Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Production Alliance 300 Advance | Tuesday, February 21, 2023

California native Cole Custer returns to his home state for this weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Auto Club Speedway, an event he’s won two of the last three times it’s been held. Custer, who is coming off a ninth-place finish last Saturday at Daytona, answered questions from media members earlier this afternoon.

COLE CUSTER, No. 00 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang – WHAT’S IT LIKE GOING BACK TO YOUR HOME STATE? “I always look forward to Fontana. It’s always been a good track to me and we’ve obviously won two races there in the Xfinity car, so it’s always been good to me. It’s always been one of my favorite tracks because it’s fast, it’s worn out, you’re slipping and sliding around. You have a lot of options as a driver, so you’re able to figure out something better than the next guy, and how to get around them. It’s always been a fun track to me and coming back home means a ton, too. Obviously, this year with the Xfinity cars there’s a little bit of a rule change, so we’re taking that in and trying to figure out what we need for this weekend, but we’ve done a lot of digging. We’ve worked really hard on it and we’ll see how everything unfolds.”

HOW DID THE FIRST WEEK GO WORKING WITH RILEY AND THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN YOU TWO? “It went really good, honestly. This year, working with Riley has been a lot of fun so far. I think we’ve worked really well together and communicated very well. We honestly have a pretty good atmosphere as a team right now, where we work as one group. We communicate a lot. We’re able to really bounce ideas off each other and it’s one of the best environments I’ve seen with that. We’re able to work together a lot, so we just have to keep digging throughout the year. This is really the first race of the year you’re able to really see what everybody’s got for the season. It’s a big racetrack, where aerodynamics and handling and pretty much everything comes into play, so you find out a lot coming into this weekend. We’ve just got to adapt fast and work as a team to make everything better and see what we have when we unload.”

SHR ADDED AN XFINITY TEAM, SO WHAT IS THE MAKEUP OF YOUR TEAM? “Riley’s team is pretty much intact from last year with Richard Boswell as the crew chief, and then my team had a lot of new guys. It was actually really good to go to Daytona. We didn’t have any problems. We had good speed. As a new team with new guys all working together, it’s really nice to have a smooth weekend and have things work out good. Everybody worked together great, so I have JT as my crew chief this year. I really love JT. I’ve worked around him for a long time. He’s been at Stewart-Haas Racing and Haas CNC Racing before that, so I’ve known him since I was a little kid, and he’s just a no ego, super laid back guy, super easy to talk with and I think it’s gonna be really good for us this year to work together and figure out how we can get the speed in the cars.”

DOES THE WEATHER CHANGE HOW YOU APPROACH THE WEEKEND? “The biggest thing about that is you maybe don’t have any time to practice with the rain, so you’ve really got to put emphasis on your notes and look back on where we need to start setup-wise and make sure I’m as ready as I need to be just to make sure I hit lap one as hard as I can. But, it makes it a little bit more nerve wracking because you don’t have that practice time to dial your car in, so with this new rule change it’s gonna be a little bit of an educated guess. It’ll be interesting, for sure.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON A POTENTIAL RECONFIGURATION OF AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY? “I hate to see it. It’s been a good track for me and I think it honestly has put on some of the best racing that we’ve seen in NASCAR the last five or six years. I hate to see it maybe go, but obviously this week I think we could get a reminder of what difficulties it has with weepers and stuff like that. Hopefully, we don’t have to fight them too bad, but it’s one of the best tracks we go to, so it’s gonna be hard to say goodbye.”

WHAT KIND OF TRACK WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE? “Everybody has a different opinion on that, so it’s hard to say, but, for me, I think they have some good short tracks around there. They have Irwindale and Kern County, so they have some good short track racers over there. When you look at some of the best racing we put on, it’s honestly the track it is right now – it’s worn out, it’s fast, people are able to move around the whole race track and it’s exciting, but it’s really hard to make that kind of racing with a repave. It usually takes about 10 years or so for the pavement to wear out, so it’s hard to say. I think if you can go down the route of trying to get a mile-and-a-half that has some character to it that makes it a lot of fun and you can move around the track and run the wall and make something different happen.”

