Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Racing Media Zoom Call
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
It’s an All-Ford Racing final in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge as Todd Gilliland and Ryan Blaney will square off against each other for the $1 million prize. Both drivers participated in a Ford media call earlier today to discuss their upcoming battle while Blaney also discussed making his 400th career NASCAR Cup Series start on Sunday afternoon.
TODD GILLILAND, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAKING IT TO THE FINALS OF THE IN-SEASON CHALLENGE? “I definitely think we’ve had luck on our side, but if you get past four or five drivers at this point, it’s always gonna take a little bit of luck. I felt our speed was much better at North Wilkesboro, so I feel like we earned that one more. I’m excited about it. It’s been something fun for my team to focus on. They’re pushing super hard for Indianapolis, so it’s been cool to see those guys rise up to the occasion and we’re hoping for one more really good week.”
HOW MUCH OF A CARROT IS THIS IN-SEASON CHALLENGE WHEN IT FIRST STARTS? DO YOU PAY A LOT OF ATTENTION TO IT? “To be honest with you, I don’t think it’s necessarily top of mind. When the In-Season Tournament starts for me at least, obviously it brings a lot of excitement to the middle part of the season. It’s hot out and we’re right in the middle of our season. Everyone just kind of grinding it out, but I think at the beginning you’re like, ‘Alright, there’s one guy that’s gonna win all of this. Chances are pretty low that it’s gonna be me or whoever it is for anybody going into this.’ But as we’ve started clicking them off I was like, ‘Man, we’re getting a little bit closer,’ then obviously coming down to the last week now I’m really excited about it and paying a lot of attention to it. I think it’s fun. With so many TV partners that NASCAR works with, TNT has done a good job of bringing some excitement to this middle part of the year.”
HOW DID PEOPLE START CALLING YOU THE TODDFATHER AND DO YOU LIKE THAT NICKNAME? “I honestly have no idea where that came from. Fans are very interesting. They’ve given me a lot of nicknames, mostly good, so I’ll take that for now. But the Toddfather, I don’t know what to think about that because I guess it’s the Godfather from a different movie. I’ve never seen that, but maybe I should watch that as it’s gaining a little bit of traction at least with my fans. I’ll have to do some more investigating on that, but I honestly have no idea where it came from. It could be worse, for sure.”
COULD YOU JUST MAKE UP A STORY FOR US NOW OF HOW YOU GOT THAT NICKNAME? “That’s what I need to do. Blaney is gonna be calling me the Toddfather this weekend when we wax him, hopefully. (laughing)
HOW BIG HAS THIS BEEN FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM TO SHOWCASE WHAT YOU’VE ACCOMPLISHED? “Like I mentioned, I think it’s big for my whole team. For me, I’ve just been going about our normal business of trying to get the best results we can for the 34 and seeing where that lands within the In-Season Tournament. It’s been cool to see my team grab another gear and just push that little bit extra, and it’s cool to see guys step up to the plate. I think that’s been the coolest part for me, just seeing them really enjoy it and work for something. When we’re mid-twenties in points and a good bit out of the Chase bubble it’s sometimes hard for those guys to continue to stay motivated, which I think they always do, but just in life in general, when you feel like you’re not fighting for something, it’s easy to get a little bit relaxed, whereas with this I think it’s been really fun to see those guys push to the absolute max.”
WHAT IS THE CONFIDENCE LEVEL THIS WEEKEND AT INDY AND WHAT IS THE BIGGEST ADJUSTMENT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR ON SUNDAY? “I think my confidence level is honestly pretty high. I was able to do one of the first tests there, a tire test when we were going back to the oval at Indy, so I think that really helped me a lot of just getting off on a good foot of getting laps, understanding the racetrack, going through a lot of changes, and then once we got racing I feel like that’s been probably one of our best intermediate racetracks. So, I’m excited about it. I obviously know it’s gonna take everything we’ve got and more probably to beat the 12 straight up, but I think just for us and the 34 team it’s gonna be an interesting weekend. Chicagoland even was a step in the right direction for us, so I’m hopeful that we can continue that momentum.”
SOME WOULD CALL THIS DAVID VS. GOLIATH. HOW WOULD YOU ANSWER THAT? “Put the house on us, that’s what I would say. We made it this far, why not us? We’ll see. I’m with you. I would probably agree with all of those people who say we’re fighting an uphill battle, but, honestly, we’ve been the underdogs in however many matchups there’s been, but it’s doable. It’s crazy. It’s only one person standing between us and winning this thing, so I’m excited about it. It’s gonna be an uphill battle. Davis vs. Goliath is probably fair, but we’re gonna go out and do our best and see where everything ends up.”
