Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
All-Star Heat Races
Saturday, May 17, 2025
HEAT RACE 1
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Brad Keselowski
4th– Ryan Blaney
6th – Josh Berry
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – THAT WENT ACCORDING TO PLAN. IS THIS A SHOT IN THE ARM FOR THIS TEAM? “Yeah, it doesn’t hurt. It’s been a good two days for everyone on this 6 crew and hopeful the other two cars can have good runs – the heat race and the Open so that we can get a great day for tomorrow. It’s good to be starting up front with the Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang and to be running fast. This is fun.”
YOU TRIED SOMETHING DIFFERENT. WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT THIS SETUP AND MAYBE TIRES. DO YOU WANT TIRES TOMORROW? “Those guys that put tires on, they were really hard to hold off. I had the preferred groove and just tried to use it to my advantage. We’ll see if that’s the case tomorrow.”
KESELOWSKI WINNER’S PRESS CONFERENCE
IS THIS STILL A ONE-GROOVE TRACK? “Oh, no. It’s definitely not a single groove racetrack. They were running me real hard. We had good pace and that was a little bit of a dogfight, so I thought it was great racing.”
HOW MUCH FUN WAS IT RACING SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH THOSE GUYS FOR ALL THOSE LAPS? “That’s what this is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be a fun race and I think I ran beside the 45, the 1, the 24 for at least a dozen or maybe two dozen laps. It was a good battle. I’m glad that we came out on top, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be, right?”
BEING OUT FRONT YOU GET BETTER AIR BUT IS IT ALSO TIRE THING? “Those guys were running hard and that’s what they’re supposed to do. It’s always a battle on these short tracks to have the right balance between driving the car hard enough to stay up front, but not driving it too hard to run the tires off of it and that’s part of the challenge of being a race car driver and I welcome it.”
ARE YOU GOING TO NEED TIRES TOMORROW NIGHT? “We’re gonna find out. It’s always hard to say. The track conditions are always changing, particularly when we’ll have the Open before the race tomorrow. I suspect the track will just become more and more favorable to tire wear.”
HEAT RACE 2
Ford Finishing Results:
2nd – Joey Logano
5th – Chris Buescher
8th – Austin Cindric
9th – Harrison Burton
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DID IT FEEL UP FRONT AND DO YOU THINK YOU’LL HAVE SOMETHING FOR THE LEADERS TOMORROW? “Yeah, it was really just seeing the front to start the race is what we wanted to do. There’s a lot of opportunity there with different strategies. We saw the 19 stay out and go for it there, and it didn’t work out for him. That’s kind of an all or nothing call and we were debating about it as well, so once we couldn’t get the lead we knew we were gonna pit. We made a good adjustment on our car and learned something for tomorrow night, so that’s a good thing. We’re in a good spot. We’re gonna start on the outside lane, which isn’t a bad thing to fire off and we’ll try to get the old 22 rolling and tune on it as the night goes along.”
HOW DID YOU FEEL THE TRACK WIDENED OUT AND HOW HAS IT CHANGED FROM LAST YEAR? “The track is super wide. I mean, you saw the 20, he was up by the wall. I was surprised three and four hasn’t widened out much more than it has. It may tomorrow night because I feel like last year was a little wider in three and four, but one and two is serviceable in every single lane, so that makes it pretty fun. It’s hard to pass because every lane is strong, so it’s hard to complete passes, but there are definitely options to try to get clean air.”
DO YOU THINK CLEAN AIR WILL BE KEY TOMORROW NIGHT? “It was last year. I’ve got to assume it will be again this year.”