HOW MUCH PRESSURE DID YOU PUT ON YOURSELF TO START THE SEASON? “There are a lot of expectations this year. We want to go out there and run good and compete for wins every single race. We thought about everything that would go on at Daytona, making sure we had everything checked and everything going right. It was nice to hit the track and have a solid weekend and not have anything go wrong, and have good speed in the car. Obviously, Daytona you have to have a little bit of luck on your side and sometimes you don’t get the finish that you want, but I feel like we had a solid weekend and now we’ve just got to keep that going into Fontana. I think we’ve got a good group that really wants to work together and really wants to just communicate extremely well. If we can do that and make sure we get everything checked and cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s before the weekends, I think we’ll have many shots to win races.”

HOW DO YOU GAUGE THE LEVEL OF COMPETITION ON THE XFINITY LEVEL? “I think the biggest thing is just the competition level. On a bad day in Xfinity, you’re probably gonna run around 10th. In Cup, on a bad day you’re gonna run 25th to 30th. There are fewer guys out there that are competing for wins, but, at the same time, the top five guys are still just as good as guys in the Cup Series, so it’s not easy. It’s never gonna be easy, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to be prepared for the weekend because all those other guys aren’t just gonna lay over. It’s not easy to win races and we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing everything in our power to put ourselves in that position.”

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU STEPPED IT UP YOURSELF WITH THAT PRESSURE? “It just goes back to the group around you. I think it’s been really nice working with JT because he has the same kind of mindset. This is his first time being a full-time crew chief and I think we’ve worked really well. We’re communicating and just really being honed in on what we need to do this year, which is go and compete for wins every weekend. I’ve never probably asked as many questions to a person in my life, just making sure that we’re prepared and every little detail has been thought of and it’s been a great relationship so far. We just have to hit the ground running in Fontana.”

ARE YOU TAKING ON MORE OF A LEADERSHIP ROLE AS A VETERAN DRIVER? “I think so, a little bit for sure. Now I guess I’m the experienced guy, which is kind of weird because I don’t think I’ve ever been that in my career, but it’s interesting to be in more of that leader role and it’s something I can probably work on and get a little bit better. It’s been fun so far, and at the same time is that part of it is you want to be super involved and you want to make sure everything is right, but you have to let people do what they are meant to do, also. I’m not an engineer. I’m not a crew chief. I can give a little input of what I’m looking for and things that have worked and not worked for me in the past, but, at the end of the day, you’ve got to let the people around you do what their specialty is.”

YOU TALKED ABOUT THE RULE CHANGE. DID YOU TEST AT CHARLOTTE AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE? “Yes. It was a big shock to everybody, I think. We looked at it before the season and it was just a skew change and it really shouldn’t have been that big of a deal it seemed like, but we went to Charlotte and I think just about everybody had the same comment about the cars being harder to drive. They’re a little bit more on edge, so we’ll see if that’s just a Charlotte thing or how the whole year is going to progress. Three might be a lot of changes that we have to make throughout this year to make the cars handle how we want to, so we’re limited on track time and practicing and stuff like that, so we’re gonna have to adapt at the racetrack as much as we can and week to week really dig deep on what we need to do.”

SO WILL WE GO TO SOME TRACKS AND IT WILL BE EASIER TO GO OVER THE EDGE? “It seemed like that at the test. It’s hard to say. We still don’t know if it’s a Charlotte thing or not. It’s really hard to have tests at Charlotte at times. Even though it’s nice and it’s right in our backyard that track changes so much with weather and temperature, so we have to go to Fontana and figure out what’s going on. It seems like it could have that characteristic of being a little bit more on edge and we’ll have to figure out how to manage that.”

FONTANA, Calif. (February 21, 2023) – – 2023 DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and his NASCAR Cup Series team arrives into the Fontana market this weekend for the Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway. JTG Daugherty Racing announced recently that your local Ralphs® grocery store has premium branding on No. 47 Ralphs/Tree Top® Camaro entered in the 200-Lap race. All eyes will be on Stenhouse Jr. especially after winning the 65th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.

“We are thrilled to treat our NASCAR fans and shoppers with this special visit by Daytona 500 Champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fresh off his victory, and the No. #47 NASCAR Cup show car. As part of his visit, we will have our mobile pharmacy unit on hand offering vaccinations, body mass index and blood pressure/diabetes screenings and more. Like Ricky’s premium Camaro, our pharmacy team is driven to help people live healthier lives,” said Dr. Linh Lee, Ralphs’ director of pharmacy/health & wellness.

