Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying
Martinsville Speedway | Saturday, April 6, 2024

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
5th – Chase Briscoe
6th – Joey Logano
7th – Josh Berry
9th – Ryan Blaney
13th – Brad Keselowski
14th – Austin Cindric
16th – Todd Gilliland
22nd – Ryan Preece
26th – Noah Gragson
27th – Justin Haley
30th – Chris Buescher
31st – Kaz Grala
34th – Harrison Burton
35th – Michael McDowell

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“You know, our practice was good, especially on the long run. The short run we weren’t super fast but that is just kind of what it is. In qualifying, I was amazed we held on in the first round. I thought for sure we were going to be knocked out and we ended up second somehow. I am happy with it. I feel like I could have done a bit better in that second round there. I don’t think I would have beat what the 23 just ran or the 5 but I think we are in the hunt. We needed to start in the top 10 for sure and it is nice that we are inside of the top five. That will be big and we have a good Ford Mustang for tomorrow.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 4 Mobil 1 50th Anniversary Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We had a good day today. The car is good. We had a solid run and starting in the top 10 is a good day for us. I felt like I slipped a little bit into turn one on the second lap, which hurt us. As close as it is, that was probably the difference. Overall it was a great day and I am proud of the guys. We will keep working on it. We have a good starting spot for tomorrow and we have a good Mustang. We just need to go race and execute and have a good solid day on pit road. You never know what can happen.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
COOK OUT 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 6, 2024

 KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LUCAS OIL CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Martinsville Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

YOU’RE 13TH IN POINTS. ARE YOU LOOKING WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS NOW OR JUST LOOKING FOR MORE CONSISTENCY?

“I think anytime you have good runs, you kind of know that the points will take care of themselves. Anytime you aren’t having good runs, you probably know that you are not in good point standing. So, definitely kind of on the back of the mind for sure. But more importantly, just trying to get our program right and up front, and in a position to where we can win a race or two and not worry about points.”

OBVIOUSLY CREW CHIEF CHANGE ON THE NO. 3 THIS WEEK. IS IT IMPORTANT FOR THEM TO BE RUNNING WELL OR BETTER, AS FAR AS HELPING ANYTHING WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE?

“Yeah, I mean I think anything for RCR is the strength in having both teams running up front. You know, it seems like there’s a comfort factor there with Austin (Dillon) and Justin (Alexander). Justin, I think, has tried to come off the road a couple times for family and whatnot, but he kind of keeps getting pulled back out of the bullpen and put in play. I respect the hell out of Keith (Rodden), Justin and Randall (Burnett) and all those guys, (Andy) Petree, too. You know, it’s not due to lack of intellect. We certainly have that. There’s a lot going on at the shop and things like that, where it seems like there’s some pretty good minds being put to use on the stuff that we do. It just hasn’t correlated to the racetrack yet.”

KYLE, AS A SPORTS FAN, I’M GUESSING YOU’VE SEEN EVENTS WHERE, MAYBE LATE IN EVENTS, THEY ALWAYS SAY THAT THE OFFICIALS CALL THINGS A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY. IN LIGHT OF WHAT MAYBE HAPPENED, WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK AT RICHMOND, WHAT NASCAR SAID – HEY, IF THIS SITUATION HAPPENED EARLIER, MAYBE IT’S DIFFERENT. FROM AN ATHLETE’S POINT OF VIEW, HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO BE ABLE TO KIND OF BE ABLE TO DICTATE WHAT YOU’RE ABLE TO DO AT THE END, AS LONG AS IT’S NOT WAY OUT OF BOUNDS, AS OPPOSED TO HAVING AN OFFICIAL STEP IN?

“Yeah, I kind of feel like they probably – if it was earlier in the race, they probably would have spent time reviewing it and then calling it; making it a penalty and calling a pass through or whatever that is.

But since it was the end of the race, they are a lot more prone to let things go when it comes down to the end of the race. We look at bump and runs. We look at dump and runs, right? I mean, a guy that flat blatantly takes out another guy and gets the win because they’re not going to strip that for rough driving or something else, you know what I mean? So, I feel like that’s kind of their mentality a little bit, of just not wanting to be involved in a finish and stripping a win, per se.”

ALSO, I KNOW FOR THE MOST PART THE SHORT TRACKS HAVE BEEN PRETTY CHALLENGING SINCE YOU’VE COME OVER TO RCR. I ALSO UNDERSTAND IF YOU KNEW WHAT THE ISSUE WAS, YOU WOULDN’T BE FACING THESE CHALLENGES. BUT WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT YOU’RE HOPING OR LOOKING FOR THAT ARE KIND OF HIGH ON YOUR RADAR THIS WEEKEND?

“Yeah, I mean to me, I feel like I know how to get around Martinsville. You know, I’ve won here before. I feel like my good stretch of races here certainly came from 2013-14 timeframe to about 2018-19, so we had some good runs. I think we won two or three races here in that time period. So yeah, the short track stuff though has, you know, been very miss. We’ve had like two hits I think, so you know it’d be nice to get more on the on the hit side and to where we have good cars that we’re able to go out there and contend and compete. So I think a lot of it is just the reliance on the simulation and what we’re being told in that, and making decisions based off of that – what makes you faster or better in the sim. And that is not transferring to the race track, so we’ve got to go about it a different way.”