WHAT IF THIS GOES DOWN TO THE WHITE FLAG? HOW DO YOU INTEND TO RACE HIM? “I don’t know. That’s a tough question. I hope we’re in that position, honestly, to be racing the 12 coming down to the end. It’s gonna be tough. I was thinking about that on my drive up to North Wilkesboro. I was like, ‘I’ll do some crazy things for a million dollars,’ and just one guy is standing between us. We’ll have to see how it goes.”
IN ATLANTA YOU MENTIONED HOW YOU WEREN’T REALLY SOLD IN THE CONCEPT OF THE CHALLENGE WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT. NOW THAT YOU’VE REACHED THIS POINT, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOU’VE LEARNED TO APPRECIATE ABOUT THIS CONCEPT? “I think, like you said, at the beginning it’s hard to look up at that mountain and expect to be one of the guys that just pushed through every round. I think I was always appreciative of it, but at the same time I think you just never really know how it’s gonna work out for you. Once we get to this point now, it’s just been a lot of fun. It’s something for media to talk about. It’s something for the teams, the drivers, everyone to focus on. For me, I’ve gotten to talk to different people. I talked to Bowman for a long time at Atlanta. Chase a little bit last week. I’m sure I’ll talk to Blaney a lot this week, so, for me, that’s been the fun part. We’re all such hardcore competitors. That’s what I’ve learned about all NASCAR drivers, whether it’s on the track or mostly away from the track, we’re always competing and doing everything we can. I think that’s been fun, but just for the most part getting us that little extra media attention and just a chance at a big prize in midsummer is definitely a lot of fun.”
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT YOU MIGHT DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS? “No, I’m trying to keep those thoughts out of my mind because, like you said, we’re not there yet. It’s gonna really suck if we get to this point and don’t win it, so we’re gonna give it our best effort and then from there I’m sure we’ll figure out something fun to do, for sure. We’ll have a good time with it.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR SEASON SO FAR? “I think it’s been up and down. I think that’s a good way to describe it. I feel like there’s been some high points, getting only our second top 10 of the year at North Wilkesboro, I think we were hoping for more at this point to be honest. But I think we’re getting our consistency slightly better. I would say that for us our biggest improvement needs to be on the intermediate racetracks, the mile-and-a-halves. I’d say when we go to the short tracks, I feel like we can compete in the top 15, top 10 and that’s kind of our expectation, whereas I think I have the most to improve for sure on the mile-and-a-halves. I think we’re just chipping away at it. If we have some really strong runs, the points are tightening up in front of us and, yeah, I think if we can be top 20, around 20th in the next couple of weeks that would be good progress after these races. We’ll just keep chipping away at it.”
WHAT’S THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO HAVE AT INDIANAPOLIS TO BE SUCCESSFUL AND CONTEND? “I think maybe it’s between patience or aggression. I think both of them you have to really balance that. This is a place that we’ve seen it be pretty tough to pass at if you’re’ in the midfield of cars. It seems like it always becomes a fuel mileage race to the end just because of the nature of the track and how tough it is to pass, so I think you have to just manage your own race. There are times you’re gonna be in line and you’re not going anywhere, so you have to manage that part of it. And then if you do have a fuel advantage, tire advantage, you have to be aggressive. We saw the 5 car a couple of years ago be able to drive all the way up through the pack, so I think you have to balance that for sure of patience vs. aggression.”
WHAT WOULD A WIN IN THIS CHALLENGE MEAN FOR YOUR TEAM AND FRM? “It would be fun. That’s the biggest thing, like I said, my team is probably the most focused on it of anybody. They really appreciate it. It’s been a while since we’ve won anything, so that would be nice. Overall, team morale is always something that if you can help in any way that’s what you need. We see our Truck teams going out and winning getting a one-two last weekend, so it would be great to win something even if it’s the In-Season Tournament. That would help team mojo a little bit.”
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RYAN BLANEY STORY? “I feel like Ryan Blaney is such an underrated personality – maybe not underrated because obviously he’s been doing a lot of commercials and stuff like that for NASCAR, so I think it’s getting out there, but my favorite Ryan Blaney story was probably during a Ford Racing bonding trip with all the drivers. We’re kind of hanging out and we’re actually all on a golf cart, so there’s probably six of us on a golf car – all drivers, it’s pitch black, we can’t see anything and we hit a ditch. None of us could see it and Blaney flew off the back and we’re like, ‘Oh, no. We just killed Ryan Blaney.’ But, luckily, everyone survived. I don’t know if the Ford guys were very happy with us after that, but we were like, ‘We won’t get in trouble because Ryan is with us. He was the champion at that point, but then we thought we hurt him, so that was probably an all-time Ryan Blaney story for me.”