Stenhouse Jr. is set to compete with his No. 47 Ralphs/Tree Top Camaro on Sunday, but before that, he is appearing at store location 16225 Sierra Lakes Parkway in Fontana on Friday, February 24th beginning at 3 PM Pacific, where he will sign autographs for an hour and then participate in other store-related activities with consumers. This event is all made possible thanks to Ralphs, Coca-Cola®, Cottonelle® and Marinela®.

“We enjoy being in the community and meeting our fans,” said Stenhouse Jr. “Ralphs and our CPG (consumer packaged goods) partners are behind making it all possible.”

Following his appearance, Stenhouse Jr. returns to the two-mile D-shaped oval where he finished 10th last year.

“Auto Club begins our West Coast swing on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule,” said Stenhouse Jr. “We had some success there last year and finished in the top-10. We’re looking forward to getting back there with our No. 47 Ralphs/Tree Top Camaro.”

On Sunday, February 26th, live coverage of the Pala Casino 400 begins at 3:30 PM on FOX on FOX, MRN Radio and SiriusXM Satellite NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90).

About Ralphs:

Ralphs Grocery Company is dedicated to our purpose: to Feed the Human Spirit™. We are more than 18,000 associates serving customers in 184 supermarkets across Southern California. From the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles County, Ralphs is a recognized leader in community service and giving. The company supports Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste initiative aimed at ending hunger in our communities and eliminating waste within our company by the year 2025. Ralphs is a subsidiary of The Kroger Co., (NYSE:KR), one of the world’s largest retailers, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more about Ralphs, please visit our website at www.ralphs.com.

TEAM AND RACE NOTES:

Michael McDowell grew up with radio control (RC) cars and developing a love for racing. His passion for RC led to the partnership with Horizon Hobby, a global leader in RC products. McDowell will return to the No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford this weekend at the Auto Club Speedway. This event is home to the surface product development and marketing team responsible for the first licensed NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series RC bodies in the likeness of the McDowell’s No. 34 Ford Mustang and Smith’s No. 38 Ford F-150.

The California track is a two-mile speedway with a worn and bumpy surface that produces excitement each lap. The 200-lap race has become an unpredictable event the past few years and one where teams say the “real season starts,” as it is not a superspeedway package.

Practice and qualifying will take place this Saturday beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on FS1.

The Auto Club 400 is scheduled for Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

COMPETITION NOTES:

McDowell and crew chief Travis Peterson take the No. 34 Horizon Hobby team into the Auto Club Speedway sitting 21st in points after the Daytona 500. Early in the season points are tight throughout the field and the opportunity to gain positions is now. A good finish on Sunday, McDowell can catapult the team into the top-15 or higher.

The team has been using its simulation tools to setup the Horizon Hobby Ford to travel through the bumps on the backstretch and to keep momentum through the sweeping turns.

CREW CHIEF TRAVIS PETERSON:

“The track at Fontana has become a major challenge for everyone because of the track surface. You need to have a car that can sustain speed, but also not knock the teeth out of your driver. So, the shock and spring setup is important, and we’ve been working on that in our simulation. We are heading to the track with what we think is the best setup right off the hauler.

We’ll be working with the 38 team and our other Ford teammates on Saturday during the practice and qualifying sessions, too. You can never have enough information to prepare for Sunday.

DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL:

“I think the good news is that I feel we should be in the top-10 in points or better if we had the result at Daytona the car was capable of. It was fast and that gives our team a lot of confidence that we’re hitting the setups and simulation right when we get to the track.

“Now, we have a lot less time on the track this weekend to work on the car, but hopefully we can do the same and have a great setup when we arrive. We’re always at the Ford simulator and using their tools to work on a pre-race setup. And, back at the shop, we’re measuring and dialing it in. Again, we feel good that we nailed it for Daytona and we think we can do it again at California.

“What’s really cool, I think, is that we talk about the shocks and springs to get speed into our cars. Our partner, Horizon Hobby, for their surface products, they are doing the same. I grew up working on the shocks on my RC and trying to get it faster or jump higher. Setting up our Cup car and an RC from Horizon Hobby absolutely relate to each other and that is really cool. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone from Horizon Hobby this weekend and having a great race.”