YOU HAVE BEEN CRITICAL OF THE NEW SHORT TRACK PACKAGE THIS YEAR. HAS IT CHANGED THE RACING AT ALL FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, AND DO YOU EXPECT ANY BIGGER CHANGES HERE AT THE SHORTEST TRACK YET FOR THE PACKAGE?

“I didn’t think we could make it worse, but by golly we did.. for me anyways. Maybe it’s just because we don’t have it quite figured out like others do, but I cannot follow anybody in front of me whatsoever. It doesn’t matter if I’m in the bottom lane, the middle lane, the top lane – if there is a car in front of me, I am terrible.. really bad. I will say the only positive to it is that you can slide the back of the car around a little bit more and not crash. But the front ends are just ungodly not working.”

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE NASCAR DO IN TERMS OF DEVELOPMENT DIRECTION?

“It doesn’t matter because they’re not going to do it, so it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to paint myself in a bad spot to get in trouble.”

OBVIOUSLY, THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, THEY’VE MADE THE SPRING RACE 400 LAPS VERSUS THE USUAL 500. TALK ABOUT THE STRATEGY OF RACING 400 LAPS HERE VERSUS 500. AND THEN THE SECOND PART – OBVIOUSLY, NEXT WEEK WE HAVE TEXAS COMING UP. YOUR THOUGHTS, FEELS, ABOUT RACING AT THE TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY NEXT WEEK?

“Yeah, 400 or 500.. it’s still a long time. So, to me it doesn’t seem like it’s that much different, honestly.

Stage lengths are a little different. How you would kind of strategize the race might be a little bit different. But honestly, to me, it’s not that much different.

So going into next week for Texas, you know we were pretty good there last year. We had a decent car. We were coming up through the field; getting into the top-three. We pitted or we stayed out – I think we stayed out on a stop and I ran a couple laps in the spray. I felt like it hurt my tires a little bit and then I was crashed a couple laps later. So definitely learned from that.. don’t do that. But all around, felt like if we can go back there and repeat with a similar car as we had last time, then I feel like we’re a contender and we can put ourselves in position for a win there.”

MARTINSVILLE SPECIFICALLY HAS BEEN TOUGH IN THIS NEXT GEN ERA FOR YOU, BUT I KNOW YOU’VE ALSO TALKED ABOUT JUST TRYING TO FIND THE FEEL THAT WORKS FOR YOU IN THIS NEXT GEN CAR. DO YOU FEEL ANY CLOSER TO THAT FROM THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS AS THIS SEASON CONTINUES AND PROGRESSES?

“Not as much, no. I feel like one of the biggest things that we were able to work on with the old car was

figuring out ways of being able to develop some rear grip in different ways and the sustainability of the rear tires for a long run. I feel like that’s where our strength here really came in, was my ability of being able to keep the rear tires under the car and go the long distance. Myself, Denny, and Truex – the things that we would learn with each other in our meetings really translated to the racetrack. But since we’ve gone to the new car, everything’s more similar. You don’t have your play book and your tool set is way limited on what you can do in order to find that rear grip, and I have not been able to find that rear grip for here. I can probably be fast for 20 or 25 laps maybe, and then we start throwing the anchor out

and the backup light comes on. That’s been my thin, is just finding how to manage the rear tires and keep those under us.”

JOEY LOGANO SAID ON THE NETWORK THIS WEEK THAT WHEN A PIT CREW IS USED TO WINNING, WHEN THEY’RE USED TO BEING A TOP FIVE CAR, IT PUTS THEM UNDER A DIFFERENT LEVEL OF PRESSURE THAN WHEN YOU’RE RIDING 15TH TO 20TH. DO YOU HAVE TO KIND OF CONDITION YOUR PIT CREW TO GET THERE WHERE YOU NEED THEM TO BE TO BE ABLE TO PERFORM ON SUNDAY’S?

“Yeah, I mean I would agree with that. I feel like sometimes too just the nature of a driver’s name might put added pressure on a team because they’re looked at a lot more, and they’ve got eyeballs on them a little bit heavily. The teams that I’ve had in the past have done phenomenal jobs of living up to the pressure. I remember – I don’t know, how many times we go to Homestead, and there’s that late-race caution that comes out for the final pit stop, right? And the guys got to go and perform under pressure, and you’re racing for a championship. So, you know, we’ve all been under that position five years in a row. It’s been a minute, but it happened. Remember that? It happened. Nobody got it. Okay, moving on.. (laughs).

It’s tough. I’d look at the 24 bunch when William got over there, right? I think there’s different guys there now, but they probably were like – okay, you know, there’s a young kid coming in, like, whatever.. nobody’s going to have any eyeballs on us. But Kyle moving over to RCR, there are certainly more eyeballs on that pit crew and the things that they do. So I think that’s my example.”

TEXAS HAS GENERALLY BEEN A REALLY GOOD TRACK FOR YOU PRIOR TO THE NEXT GEN CAR. I’M CURIOUS, YOUR LAST TWO STARTS THERE HAVE NOT BEEN..

“I think I’ve wrecked in every Next Gen start there, haven’t I?”

PRETTY MUCH (LAUGHS).. BUT MY QUESTION TO YOU IS – WITH BEING WITH A NEW TEAM, HOW MUCH DIRECTION DO YOU GET FROM GENERAL MOTORS AS BEING A KEY PARTNER, AND HOW MUCH INTERNALLY GOES INTO THE CAR? DO YOU KIND OF HAVE A ROADMAP THAT COMES AS BEING A KEY PARTNER, OR IS THERE MORE INDIVIDUALISM THAT TAKES PLACE FROM THE TEAM SIDE?

