying to multitask the best that you can.”
LOGANO SAID YOU WERE THE BEST OF THE PENSKE DRIVERS WITH THE 550 PACKAGE. WHY iS THAT? “That’s nice of him to say that. I don’t know. I really don’t know. Honestly, it kind of bites me in some other areas, but I’ve always kind of been a heavy right-foot person, just driving really hard and always on the gas pedal and able to drive a very loose race car. With that package you kind of need that. The spoiler is big enough to where you can really drive them pretty loose and be able to handle it, so every driver is different, but that’s just the kind of style that has suited me, and it’s kind of the way that you have to run these 550 packages, so, yeah, I think that’s probably one of the bigger things that benefit me on the 550 high downforce stuff, but some of that stuff can bite you on the lower downforce side that you try to work on, that I try to get a lot better on, so it’s kind of a balancing act. I’d say that’s why on the 550 stuff.”
HOW MUCH TIME DID YOU SPEND DURING THE BREAK LOOKING AHEAD TO THE REST OF THIS YEAR? “We’ve never really had the two week break before. It’s different because of the Olympics, but I thought it was good for everybody to kind of just get a little bit of a break — all the team guys and girls to spend time with their families. I thought that was really good. It’s nice to step back a little bit and relax, but, honestly, I’m good at stepping back for a week and then I’m really anxious to kind of get going again. That’s just kind of how I am. When there’s nothing really to do and everyone’s on vacation, I just kind of sit around bored and you find stuff to figure out to do. But it was a pretty decent time being able to see some friends and family and things like that, but, at the same time, I miss racing pretty quickly. I’m constantly thinking about that, but yesterday morning you’re back at work. Everyone is back at work and it’s time to get going again, but it’s nice to have a little break, but I get anxious and I want to get back to the racetrack pretty quickly.”
MENTAL HEALTH HAS BEEN A BIG TOPIC DURING THE OLYMPICS. AS SOMEONE WHO HAS GONE THROUGH THE GRIND OF THIS SPORT, HOW HAVE YOU HANDLED THE HIGHS AND LOWS, AND WHAT HAS HELPED YOU MANAGE THAT AS YOU GO THROUGH IT? “As far as that side goes, I was very fortunate. I got a little bit of insight from my dad, watching him do it, but you never know. Until you’re in it, you never really know. I watched him all I could and you think you know until you’re a part of it and you don’t really know and you kind of have to learn that side by yourself. Everyone is their own person and everyone has their own thoughts and mentality and everyone handles things differently. The mental health side, some of the things about our sport is you have to really deal with and it just is what it is is that you’re going to lose a lot more than you win. You have to deal with the disappointment of that. You’re gonna fail more than you succeed in this sport and that can sometimes get you down and weigh on you, and if you go through a little rough patch of a year or months or whatever you can really start to lose confidence in yourself, but the thing that I’ve always thought of is just you try to keep improving and realize that things aren’t all that bad and just keep working on it. At the same time, I say that but I feel like when other athletes come out and they say things about mental health or the toughness about what they do and other people don’t realize the pressure that sometimes gets put on them, these people say, ‘Oh, just do your job.’ And it’s like, ‘You don’t know what it’s like.’ I don’t know what mental health issues that you go through with your job. I don’t know that. That’s what I don’t understand of people judging other people when they say they’re under pressure and things like that. The Olympics, I couldn’t deal with the pressure of the Olympics. The whole world is watching you and your country is rooting for you, but those things you just have to deal with personally on your own, and, like I said, people deal with those things differently. I’ve always tried not to get too down, but sometimes you do and it’s just how you overcome that. I think the biggest thing is not bottling it in. If you have people to talk to and can share some of that stuff, then maybe it makes it easier on you, but that’s kind of a tricky subject, I think, because everyone has a different opinion about that, everyone’s brain works differently on how they handle pressure and scrutiny and stuff like that.”
AS YOU LOOK AT WATKINS GLEN, WHAT ARE YOU HAVING TO DO AT THIS POINT? “The first thing I do with the simulator a lot is the week before any road course race just to kind of get your mind back into the visual side of it, and going to try different setup things and stuff like that. I usually do it from 8 a.m. to noon and you run through a bunch of different setups and things like that, and then I can try little different things too. The Ford sim does a great job at mapping. You get the visual sides of things and the curbing is pretty realistic how you jump those curbs, so the biggest thing is just working through some stuff. It’s a great tool now that there’s no testing or practice this year. It’s a great tool for us to use to go try some things setup-wise and driving-wise, and that’s the biggest thing and just trying to get refreshed and into the driving thing, especially now because we had two weeks off — just getting back into the swing of things and remembering how to turn the car on and shift and things like that, so it’s good visually for me. It really helps me out.”
HOW GOOD DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE A WIN ALREADY? “It’s nice to be a part of that group. It was nice to get our win early, that’s for sure. Obviously, everyone wishes they had more wins and things like that, but what I expect from the Glen is it’s nice to be starting up front, that’s for sure. I think I start third on Sunday I saw, so that’s really good. I think all Penske starts 1-2-3, so it’s nice to be starting at the front there. That place, you’ll see a lot of different pit strategies and shuffling around and things like that, but a big part of that race too is trying to keep your nose clean because at some point you’re probably gonna get shuffled to the midpack or to the back and things like that, so just trying to keep your nose clean. We’ll see what the weather does. It’s kind of half and half on what it’s gonna do, but we already have some experience in the rain, so I’m not afraid of that anymore. I think it’s gonna be a good show. I’m just happy to be back at Watkins Glen. They have a great facility and great fans and it’s gonna be nice to see everybody again. Hopefully, we have a good run.”