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 Craftsman Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 Craftsman Truck Series team from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

The Beast Unleashed Ready to Race NASCAR on the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD

Mooresville, N.C. (Feb. 21, 2023) – 23XI Racing announced today that The Beast Unleashed, Monster Brewing’s first malt beverage, will serve as a primary partner with Tyler Reddick and the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD team for several races during the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Monster Brewing will unveil the savage new paint scheme at a special event at Monster’s global headquarters in Corona, Calif., this week, before The Beast Unleashed makes its first appearance on track this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, supporting Reddick in his inaugural season with 23XI Racing.

“I’m really excited to represent The Beast Unleashed on track for the first time ever,” said Reddick. “I’m looking forward to my first year with this team and being a part of a new chapter for 23XI and The Beast Unleashed. I can’t thank our partners like Monster Brewing enough for the support they provide.”

“We are constantly looking for new ways to provide our partners with a unique platform to showcase their brands, and this is a great example of that,” said Steve Lauletta, 23XI team president. “It’s not often you have the opportunity to highlight such an exciting new product and we’re eager to help introduce The Beast Unleashed to NASCAR and all of our fans.”

To “We are psyched to finally unleash The Beast on the world of NASCAR — and we believe Tyler is the man to set it loose,” added Renold Aparicio, VP of Monster Equity Brands at Monster Brewing. “We cannot wait to see them both carve up the track this weekend.”

About The Beast Unleashed
Our original crew has been making drinks for 30+ years now. Our favorite brand, Monster Energy, is about to turn 21. We figured why not celebrate the big day by making an adult beverage? We hit delete on the energy blend, cut out the caffeine and ditched the sugar. We brewed up the smoothest tasting alcohol ever and blended it with our tried and true flavors. Introducing The Beast Unleashed — available in four flavors: Mean Green, White Haze, Peach Perfect and Scary Berries. Get ready to celebrate and don’t be afraid of the big bad beast!

About 23XI Racing
23XI Racing – pronounced twenty-three eleven – was founded by NBA legend Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin in 2020. With rising NASCAR star Bubba Wallace selected to drive the No. 23 Toyota Camry TRD, the team made its NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 2021 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Wallace made history on October 4, 2021, when he captured his first career Cup Series win, becoming just the second African American to win in the Cup Series, and earning 23XI its first-ever victory. 23XI expanded to a two-car organization in 2022 with Cup Series Champion Kurt Busch driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD. With a win at Kansas Speedway in May of 2022, Busch earned 23XI the team’s first-ever playoff berth. In 2023, 23XI features the lineup of Bubba Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota and Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota.

ARIC ALMIROLA
Fontana Race Advance
No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Pala Casino 400 (Round 2 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Feb. 26
● Location: Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California
● Layout: 2-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 200 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 65 laps / Stage 2: 65 laps / Final Stage: 70 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● History at Fontana: In 14 cup series starts at Fontana, Aric Almirola has three top-10 finishes and seven laps led, all coming since he joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2018. He finished sixth in his most recent start. Almirola will race for his fourth consecutive top-10 finish at Fontana this weekend.

● Last weekend at Daytona Almirola won his Duel qualifying race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway for the second time in three years and earned the fourth starting spot in Sunday’s 65th edition of The Great American Race. He led a race-high eight times for a total of 16 laps. It was the most laps he’s led in 23 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona. The No. 10 Smithfield Ford driver was involved in an accident on the final lap and finished 21st.

● Driver Points: Almirola arrives at Fontana 13th in the driver standings with 29 points.

● Drew Blickensderfer returns as crew chief for the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for the second year in a row and for the fourth season overall with Almirola. Blickensderfer and Almirola were together in 2017 and 2018 at Richard Petty Motorsports. The Illinois native is no stranger to victory lane at Fontana’s 2-mile oval. In 2009, just a week after winning the Daytona 500 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth, Blickensderfer won again with Kenseth at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, making him the fifth crew chief to score back-to-back wins to start a season.

● Almirola’s career: In 425 NASCAR Cup Series starts, Almirola has earned three wins, 28 top-five finishes, 91 top-10s, three poles, and has led 990 laps.

● Smithfield Foods rejoins Almirola and the No. 10 Ford team as the anchor sponsor for the 2023 NASCAR season. Fans will see the iconic white, black, and gold scheme adorn Almirola’s Ford Mustang with IHOP on the lower side panel. Smithfield has been a sponsor of Almirola’s for the entirety of his fulltime NASCAR Cup Series career – making it one of the longest-lasting partnerships in NASCAR.