“Well definitely, yes. We’re a key partner team with Team Chevy, so we obviously have that toolbox and the things of the sim and everything that goes along with that to compare and work with the other Chevy teams – Trackhouse and HMS. So we do that. We’ve done that a lot. We’ve done that about everywhere. There has been hot places where we’ve been really good, and we’ve done it on our own. And then there’s been other places where we follow suit with those guys, and we’ve been good or we’ve been bad. But the gist of it is to work together and to work as a team. We have our meetings afterwards, where we all kind of talk about the stuff that we fought over the weekend. What happens after those meetings, I think, is probably the utmost importance – with the engineers and the crew chiefs and stuff reading through our comments; going back to the setups and figuring out why somebody was particularly good or somebody was particularly bad and kind of dissecting that stuff and learning what to do, what not to do.”

WITH THE HISTORY SURROUNDING MARTINSVILLE, WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE MOMENTS THAT’S EVER HAPPENED HERE, AND WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT DRIVING MARTINSVILLE?

“I’ll start with the second question first. I don’t know if I have a favorite part of Martinsville. Winning, I guess. That’s the fun part.. when you’re going forward on those long runs and guys in front of you are struggling a little bit, and you can get to them and kind of nudge them a little and go, move on and win.

But other than that, I would say cool moments here – I mean man, some of that with the Hendrick camp and their wins here, and the history that they have here from the tragedy that took place nearby. And then I would say beyond that, further back in history – some of the Earnhardt moments are always entertaining and pretty spectacular with Darrell and those guys. The way that they would fight for wins here was always kind of intense, and it would shine a light on what NASCAR was really made from.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
COOK OUT 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 6, 2024

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Martinsville Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

IT’S BEEN A MINUTE SINCE A TOP-10 AT A TRUE SHORT TRACK. WHAT’S THE STATE OF THE SHORT-TRACK SETUP AT TRACKHOUSE?

“Evolving. Following (Kyle) Larson up here to the podium is about like on track. I feel like I follow the Hendrick cars around. We’re working on it. We’re not staying complacent. We’re coming with different packages and trying to find what works. We’ve had glimmers of hope but not sustained competitiveness and speed. If it’s good in the race, we’re not good in qualifying and vice versa. We’re working. We’re changing springs and shocks and whatever we can to get whatever I need to go faster and Daniel (Suarez) as well.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE SOME OF THE BIGGER TEAMS HAVE GOTTEN OUT IN FRONT WITH THIS CAR, AND IF YOU WERE QUALIFYING BETTER DO YOU THINK YOU’D HAVE BETTER RESULTS SO FAR?

“I don’t think anyone has a clear upper hand. I feel like we could have won Vegas if I don’t speed on pitroad. We put ourselves in position to gain those spots we aren’t getting in qualifying.

“It just makes everything so much easier. It means that you had a car that you could make speed in either on Friday or Saturday or whenever you were qualifying. We’re not trying to go out and drive slow in qualifying. I’m trying. I’m usually sliding because I’ve tried too much. It’s not often that I qualify bad because I under-drive. I’m trying to find that balance. But yes it’s going to help your weekend with pit selection and everything. These are the best of the best drivers and teams in the world. It’s not easy to drive by them.”

THE NEW MOTO GP TEAM FROM TRACKHOUSE IN A NEW AND INNOVATIVE IDEA FROM JUSTIN (MARKS). WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ORGANIZATION SPREADING ITS WINGS?

“I’m not surprised. That’s been Justin’s vision and the first time he told me the word Trackhouse before it was a thing or they ever ran a race. Then when I got brought in to drive as the second driver, there were more talks about what’s next. I kind of thought, ‘Wow, he bought CGR and acquired everything that Chip (Ganassi) built and that was our foundation.’ I was kind of locked in on this big thing and Justin was sitting across from me at a campfire one night and was like ‘That’s nothing brother. Just wait.’ So no, I haven’t gotten too zoned in on it. I am going to meet those guys. They’re coming over to the shop this week, have a little Trackhouse Tuesday and have them there. We’ve got some bikes out there in the lobby with our cars, as well. I’m excited to get to meet them face-to-face. We’ve done some videos back and forth. But I’m not too locked in. I don’t understand much about their motorcycles. I was looking at a bike we had at Daytona, like a showbike I guess. I couldn’t tell if it was a real bike or like a showcar like we have old cars. I couldn’t tell if it was an old chassis with old brakes… that’s what we would put together in NASCAR. But I couldn’t tell if this thing was made to look like a bike, if it was a bike. I had no idea. So I have some questions for the riders to learn more about it.”

WOULD YOU HAVE ANY INTEREST IN RIDING ONE?

No. Chance! Not even a second-seat. Ben Kennedy was showing me some stuff. He’s ridden backseat with a guy. They were on one wheel going forward and one wheel slowing down. So no… not at all! It’s way too fast and I don’t like to be out of control. At least if I’m driving and I’m crashing into something, I’m holding the wheel!”

THERE’S A LOT OF HISTORY AT MARTINSVILLE AND YOU’VE PUT YOUR NAME UP THERE WITH HAIL MELLON. HOW OFTEN ARE YOU ASKED ABOUT IT? AND SECONDLY, NEXT WEEK IS TEXAS AND WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TRACK AND RACING IN TEXAS?

