Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Phoenix Raceway – Shriners Children’s 500
Sunday, March 9, 2025
Unofficial Ford Finishing Order:
4th – Josh Berry
5th – Chris Buescher
9th – Zane Smith
13th – Joey Logano
15th – Ryan Preece
17th – Todd Gilliland
19th – Austin Cindric
24th – Cody Ware
26th – Noah Gragson
28th – Ryan Blaney
32nd – Cole Custer
33rd – Brad Keselowski
JOSH BERRY, No. 21 eero Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Finished 4th)
“I hate that we had that mistake on pit road with the left rear that kind of knocked us back but we were able to fight back up there and had some really good restarts. I felt like myself again. It is amazing what you can do when the car is handling like that. It was really solid and staying underneath me. I am super proud of these guys.”
IT WAS A SOLID DAY ALL THE WAY AROUND WASN’T IT?
“Yeah, I am proud of everyone on this 21 team and thank you to eero for coming on board. Our car was really solid. It wasn’t mistake free. We had an issue on pit road with the left rear but we got backed up and got the wheel tight. We had some really good restarts. We had one toward the end that didn’t go our way, but pretty much every one of them we were able to move forward and fight and claw. It is a credit to everyone on the 21 team and Ford and Wood Brothers Racing and Team Penske. It was a lot of fun.”
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO GET THAT FIRST TOP FIVE FINISH?
“Yeah, I am just honestly so excited. This racetrack was pretty tough for me last year and these guys have great cars, without a doubt here. That was proven again today and we executed pretty solidly and was able to get a good finish which is really good.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fry’s/Thomas/Philadelphia Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Finished 5th)
“I am really proud of this team to take this Ford Mustang and get a top five out of it. It was a fight today. I felt like we were there on the yellows and kept getting run all over by reds and I was just sitting there waiting our turn. We finally put them on and ended up in a place where it was kind of the same time as everybody else. We didn’t see the big movement, but we had them on at the end when a lot of others ran out. It made it interesting. I am still a proponent of a single tire when we come to a weekend, but Goodyear did a great job. That red tire was a lot of fun.”
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Aaron’s Rent to Own Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Finished 9th)
“Man, since practice I knew I had a really good Mustang. In qualifying, I feel like we all kind of missed it at FRM but I knew our Fords were really good on the long run and it paid off here. It was a lot of fun today. I fought a couple of mistakes throughout the day, but it is really cool to get Aaron’s a good run in my debut with them. Top ten finishes are always great. It is something to build on and a good track to be good at. I am just happy with the performance all weekend, honestly.”
THESE OPTION TIRES, IT SEEMS LIKE ANYTIME YOU GUYS THREW THESE TIRES ON YOU COULD JUST DRIVE THROUGH THE FIELD.
“Yeah, they are a lot of fun and it made it probably the most fun Phoenix race I feel like I have been to. Just a good weekend for us and something to build off of and I am really ready for this year.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Wurth Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Retried Early – Engine, Finished 28th)
“It just blew up. It started with about 100 to go and I thought it was going to make it to the end but it didn’t. It was a hard-fought day. We could never get going on restarts. Long runs I felt okay but just kind of lacked a little bit and then we were just having trouble with the engine before it completely grenaded. We were going to get a decent finish out of it, but obviously not.”