● Back for More: Last year, Almirola announced that he would step down from fulltime racing following the 2022 season.Through the course of the year, he discovered a new balance between his passion for racing and dedication to his family. His wife Janice, and kids Alex and Abby, joined him on most race weekends, oftentimes enjoying once-in-a-lifetime experiences together as they traveled the country. His rapport with crew chief Blickensderfer flourished, and the intense pressure he had put on himself was replaced with the joy of simply being present. Not only did Almirola see the sport from a new perspective, so did anchor partner Smithfield Foods, who broached the subject of Almirola returning to fulltime racing in 2023. On Aug. 26 in the media center of Daytona, Almirola, SHR and Smithfield Foods announced his return with a multiyear agreement and Smithfield’s largest allotment of races since joining the team in 2018.

● Beyond the 10 YouTube Series: In 2023, Almirola will continue to share his life beyond the No. 10 Smithfield Ford with season five of his award-winning YouTube series. Fans and media can subscribe on YouTube to see Almirola’s personality on and off the track. Episodes have already featured life as a dad, a husband and an athlete, and it gives fans a unique perspective on what goes on in the life of a professional NASCAR driver. Fans can also follow Almirola’s social media channels: @Aric_Almirola on Twitter and Instagram, and @AricAlmirola on Facebook.

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What will it take to have a successful season?

“We have to minimize mistakes and take advantage of opportunities when we have fast racecars. Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and the 10 team know what it takes and they’re one of the most motivated teams in the garage. If the driver can minimize mistakes and the pit crew stays on top of it like they did in Daytona, and we continue to put all of the pieces together, we’ll be in contention for a top-10 every weekend. The goal is to be consistent so when we do have top-10 cars, we make it a top-five day, and when we have a top-five car, we capitalize and go for wins. The field is so competitive with the new car, so you have to be sharper than ever.”

With that said, how do you prepare for the race weekend? Is the simulator the most important tool?

“Yeah, it’s extremely important – arguably the most important tool we have because it’s the only thing we have to allow us to go and test and change setups and change things on the racecar prior to going to that event. In years past, we could go to the racetrack and we could completely overhaul the setup on the racecar after practice. We can’t do that anymore. We show up to the racetrack and we can change minimal things on the racecar before qualifying. And once we qualify, the setup is locked into the car for the race. So we have to rely on that simulator heavily to guide us and lead us in the direction that we’re going to go with the setup of our racecar.”

You ran well at Fontana last year in the Next Gen car’s debut. How much more helpful will those notes be heading back there this weekend?

“I personally do best when I’m prepared. I thrive when I can study and outwork the guys I’m competing against. I can’t just wing it when it comes to performing. Last year, we relied heavily on guessing and hoping the setup was right. This year I get the opportunity to take notes not only from myself but from Ford and Stewart-Haas Racing as a whole. We saw at the Clash that we could turn a bad car in first practice into a heat-winning car that started us on the pole because we have notes and learned from last year. At Daytona, we qualified fourth and won our Duel race and had a fast car, so yeah, notes are really important, and knowing we came from the rear of the field last year to sixth (at Fontana) gives us a big boost of confidence.”

No. 10 Smithfield Ford Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Aric Almirola
Hometown: Tampa, Florida

Crew Chief: Drew Blickensderfer
Hometown: Decatur, Illinois

Car Chief: Jerry Cook
Hometown: Toledo, Ohio

Engineer: Davin Restivo
Hometown: Asheboro, North Carolina

Engineer: James Kimbrough
Hometown: Pensacola, Florida

Spotter: Joel Edmonds
Hometown: Dobson, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Ryan Mulder
Hometown: Sioux Center, Iowa

Rear Tire Changer: Trevor White
Hometown: Arlington, Texas

Tire Carrier: Tyler Bullard
Hometown: King, North Carolina

Jack Man: Sean Cotton
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Fuel Man: James “Ace” Keener
Hometown: Fortuna, California

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Chris Trickett
Hometown: Grafton, West Virginia

Mechanic: Jacob Cooksey
Hometown: Westbrookville, New York

Engine Tuner: Matt Moeller
Hometown: Monroe, New York

Tire Specialist: Russel Simpson
Hometown: Medford, New York

Transporter Co-Driver: Steven Casper
Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Matt Murphy
Hometown: Augusta, Georgia