“Martinsville is one of those tracks that I remember watching as a kid. For some reason I have a few that I just have vivid core memories of watching NASCAR races when I was a fan. This is one of them. Now competing against some of my heroes who I watched race, or they are directors and different things with other teams and I’m competing against their cars is pretty wild. I do know that we have a small blip in the history of it, but I want more. I don’t want that to be my legacy here. We’re working on that, but there’s no way we’re getting in and out of Virginia without talking about it.

“For Texas, my allegiance there is Al Niece. It’s the truck team I drive for, and he lives there just outside of Austin in a small town. Although Dallas-Fort Worth is a long ways away, he has trucks there and a yard there where he rents and sells water trucks and fuel loop trucks. Learning his business and learning the Texas way of life is just so cool. He has a lot of people and we have a lot of people. It’s a huge market for us with a ton of opportunity. Racetrack-wise, we all wish we could do more there. I wish I could pass more. It truly is one of the hardest tracks to pass in my opinion. When I get a pass done, I sometimes physically celebrate in the car on the next straightaway because I did it and I did what I thought was impossible. Hopefully as it ages it opens up more and more, but we will see.”

IT’S NOT OFTEN WHERE PRACTICE FALLS AT THE SAME TIME AS WHEN YOU RACE. WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM TODAY’S SESSION FOR THE RACE?

“Hopefully how to go fast. I just want to make speed today. Obviously you want to make it early in the run and hang on to it in practice. It needs to drive good but it needs to make speed. That’s all that really matters. I’ll hang on and bounce around do whatever I have to do as long as I’m making speed. And the same in qualifying. Saturday is all about that. I have all day tomorrow and 500 miles to settle in and make my tires live, make my brakes and all that, choose cone, pit road and all that, that’s for then. Now it’s all about getting up and getting going here, and that’s something I’ve struggled with. That’s all I think about as I keep learning how to get better here. It’s a way that helps me, so it’s cool that it’s a great time but honestly Sunday is so far away that it may as well be a different event. Today is all about Saturday and practice and qualifying with those two hours being locked in and ready to rip.”

BACK TO THE CAMPFIRE MOMENT, WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU SAW THAT GLIMPSE OF HIS BIG PLANS. AND AT THIS MOMENT ARE YOU SHOCKED BY ANYTHING HE DOES?

“That one was shocking, to be honest. I don’t have a grasp of what MotoGP is and didn’t for sure then. I knew they came to America a few times, but to be honest I don’t travel much outside of the country… maybe a couple of trips to Guatemala to look at some watermelon fields for our winter watermelons that we bring in. Other than that, I don’t really go anywhere. He had to explain the basics to me and how the team operated. They obviously operate a lot differently from us. He’s been over there insulating himself into the team to learn how they operate, kept a lot of their team together the best I can tell. We had a lot of questions but more than that I want to meet them in person and talk to them, so I get to do that this Tuesday. I’m not surprised. He let me in on it early on, and I got to do some Googling before it came out.”

AFTER SOME OF THE CONTROVERSY ON THE RESTART LAST WEEK, ARE YOU CLEAR ON WHERE YOU CAN AND CAN’T RESTART FROM? OR IS IT A MATTER OF EVERYBODY IS DOING WHAT THEY’VE DONE AND YOU RACE TO THE WAY NASCAR OFFICIATES IT?

“We run to the rulebook. Although the rulebook says certain things, the officiating has not lined up with that in the past. We all knew it. I’m not surprised by the call. I’m not surprised by the move by the cars involved at the front of the field. Not saying I’m going to do the same thing because if everyone goes early then there is no advantage. The advantage is doing what your competitors beside you and behind you don’t expect. I don’t expect all restarts to fire at Turn Three this weekend by any means. There are two lines for a reason, and we know that. The scary part is when do the reactionary calls change, right? When is that a penalty? At the end of the race or on Lap 10 or 30 or 300 like it was talked about. Being that first guy who gets called for going the same distance early would be tough. That would be tough to swallow. There are clearly two white lines on the track. If they want the zone to be in the zone with how the rule is written and if they want to enforce their rule, then great. If they don’t want to enforce it like we have not enforced it for the last little bit – I don’t know how long I’d even call that – but yeah, it’s up to them and I’ll adjust. I just want a rulebook and an address to go race at. Other than that, tell me where to be and what the rules are and we’ll go race. That’s all I care about.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
COOK OUT 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 6, 2024

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM RUBY CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Martinsville Speedway.

Media Availability Quotes:

You took the alternate strategy at Richmond Raceway last weekend, which didn’t end up working out there. Do you expect to take kind of a converse strategy here, or go with the normal approach?

“I have no idea. I don’t think there’s much strategy, as far as like long run stuff, pitting and green-flag stops necessarily here because I don’t think you see the fall off quite like you do at Richmond (Raceway). And two, typically you don’t see the long runs like you do at Richmond. I would say the strategy would be different, but I think where strategy comes into play… like at Richmond, if you get 20 laps on your tires, you’re pitting. Here at Martinsville (Speedway), you could potentially have 60-plus laps on your tires; stay out and gain track position that way. So I think that’s where the strategy comes in, rather than green-flag cycles.”

