Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Firekeepers Casino 400 | Monday, August 7, 2023
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Chris Buescher
4th – Brad Keselowski
8th – Kevin Harvick
9th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Austin Cindric
14th – Joey Logano
16th – Aric Almirola
17th – Harrison Burton
22nd – Ryan Preece
24th – Michael McDowell
25th – Cole Custer
27th – JJ Yeley
29th – Todd Gilliland
31st – Chase Briscoe
- BUESCHER GIVES FORD NINTH STRAIGHT CUP WIN AT MICHIGAN
- Chris Buescher gave Ford its ninth consecutive win at Michigan International Speedway Sunday.
- The win was the second straight for Buescher who was victorious a week ago in Richmond.
- This marks the second straight year a Ford driver has won Richmond and Michigan back-to-back after Kevin Harvick did it last season.
- The win is the 140th NASCAR Cup Series triumph for car owner Jack Roush and second under the Roush Fenway Keselowski banner.
- Ford is the all-time leader in Cup wins at MIS with 44.
- Today’s win is Ford’s 724th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang (Finished 1st) – “I am so proud of everyone at RFK and what we have been able to accomplish these last few years. To get it here at Ford’s home track, this one is always big. It is Jack’s home track and Brad’s home track and this is where we needed one. To fight for it and have such a clean race there with Truex at the end, he was really close to getting us at one point. We had to keep digging on it. I am really proud of everybody. That was awesome to put our Castrol Edge Mustang in victory lane here at Michigan and we have road courses coming up, I am really excited for those.”
HOW DID THE PIT STRATEGY PLAY OUT FOR YOU? “I didn’t know anything. I pitted when they told me to pit. We knew we had a fast car and were running really well. The 45 was fast too and when he had his issue we were able to get the lead and tried to make the most of clean air. I didn’t have a clue of what was going on around us. That was just this group right behind me here and their work to get us this spot. We started planning back on Tuesday for this race and it is really cool to see it all work out.”
THE LAST 20 LAPS, HAVING TRUEX CHASING YOU DOWN, WHAT WAS THAT LIKE? “We talked alot yesterday about the 19 being very fast and probably being the class of the field. We also talked about dirty air and how bad it was for us so the only thing I could think was to make it as dirty behind us as possible to make it difficult. He was so good on the bottom. I just couldn’t quite pull the car down that low but I was able to dirty up the air enough to hold him off and get away with some traffic. It was a tough race.”
THE HERITAGE TROPHY. FORD HAS HELD THAT TROPHY FOR EIGHT YEARS AND HAD TO BRING IT BACK TO THE TRACK, BUT YOU GET TO SEND IT BACK TO DEARBORN. “Yeah, that is awesome. I am a Ford guy through and through and have been for a really long time. To be here in Ford’s backyard and get this done and have so many Ford folks with us here today, it is a special weekend. You always have a little more on your shoulders here and we bring our A game when we come here. I knew to take care of this thing during the burnout too because I want to take care of this car for the playoffs too.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Nexlizet Ford Mustang (Finished 4th) – “Chris (Buescher) nailed it there at the end. We got really fast right at the end of the race with both cars and hadn’t shown that speed all weekend. Credit to both teams working together and making good adjustments and learned from each other applied them to get the speed out of our cars. We drove from 21st or 22nd there the last run up to fourth. I wish the race was like 30 or 40 laps longer because I was coming. We were running 37.80’s and the leaders were running 38.0. We just ran out of laps. If we can’t win it, I am so glad Chris did.”
WHEN YOU MENTIONED THE MULTI-WIN PER YEAR THING ON SATURDAY, I DON’T THINK YOU THOUGHT IT WAS COMING THIS WEEKEND, DID YOU? “You hope, right? Yeah, it seemed like most of the race the 19 and 11 car were just dominant. Right at the end we made some adjustments on both of our cars, found some speed. Chris was able to hold off Martin, running all of them down.Really happy for all the folks at Castro, RFK. There’s a lot of work going on here. We’re digging deep, getting the results. I’m so thankful and proud for everyone at RFK.”
SEEMS TO BE A BIT OF A STATEMENT WIN FOR RFK, TO BE ABLE TO DO IT ON A SHORT TRACK EIGHT DAYS AGO, NOW A TWO-MILE RACETRACK. IS RFK SAYING THAT WE’RE THE BEST FORD TEAM IN THE GARAGE AREA? “We’re letting our results speak for themselves. Chris has done a heck of a job driving the car. When you get win, it feels really good. We got to keep some humbleness and keep our head down. There’s some great competition out here.”
SECOND MOST POINTS EARNED FOR YOU. IT WAS A BIG ONE. “Yeah, I scored a lot of points. Obviously we want to win. The speed we showed at the end was enough to win the race, but at the beginning and early part of the race we were only really good enough to run 10th. We went for our points mode. The speed showed up. Dang, maybe we shouldn’t have gone for points. That’s part of how it always plays out. All in all a really strong day for both teams at RFK. Really proud.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Knauf Ford Mustang (Finished 9th) – “Just kind of a decent, okay day. Just different pit strategies and stuff like that. I thought the call we made to come in before the second stage and put tires on with like 15 to go flipped the stage. It had us restart in the top-five and got us our track position back that we lost earlier. We were able to kind of halfway hang on. I didn’t think my speed was great but just a hard working day for sure. It is nice that a Ford run. That is nine in a row here for Ford which is great. I wish it was us but I am happy for the overall goal. We gotta keep going to work.”
