Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Playoff Media Day | Tuesday, August 31, 2021
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang — DO YOU USE LAST YEAR AS MOTIVATION WHEN YOU WERE ONE PLACE SHORT OF THE TITLE OR LOOK AT THIS AS A NEW YEAR AND AND A NEW CHALLENGE? I wouldn’t say I really have either of those approaches. I’m kind of going in and just trying to make the most of the opportunity we have with the speed and execution we have with our 2 team. You can’t really think too much about last year. It’s not particularly all that relevant to this year with different car rules and things of that nature, so I think my goal is just to make the most out of what we have.”
YOU SWITCHED SPOTTERS WITH JOEY A COUPLE WEEKS AGO. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CHEMISTRY WITH TJ MAJORS AS YOU ENTER THE PLAYOFFS? “I think we’ve always worked very well together, TJ and I have, going back 12-13 years ago when we first started working together and the chemistry is outstanding and certainly I think that’s one of the strengths of our team.”
HOW MUCH ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING BACK TO THE SOUTHERN 500 THIS WEEKEND? “It’s a really tough, challenging racetrack and that’s what makes it so rewarding when you have success there. Winning in 2018 was one of the highlights of my career. Winning once is great and winning twice is even better, so hopefully we can do just that.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT BRISTOL BEING IN THE PLAYOFFS AS A CUTOFF RACE. WILL THINGS GET WILDER THIS TIME AROUND? “I think last year was a pretty compelling race. It was in the same position last year, being that last race of a round and I think going back and re-watching it, it certainly led to some exciting moments for sure accordingly, so, yeah, absolutely. I think it’s good for our sport.”
WHERE WERE YOU ON 911 AND HOW DID IT IMPACT YOU? “I was 17. I was a high school senior and it was a very interesting day to say the least, a sad day in a lot of ways. It was one I’ll never forget, that’s for sure. It’s hard to believe that was 20 years ago. When you first said that I said, ‘No, that’s wrong,’ but you’re right, it’s 20 years ago. It’s been a whirlwind for sure since then with all the different things that are going on worldwide, but it was a tough day for sure.”
WHEN YOU SEE THE SUCCESS BLANEY IS HAVING DOES THAT IMPACT YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR YOUR TEAM? “No, it doesn’t particularly stand out to me. I’m happy for him. I think Ryan has done an excellent job of putting himself in good positions and then executing around that. He’s certainly riding a wave of momentum that I think everyone should be proud of. I’m happy for him, so I don’t know if it particularly impacts me at all.”
YOU SAID THE OTHER DAY YOU DIDN’T THINK A FORD COULD LEGITIMATELY WIN ON A 550 TRACK. CAN YOU EXPAND ON THAT AND WHAT YOU THINK IS HOLDING THE FORDS BACK WITH THAT PACKAGE? “We just haven’t shown the speed. The combination of offseason rules enforcement changes and the parts freeze just kind of completely neutered us as a group and we just haven’t shown that speed all year long. I think the closest we’ve been was probably Ryan Blaney at Atlanta, which was more kind of that long run speed and smooth driving than anything else. He executed very very well, but outside of that I can’t recall a moment where I’ve seen the Fords be in a spot of dominance or a spot where they’ve controlled a race at a 550 track.”
WHERE DO YOU THINK YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP CHANCES SIT RIGHT NOW? “I have no idea. I’ve entered this playoff deal before having won two races entering it just like Blaney has and been knocked out in the second round. I’ve entered it having won five races and gotten knocked out in the third round. I’ve entered it before having zero speed and not feeling very good about it and made it all the way to the final four, so no one really knows. I’ve got five or six years experience doing it and I don’t know, so with that in mind, you try not to think about it, to be quite honest. I try to just go out there and make the most out of what I have and not allow any of those connotations to either build overconfidence or to pull me down.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR TEAM IS CAPABLE OF A CHAMPIONSHIP GOING INTO DARLINGTON? “I think there are aspects of the team that have historically shown some strengths, but it’s really irrelevant to what actually happens in the future in my mind, so I have no idea. I know that I’m gonna do all that I can to execute it and to put ourselves in a position to make the most of whatever we have at the racetrack on any given day, but I can’t quantify that to say that we’re here or we’re there. There’s just too many pieces outside of my control.”
HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK A GOOD START IS IN THE ROUND OF 16 TO HAVING A SUCCESSFUL PLAYOFF RUN? “Outside of kind of getting to the Round of 12, the first round really is not super impactful in my mind. It’s really the third round that I think is super important.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF PEOPLE WHO CLAIM THE HIGH DOWNFORCE PACKAGE PUTS LESS EMPHASIS ON DRIVER SKILL AND MORE ON RANDOM LUCK? “It’s hard to say. There’s always been a balance of random luck in this sport. That has been since the inception of motorsports versus talent and preparation. Now, you can make arguments that those scales have shifted a little bit over the years, but it’s not as though it’s never been at play or part of our sport. I do think that there are some arguments to be made that over time the driver has become less or more important depending on the racetrack and the position, so it’s another one of those things that I think is super hard to quantify, at least objectively. There were different rules packages where I felt like the driver made a bigger difference and then there are things that come into play that have nothing to do with the rules. Shoot, the weather or some kind of ambient track condition, so it’s hard to give a great answer to how big a difference a driver makes on any given weekend.”
DO YOU SEE RYAN AS POSSIBLY A NUMBER ONE GUY AT TEAM PENSKE NEXT SEASON? “I hesitate to say anybody is a number one guy. I think the results is what answers that. If he goes out and continues to do what he’s doing, then his results will pretty much answer that question. Right now, he’s won three races and Joey and I have won only one race, so he’s certainly making a good case for him being in a position of strength at Team Penske.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang — WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOUR STRENGTHS ARE AS YOU LOOK AT THIS FIRST ROUND? “I feel like our strengths are exactly that — the 750 package. That has been our strength this year. We ran really good at Nashville with a new car built for the 750 package and then we went to Loudon after qualifying on the pole and running top five at Nashville, we went to Loudon and started 22nd, I believe, and drove all the way up to the lead and won the race. So, I look at that 750 package as our best opportunity and we need to go into this first round and make the most of that.”
DO YOU THINK THE DRIVING COULD BECOME MORE AGGRESSIVE AT BRISTOL WITH THAT BEING AN ELIMINATION RACE? “The playoffs always bring out the best in us. The intensity level ratchets way up and every spot matters, every point matters during the stages and every finishing position matters, so I don’t think it can get any more aggressive. It’s already really aggressive and it will continue to be that way.”
CAN YOU RESET YOUR MIND AND THROW OUT THE REGULAR SEASON WITH THIS PLAYOFF RESET? NONE OF YOUR STRUGGLES MATTER ANYMORE. DO YOU THINK THAT WAY? “Absolutely. The last 26 races no longer matter and now it’s about putting the best 10 weeks together that you possibly can. I relate it a lot to pro sports and football in general. You can be the wildcard team that squeaks into the playoffs and once the playoffs starts all that matters it the next week, winning the next week, and that’s how the playoffs are for us. The last 26 races do not matter anymore and all that really matters right now is Darlington and after Darlington all that will matter is Richmond and so on and so forth. So, yeah, we certainly are having that mentality.”
IS THERE ANYTHING TO BE LEARNED FROM BEING AT DARLINGTON AND RICHMOND EARLIER IN THE YEAR? “No, the slate is not blank. You certainly lean on your notebook, especially without practice and qualifying. You certainly lean on your notebook, so that will be important to go back and read those races and look at the speed in our cars and those things, but also feel like we’ve made our cars better since then. So, as I look forward to those races, I know that we’ll bring better race cars back than we had there earlier in the year.”
BRAD SAID HE FELT THE FORDS WERE NEUTERED WITH SOME OF THE CHANGES MADE OVER THE OFFSEASON IN REGARDS TO THE 550 PACKAGE. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT FORD’S CHANCES ON THE 550 TRACKS GOING FORWARD? “I would say that there’s some truth to that. There’s some things about what we have with Ford that certainly has not been advantageous for us on the 550 racetracks, absolutely. And the other manufacturers have seemed to find a lot of speed on those tracks with the rules package going into this season and with the parts freeze and lack of development for this year and lack of windtunnel time and all those things has certainly piled up against us, I would say. The 500 tracks have been a daunting challenge for us this season, but I would say that there’s only three of them, if I’m correct, that’s in the playoffs — Vegas, Kansas and Texas. So while they are very important, every single race is important, we can still maximize our days.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF PEOPLE WHO CLAIM THE HIGH DOWNFORCE PACKAGE PUTS LESS EMPHASIS ON DRIVER SKILL AND MORE ON RANDOM LUCK? “I would say that to get to this level it takes a tremendous amount of talent and driver skill, and to win at this level takes a tremendous amount of talent and driver skill and team, so, yeah, I wouldn’t say that much of our sport really adds up to luck. You certainly need things to go your way from time to time throughout the course of a race, make sure that you’re at the right place at the right time and not the wrong place at the wrong time, but it takes a great organization, a great team, a great driver and great pit crew. It’s a total team effort. I know the driver gets a lot of credit, but I wouldn’t discredit the fact that it is very much a team effort and you don’t really just fall into a win these days. It is certainly by design and talent and making the right choices and having a good day.”