Kyle, you’ve got the Indy test next week. How much do you know what happens after that, as far as

your travel goes, the back-and-forth, here to there, and so forth? Have you kind of mapped that out yet?

“Ask Jon.. (haha) because I don’t know. He knows more than I do.”

What’s your feeling now that you’re approaching that? Any changes in how you’re looking at it? Have you talked more with the guys on the team there and so forth?

“No, I mean nothing’s changed. I don’t know.. I’ve been excited about it since January of last year when we announced it. But yeah, I don’t get too overly excited about anything. Just take it every day, day-by-day. Hopefully the weather is good next week, and we can get in the car as scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday, and just get to learning I think from there. I think next week is when I’ll really get to learn more about things; racing and getting to be around like my team of people. The other times I’ve been in the car, I haven’t had – and I don’t even know, maybe I have been around a lot of the team members, but I’ll at least have my team there next week to kind of talk to and learn from. And then yeah, as far as being at the track with teammates and all of that sort of stuff, it will be good.”

Do you know what you can and cannot do on a restart, as far as where you can go and where you can’t? Do you have any additional questions after last week?

“No, I mean.. I don’t know. I don’t really know – I think we’ve always had questions, and probably still have the same questions. Not even that it was a question, I think we all just push the zone at certain points of the race, especially at the end. Typically, drivers go either early like Denny (Hamlin) did, or right at it. Denny’s not the first person that’s ever taken off before the zone. It’s always been a game.

I don’t know.. I don’t really know how I necessarily view it. I can see all sides of it. There’s lines on the race track, so those could be your lines that you have to go by. But then also, I think as the leader, you need to have full control of the lead. The zones are so small that the leader, most times or at least half of the time, I feel like is at a disadvantage because that zone is so small and it’s easy to predict and time when they can go. So like last year – I think it was last year or maybe the year before – they made the zones bigger. In my opinion, I think that helps the leader. And you see less gains outside the zone. I think you get more strategy going within the zone, which is fair. But you know, at Fontana – everybody behind I think it was (Joey) Logano, tried predicting when he was going to go and he just waited until the end of the zone, which was legal. And they all crashed and then NASCAR thought it was a zone-length issue, when it was really just competitor issues.

I would just like to see the zone a lot bigger – even bigger than it used to be or was early last year because then I think you get those gains… I hate calling it gains, but just strategical moves within the zones. Yeah, I think you would see less jumping of a start if you had the zone longer.”

We’re more than a quarter of the way through the regular season. Where do you think your team stacks up? You’ve had speed, your pit crew has been solid, but there has been a bit of inconsistency..

“I wouldn’t necessarily say there’s been really inconsistency. In my opinion, we’ve been way more consistent than we were last year. The results probably say the same, as well, a little bit. Last year, we were like winning or ‘DNF’. This year, we’ve been upfront. We’ve challenged for, I don’t know, I feel like a couple of wins. We’ve won one race. We’ve been upfront for a lot of races, but like Atlanta (Motor Speedway) – (Brad) Keselowski spun in front of me and there was nothing I could do there. COTA, (Christopher) Bell got into me and spun.. nothing really I could do there.”

So you’d say it’s more bad luck than anything?

“And not even necessarily bad luck.. but yeah, I think as a team, we’ve been performing way more consistently than we have, maybe ever. In 2021, we were so much faster than the field and it was easy to be consistent. But at least in the Next Gen era, we’ve been performing way better than we have the other years, so far, I believe.”

We know the importance of this week for Hendrick Motorsports. One, do you feel more pressure to win this weekend? And two, has there been any special talks, pep talks, rallies or anything, leading into today?

“I would say, to answer the first question – I wouldn’t say I feel any more pressure to win. I don’t think probably any of us four drivers feel any more pressure to win, but we know what the magnitude of a win this weekend would mean for the company. Yeah, I don’t think that’s any more pressure or any more emphasis on the weekend, but we all try to go out there and execute as good as we can every week and hopefully the results end up in a win.

As far as like ‘pep talks’ – no because I think that ties into the first answer. We all know what this weekend means to the company, so there’s no real ‘pep talk’ needed to remind us how important this weekend is.”

Is there a young driver out there that’s caught your eye, that’s coming through the ranks, and you think – wow, this driver has got the ability to win at the Cup level?

“I would say, for me, I’d look at like – I don’t watch a ton of Truck or Xfinity races, but I feel like Corey Heim is really good. I feel like he’s really, really strong in the Truck stuff. Even when he gets in the Xfinity cars, he runs super competitive, and I don’t believe he’s got the funding and the resources like the JGR cars have. So I feel like he does a really good job.

Then, I think there’s guys that haven’t quite made it to pavement racing or stock cars that will hopefully get an opportunity down the road that would be really good. Like from the sprint car side, I pay a lot of attention to Corey Day. He’s 18 years old and very mature. He races really hard and smart. I think he could potentially have the full package to get an opportunity and make it some day.”

Next week, we’re at Texas Motor Speedway. What’s your thoughts and feelings about racing there, and what’s the key to having success at Texas Motor Speedway because they’ve tweaked a few things there?

“Yeah, I’m not sure what they’ve tweaked recently, but since they’ve repaved the track – however many years ago that was – Texas (Motor Speedway) has been a very fast place. It’s kind of an interesting track. I like it because our team is fast, but then there’s part that I dislike, as well. I guess that could be said about any track.

I’m excited to get there next weekend. We were the dominate car there last year, and I just made a mistake on the late restart. We’ve won an All-Star race there. We’ve won a points Cup race there. We’ve led a bunch of laps in other races. So yeah, I look forward to getting there and hopefully have another good weekend.”

I got a kick out of the Instagram post that you put up in the simulator, when you were kind of like sleeping and then the music woke you up. I assume you hadn’t really done anything like that before, but what was that like for you? What benefit do you think that it gave you, and maybe will give you, come May?

“I definitely don’t run the simulator in anything that often, but it’s very relaxing in there between little runs because it’s dark, and you’re in a molded insert to your body, so it’s easy to get relaxed and tired. Catch some naps in there, for sure. And then yeah, you hear the rig kind of fire up and then you get ready to go.

I was in the IndyCar simulator this week and it really wasn’t to learn anything about the car or anything like that. Everybody’s steering wheel is different. Everyone’s layout with the buttons and knobs is different, so just trying to kind of dial in what’s natural for me to reach to get to buttons; making adjustments throughout a lap and stuff like that.

That was really the main takeaway from it. I wasn’t in there for very long at all, but it was really just to kind of like – hey, before you go there next week, maybe let’s make this button mean something different.. stuff like that. It was good to do.”

Did you actually fall asleep?

“I don’t know… I was definitely close, if I didn’t fall asleep. But yeah, I don’t know.. it looked like I was (laughs).”

I’m curious from an athlete’s point of view, but also from someone that oversees a racing series from an official’s point of view, on all the talk about the overtime restart last week. NASCAR says they don’t want to make a ruling unless they’re certain. How important is that? How do you view the idea from an athlete’s perspective and from an official’s perspective, of being lenient on procedures and rules at the end of the race to allow the athletes to determine it?

“Yeah, I don’t know. I’m not really sure. I know they have a tough job in the booth, or wherever they manage the race from, in making all of the correct calls and this-and-that. 100 percent of the population is never satisfied with the call or not call.

So yeah, it’s tough. I think what most athletes from this series or other forms of sports just like consistency, from what I hear. I would say I would be in the same category of just being consistent. If the ‘end of the race’ call is consistent to what it was last week versus, you know like I heard them say if it was early in the race, we probably would have made a call.. like if that’s their view and they stay consistent within that, then I guess that’s OK. But yeah, it’s just finding some consistency, I think is what most of us would like to see.”

Obviously you have the win, so does that kind of change the way you can approach things, in terms of an aggressiveness standpoint the next several week?

“No.. I feel like anytime you win, you get that question a lot. I’d be curious to hear if any other drivers’ answers would be anything different than ‘no’. We all try to call the races to win each week, at least at Hendrick Motorsports anyways. So no, I think we just try to continue going forward and executing whatever we have to do to win.”

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Martinsville Speedway | Saturday, April 6, 2024

Ryan Blaney, the driver of the No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse, met with media members before practicing and qualifying at Martinsville Speedway Saturday afternoon. Blaney spoke about his win at the track last fall, the upcoming race weekend, the 6,000th start this weekend for Team Penske, and more.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU WON THE FALL RACE AND HERE, JUST YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT RACING HERE, GETTING THAT WIN, AND THE SPECIAL CONNECTION YOU HAVE WITH HERE. “Yeah, it’s always nice to come back here. I’ve said before I grew up not too far from here, in High Point, so I came to this race and watched my dad run it many times and it’s just a lot of kind of roots here from that side as a kid to driving for the Wood Brothers, them being from Stewart just down the road and just always enjoying coming and watching races here. It kind of nagged me as, or got me as a kid interested in this place and I’ve been fortunate enough to race it and very fortunate enough to win one time here so, and I feel like you always look forward to going back to places where you’ve won at. It’s always pretty neat. So yeah, a lot of special memories here.”

NEXT WEEK WE HAVE TEXAS, JUST YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT RACING AT THE TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY NEXT WEEK. “Texas next week, yeah, I mean, we’ll see how it is. I think Texas has kind of just been a work in progress, I feel like, for the last few years or ever since it got repaved. It’s okay, how can we get it wider? How can we get the racing better there? So that’s something we’ll see if it’s changed over the past year. I’m not sure if it has, but we’ll find out. I enjoy Texas. What makes Texas interesting is the commitment level that the driver has to have going to that place. Your commitment level through three and four is just huge. And that to me is always a pretty fun aspect of that racetrack. Race inside of it, out of it, okay, it’s narrow, whatever, but like, driving that place it has very different corners, you really have to be fully on the throttle and convince yourself that this car is going to stick when you get into turn three, even though you don’t know if it’s going to or not. Hopefully it’s miraculously aged to where we’ve somehow been able to get five lanes there, but we’ll find out next week.”