HOW MUCH OF YOUR TEAM’S GAME PLAN AT DARLINGTON IS TRYING TO GET STAGE POINTS EARLY ON BECAUSE EVERY POINT MATTERS AS YOU’RE WELL AWARE HAVING ADVANCED ONCE ON A TIEBREAKER? “Yes, it’s of utmost importance. We think about that, for sure. You’ve got to score every point you can because I’m very aware that it can come down to the checkered flag at Bristol or the last race in the next rounds and you could be tied and it could go to your best finish or tiebreakers past that, so every point matters. We’re all very aware of that and that’s why the playoffs are so exciting and so intense because you’re constantly battling and fighting for track position and stage points throughout the course of the race and then when it comes down to the end you’re fighting for every spot on the racetrack.”
WHAT ARE YOUR TEAM’S BIGGEST STRENGTHS GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “I’ve talked about it a lot in the last couple of weeks, but I would say the 750 package. Our short track program is really strong right now, and I feel like going into this first round of the playoffs that sets up well for us, so I would say we’ve got to play to our strengths and I would say that the 750 package is certainly where we’re excelling right now.”
IS IT A NEW MINDSET WHEN YOU RETURN TO BRISTOL WITH THE CONCRETE THIS TIME AS OPPOSED TO THE DIRT? “Bristol on dirt does not correlate at all to Bristol when it’s its typical concrete self. One thing that I am interested in is the fact that they completely had to wash the racetrack and I believe or I’ve heard they had to spray like a solution on there to get all of the clay and stuff off and pressure wash the racetrack, so it’ll be interesting to see how different the track maybe is just without the rubber that’s laid down in the pores of the concrete and if that changes anything, and then how they apply the PJ1 to the bottom groove. That’s always a moving target for us on whether they apply it in a small strip or if they widen it out and make it to where it’s a whole car width wide. It’s always changing the dynamic of how the cars run around the racetrack.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang — YOU’RE ON THE COVER OF NASCAR IGNITION ‘21. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU? “Yeah, it’s neat. As a kid, I played a lot of the NASCAR games growing up and you always like to see who is on the cover, and it’s really cool for me to be included in that. Hopefully people enjoy the game. It’s been pretty neat to watch the gaming technology come along, so it’s pretty cool. I’m the backmarker car on the cover, but, hey, I’m excited to be on it.”
WAS THERE ANY CONVERSATION ABOUT WHAT THE REST OF THE SEASON WOULD BE LIKE AFTER TODD ANNOUNCED HE WAS RETIRING AFTER THE SEASON? “When Todd announced he was gonna move on and step away from the crew chief role, I couldn’t be upset with him. He’s been part of racing for a long time and done some great things. It’s been a pleasure to work with him since the beginning of last year, so my mindset went from, I said, ‘OK, let’s just make it a memorable end of your run.’ So, just trying to do well for him, trying to get him another championship. That would be a heck of a way to go out for him, and at the same time trying to focus on this and then focus on the future for sure, but the main thought point right now is to get Todd to go out in a blaze of glory. That’s what everyone wants and hopefully we can give that to me. It’s been a good year so far. We’ve done some pretty cool stuff and you just hope to keep it going and send him out with a bang. That would be pretty neat.”
THERE WAS NO CONCERN ABOUT HIS MOTIVATION OR FOCUS TO END STRONG? “No. I mean, he’s not that kind of person. He’s gonna be motivated and driven to do the same. He wants to go out as a winner as well, so there was never a worry in my mind where like his mind was gonna be on different stuff or things like that. I never had that worry at all.”