FOR A LOT OF DRIVERS, SOMETIMES IT TAKES A LITTLE BIT TO GET A RHYTHM AT A CERTAIN RACETRACK, AND IT SEEMS LIKE SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU HERE, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU GOT TO PENSKE, THAT DIDN’T REALLY HAPPEN. YOU IMMEDIATELY WERE FINISHING UP FRONT, RUNNING UP FRONT. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE SPECIFICALLY THAT FITS YOUR DRIVING STYLE, AND WHAT MADE YOU TAKE A LIKING TO IT SO QUICKLY? “I definitely took a few years to get used to this place. You know, like you said, it kind of can take some races under your belt to get comfortable at a racetrack. Sometimes it never comes. Sometimes it comes right away. It’s just kind of weird how that happens. But this is just a tricky place. The first couple of times I came here in a truck, I was really bad. The first couple of times in a Cup car it was really bad and then it was like the fall race of 2017 when something just kinda clicked. It was like, okay you have one good race here and then you feel like I kinda understand how to drive the car around this racetrack. I understand the tendencies of this track. I understand what to ask of my car through practice and through the race to be good. Ever since then it’s just been a track that’s just clicked for me and it just kind of fits what I do as a driver and it fits what we do as a team over at Penske. The Penske group has always been really good here. So I think that combination is just really strong and it’s just funny how certain drivers, certain tracks just kind of click. Phoenix is kind of that way for me and the Penske group and it just fits what you do as an organization and it fits the driver’s style. And it was a lot of hard work. It didn’t come naturally. I was very bad here early on, and we had to really figure out how can we change this up? I had two really good guys to look at, Brad (Keselowski) and Joey (Logano). I really studied what they were doing here. What made them super good and was, fortunately, able to apply it and be able to string together some decent runs here.”

I DON’T KNOW IF YOU FILL OUT A NCAA BRACKET, BUT BIG GAME FOR YOUR CREW CHIEF TONIGHT, JONATHAN. PURDUE’S PLAYING IN THE FINAL FOUR AND HE IS A BOILERMAKER. WHAT ARE HIS NERVES LIKE? IS HE A BIG BASKETBALL GUY? HAS HE TALKED ABOUT THAT WITH YOU AT ALL? “We have a 12 team ESPN bracket deal. We usually do a fantasy league for football or a college tournament. He has Purdue winning, I have UConn winning. I think I used somebody from ESPN’s bracket. I don’t think I even filled one out. I just hit the auto bracket and I’m leading. It’s like those folks know what they’re talking about. It’s crazy. I think it’s pretty good. We’ll see how today goes. If we’re pretty good today, I might throw a little trash talk his way, see if Purdue is going to get through or not, or maybe through the night. It’s been fun. I mean, the men’s and women’s tournaments have been pretty stellar this year and have been pretty good tournaments here. From the men’s side tonight and then the women’s side. Won’t be able to watch the women’s side tomorrow but I will watch the highlights.”

WE’VE GOT THE NEW SHORT TRACK PACKAGE THIS YEAR. HAS IT CHANGED THE RACING AT ALL FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE AND DO YOU EXPECT ANY BIGGER CHANGES AT THE SHORTEST TRACK YET FOR THE PACKAGE? “Yeah, we tried it a couple of times here and Phoenix. I didn’t really think it made much of a difference. Richmond, it might have made a little bit of a difference, I felt like more than Phoenix. But here, I feel like it’s going to be the place where you’re going to see the smallest amount of change because you’re going slow here. This is the slowest place we’ve gone from Phoenix to Richmond. So I feel like it’s not going to really be much of a change. I hope it is. I mean, I hope it’s like you can run two feet from someone’s bumper and not have any effects. But the realist in me is like, it might not be much of a change, but it could be. I don’t know. But I think it’s a path to where hopefully we continue to go down from the tires to the aero side of the car. Hopefully we continue to fix that. I mean, it’s not an overnight fix. It’s a tough thing to try to figure out. You can wind tunnel and test that stuff, which NASCAR does all the time but until you actually get it on the racetrack and get it running, you don’t really know. We have some aero tests every now and then through the year. But it is hard to kind of relay that stuff. It’s like talking about sim work compared to at the racetrack, and what it does to your setup. So it is hard to kind of flesh those things out. But I think it’s a small step in the right direction. Just got to continue to try to beat down that path.”

THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT TIRES. YOU GUYS RAN THE WET TIRE LAST WEEK AND IT SEEMED PRETTY DANG RACY. HOW WAS THAT FEEL AND IS THAT A DIRECTION YOU’D LIKE TO SEE NASCAR GO AS FAR AS THE WAY THAT FELT? “I mean, the conditions were perfect last week for the wet tire. It wasn’t raining. The Air Titans got all the water out of the racetrack, most of the water out of the racetrack, there wasn’t standing water. I was honestly surprised by how much water was coming off the surface when we were standing on pit road watching those things go to work. It’s pretty wild. I think it was perfect conditions. That tire has a pretty good amount of grip with it still being, you know, you can hurt it pretty bad. The one thing that I feel like they have to try to figure out with that tire now that we are doing ovals on it in the right circumstances that tire doesn’t stagger. It’s just a road course tire. So I feel like you somehow got to get stagger in it. Like if you plan on doing these ovals, you have to somehow try to have a set of those that are like road course rain tires that have no stagger. And then you have to build a set that has a little bit of stagger in it just to kind of make the racing a little bit better.Because there’s only so many changes we can do on pit road before the race. Like last week, we just adjusted air pressure. I know some other teams did some more stuff, but stagger side is huge. I mean when you’re running like zero stagger, we just don’t ever do that so it’s a big change. The two races we’ve run those it’s been good. There’s obviously circumstances to where you’re not going to be able to run it where the tracks are wet like if it’s moderately raining. You can’t can’t do it. You just have to be smart about it I think NASCAR was smart about it. I think a couple tweaks with that thing and I think it is good. So they’re pretty soft, they have to be, and they just tear up pretty quick. But I think the two times we’ve run them, I think there’s some potential of some thoughts that we can keep down that path and just have an option there.”

HERE AT MARTINSVILLE, PEOPLE SAY HOW VALUABLE PIT STALL NUMBER ONE IS AND HOW MANY POSITIONS YOU CAN POTENTIALLY GAIN BY PITTING THERE, SO IS IT A COINCIDENCE, OR ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT NO ONE’S WON FROM PIT STALL ONE HERE SINCE 2013? “No one has? I didn’t know that. I think the number one pit stall wherever you go is important. Some more than others, but it’s still important. It’s still the best stall out there. It shows you how much I know about the stall and the number one qualifier, like winning the race. I don’t think I’ve ever won a pole here, so I’m not sure how much that’s benefited us. We had the first stall last year in the fall, and I thought it was fantastic. It was really good for us. Kind of when you pull off to go into your stall you just kind of gain spots on guys and gain like feet, so we’ve always kind of come with the mentality of either stall one, the first one or anything on the straightaway. Like stall four, some guys take, I don’t like that because you’re coming around that big bend, and it’s hard for your guys to see you and time their jump off the wall. Obviously the goal is the pole, just because it makes it easier on you pitting and don’t have to really worry about your lights as much as others or cars coming out and kind of blending with you. So that’s the goal. I’d like to change that stat if we could win the pole today, but we’ll see.”

CURIOUS WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ROGER’S 6,000TH START GIVEN HIS MAGNITUDE AND CONTRIBUTION TO MOTORSPORTS. “It’s unbelievable. It shows you how dedicated he’s been for decades and decades and not just NASCAR. IndyCar, SportsCar, a little bit of F1. It just shows what a titan of motorsports in general that he is. It’s awesome to race for a person like that. Add to his team’s history, continue to grow those starts and wins and championships for someone like that. That’s all we can do for him. Try to be successful on the racetrack because he’s given us so much. I’m happy that people are noticing it. 6,000 starts is a big deal. It just shows his dedication to the sport of racing, of motor racing, and how much he loves it. He loves it just as much now as he did on day one, I’m sure. We see it every single week. I hear it in his voice when he calls me through the week. It’s amazing how locked in he is. He wants to win just as badly as he ever has. We are busting our tails to try to make that happen for him.”

YOU MENTIONED EARLIER BRAD AND JOEY AND THE EFFECT THAT THEY HAD ON IMPROVING YOUR PERFORMANCE HERE. WHEN YOU GO TO A PLACE LIKE TALLADEGA, THERE WAS PROBABLY ABOUT A DECADE WHERE KIND OF ROLL THE DICE, IT WAS GOING TO BE THE 12, THE 2 OR THE 22 IN VICTORY LANE. WHAT WAS IT THAT THEY KIND OF GAVE YOU TO, WHAT WAS THE SECRET SAUCE THAT THEY TURNED YOU ON TO SO YOU RAN SO WELL THERE? “I was lucky when I came in, like every driver who comes in as a rookie, they have really good veteran teammates around them, right? So it’s just like, how much do you soak up of their talents that you can apply to yourself and hopefully make you a better driver and just hope that you’re like transitioned into becoming what you want to become is fast, right? That’s what you want to be. I tried to learn from those guys as much as I could, like here, Talladega, Daytona, those guys were just really spectacular at those places. I looked at all their stuff everywhere, but those places, they really stood out. I think I learned more at the Speedways from those guys, just being around them and watching them and kind of being in the same pack as those guys and kind of just seeing the moves they made, because when I came in, my first couple of years, I’m just a role player. Brad makes a move, Joey makes a move, I’m going with you, I’m doing it. I got your back, bud, because I have zero credibility yet. I would just see this stuff happen in front of me and how they would play around with everything and see everything in a bigger perspective. In a different way.You just try to learn that stuff and it’s how you apply it. It’s around you, but can you grasp it and apply it to yourself? It’s a whole other deal. So I was lucky to have two really good racers that I was able to learn a bunch from, and I’m still learning from. I mean, I’m still learning from Joey every week and Austin every week, and just try to use all that stuff.”

IS THERE A YOUNG DRIVER OR TWO BELOW CUP THAT REALLY JUMPS OUT TO YOU? “Truck guys that I think really show a lot of potential, like Christian Ekkes is really good. This year he’s done a really, really good job. I think Raja has a ton of potential. He’s still young into his NASCAR career, but I think he’s really, sky’s the limit for him. Nick Sanchez, I think he’s a really talented racer. There’s a lot of talented people. I mean, Xfinity Series, I see Jesse Love, I think he’s really good. Sammy Smith, I think he’s super good. There were a couple guys who came in this year to full time, Zane Smith and Hocevar, I think they’re really fast. It’s weird at my age now, I’m like looking at those kids, because I remember when I was 18, 19, and I hoped guys were looking at me, and still just trying to do my deal. There’s a lot of talent right now that’s coming up, and I see it. I watch all that stuff every week and watch those guys race, and you can kind of tell, right? You can tell who gets it, and who is a really good racer, and is smart, and who’s fast. You know, everyone’s fast, right? But it’s how your race craft stands out to me is how good is your race ability and how do you run around guys and race them like that’s that’s a whole other level that I look at. There are tons of other guys I didn’t say that I think are really good but those guys kind of jump out at me.”