DOES IT FEEL ANY DIFFERENT GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR AND WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR BIGGEST OBSTACLE? “I think it’s been nice to finish out the regular season strong, especially with two wins back-to-back right before the start of the playoffs and get a lot of playoff points and be seeded second. That’s something I haven’t really had in my other playoff attempts is really a lot of bonus points, and not a lot to really have in your back pocket in case you have a bad race or just kind of an extra cushion, so that stuff is nice to have, that’s for sure. It really does help you out, but really the focus is the same, just trying to do our job the best we can, trying to perform just like we’ve been performing the past couple months here and you just try to keep that up. It’s definitely a better position to be in on our side than where we have been in year’s past and you just hope to utilize it.”
WHAT DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE THIS WAVE OF MOMENTUM? “It’s great. Momentum and confidence are something that we have right now in the 12 group because obviously, the last couple of weekends it really helps get that rolling. It’s good for everybody, not only for the driver but for the team as well when they have a lot of confidence in themselves and their abilities and you can believe that you can do it and make a strong run at the championship. That’s part of the game. You’ve got to believe you can do it and this team does believe in themselves and they have every right to. They’re a great group of guys. It’s been a pleasure to work with them, but it’s nice to end the regular season strong and have a good year. Three wins on the year and you hope to keep that going throughout the playoffs and keep transferring and try to make it to Phoenix and have a shot at a championship. So, it has been a fun year and it has been nice to end the regular season out this way and start off Darlington here this weekend with a bunch of momentum and our heads held high and we just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
DO YOU STILL USE iRACING AT ALL AND HAVE YOU USED IT AS A SERIOUS FORM TO TRAIN FOR UPCOMING TRACKS? “The iRacing piece was something for all of us to do last year a lot obviously when we were shut down, and then we did some of it this year with that. Me personally, I’m not a big iRacing guy. We utilize the Ford simulator in Concord a lot. That’s something that we go to a good bit, especially going to new racetracks especially, go to road courses. We did Darlington this week just because there’s that new patch in one and two, not patch new racetrack through one and two to kind of get prepared for that and get and idea. So, that’s the most sim I’ll do is the Ford simulator because I feel like it’s a great tool to use, but the iRacing side was fun to do, but it’s not something I really do often.”
ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT ANY SPECIFIC TRACK THIS FIRST ROUND? “RIchmond is not a place we’ve run spectacular at in the past, but something I really have my mind on is Richmond and Darlington. Earlier this year we ran the best we’ve ever run. We ran top five at Darlington most of the day and ended up eighth and at Richmond we ran top five in the first stage and kind of got away from the handling and ended up running 11th and having just a good solid day there, so the confidence for me is having a couple good races there earlier this year. Once you do have a solid race at a track you might not have had good runs at before, it gives you the mindset of, ‘OK, I haven’t run great here in the past, but we had a good race. Let’s work on that.’ Now I kind of have an idea of what I need to feel in the car, how I need to drive the racetrack, and what I need to work on throughout the race to try to stay up there and be competitive. That’s a great notebook we have from earlier this year at both of those racetracks and I’m looking forward to getting back there to build off of that because I think we can run as good there as anywhere else. It was just a matter of time and you hope to utilize what you learned previously and apply it.”
DO YOU SENSE ANY SORT OF RAMP UP IN HOW THE PLAYOFF DRIVERS GO ABOUT THINGS? IS IT MORE SERIOUS AND MORE INTENSE? DOES THAT CHANGE DURING THE PLAYOFFS? “Yeah, I think so. Everyone wants to say that you try to keep the same intensity and mindset the whole year. Why just wait until the playoffs to kind of be in that mode, but I feel like even subconsciously it might change a little bit even if you don’t know it. It’s playoff time. There is more intense things going on just because you know what you’re racing for right now and everyone wants to get it. Yeah, I feel like it does change. It is a lot more intense racing, I feel like, at some points for sure, so, yeah, it’s just different mindsets for not only the drivers but the teams as well to really perform under these type of situations. This is what everyone wants. Everyone wants to perform well under the pressure scenarios and when it comes down to the playoffs and championship time that’s when people rise to the occasion. So, yeah, I think that does ramp up and it’s something I think I can obviously see and it’s something I’m a part of as well and our group is doing that same thing. It ramps up, that’s for sure.”