WHERE WERE YOU GUYS? “We were at Pursell Farms during Talladega weekend, so that was a lot of fun.”
HOW DID LAST WEEK RANK FOR YOU AFTER FINISHING IN THE TOP 10, ADVANCING TO THE IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT FINAL AND SIGNING A CONTRACT EXTENSION? “It was a really good week for us. I was talking after the race about how the Cup Series will beat you down. There are some weeks that are just straight-up not good, not fun, but last week was up there. That was one of our best ones for sure. I feel like my whole team and my crew chief was super confident going into the weekend. We tried a completely different setup and our execution was there all day, pit stops were good. A new contract is always very fun to announce and just get that out there. Everything is going our way right now, that’s for sure. I feel very lucky in the moment and we’ll just keep enjoying it.”
THIS CHALLENGE HAS BROUGHT TWO THIRD-GENERATION DRIVERS TOGETHER FOR THE FINAL. DO YOU FEEL THIS IS LIKE A HATFIELD-MCCOY DEAL WITH RIVAL FAMILIES? “If I’m ever fast enough to have a rivalry with Ryan Blaney on the racetrack, I’ll be very happy. We’ll take it how we can get it with the In-Season Tournament, but I’m excited. It’s always interesting to see the generations of families in racing. There are a lot of them and a lot of the kids get into it, so it’s gonna be fun. I always get texts from my dad post-race, so it’s always fun to talk about that and we’ll see how it goes.”
DID YOU AND RYAN SPEND TIME IN THE INFIELD AS KIDS OR RACING TOGETHER? “It’s like Ryan is just a little bit older than me, just enough to where he was probably leaving quarter midgets and late models and all those things as I was getting into it. To be honest, I never actually raced much against him growing up.”
HOW HAVE YOU SURVIVED TO THIS POINT WITH THE CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED IN YOUR CAREER? “I think I have been beat down, that’s for sure, at some points, and I think, I don’t know, man. Cup Racing, you’ve got to ride the highs and the lows. I think that’s the biggest thing. You’ve got to kind of move on really fast, really quickly. I do think that’s something I feel very lucky that I grew up in the sport and around the sport. I saw my dad go through these things, the ups and the downs in racing. In racing, you’re gonna lose more than you’re ever gonna win with just how it is. You’re racing one versus 36 other guys, so it’s interesting. You’ve got to kind of love the grind, I would say. I also think being teammates with Michael McDowell for my first four years in the Cup Series was great. He’s been a guy that’s been through it all. He’s a journeyman of the Cup Series, so he gave me a little perspective and then there are a lot of things you just learn for yourself. You surround yourself with good people Sometimes your mental state is not the best, there’s no doubt about that, but you’ve got to keep moving on week-by-week and keep surviving.”
WHAT WAS THE PERSPECTIVE FROM MICHAEL AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FOR YOURSELF? “I think from Michael’s side of it, like I said, he’s been through it all – the good and the bad – so I think he just always said what I just said – enjoy the grind. We’re very lucky with what we get to do. Work hard with the people around you and go do the best you can, so I obviously really enjoyed my time with Michael. Those were fun years, but that’s the biggest thing – you’ve got to keep your mind focused and you learn a lot about yourself through the good and the bad. You’ve got to enjoy the good moments and not get too down in the bad moments.”
IN TERMS OF CUP, WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER YOUR HIGHLIGHTS THAT ARE THE MOST MEANINGFUL? “That’s a tough one. I think some that come to the top of my mind, obviously finishing second last year at Talladega was fun, getting close to the first win. I felt like we had a chance that whole afternoon, so that was a lot of fun, feeling that fight again of being in the game coming down to the end. I think one that comes to mind also is Bristol this year. We qualified 30th and ran probably 35th that whole first stage, and then as soon as the groove moved up I was able to pass a ton of cars, and that was just a really fun race from my side of it. I always think back to my first Daytona 500, just looking forward to that moment so much for my whole life. I think that one will always be probably my favorite Cup moment of all time. It’s tough to beat that. We were kind of in the hunt that whole first Daytona 500, so we’ve had a lot of good moments, for sure.”
WHAT MAKES RACING FOR FRM SO SPECIAL? “There are positives and negatives to literally every single team out there. I think we’re a smaller team, so every single person pulls their weight and more at our race team. With that comes a lot of freedom, too. We’re not a super big corporate race team. We can do what we want and have a lot of fun with it, so that’s been super enjoyable as we’re growing and getting more competitive. We just talked about in the Cup Series about the highs and lows, but I think that’s the one thing that keeps us going in the right direction is building this team the way we want to and getting more competitive along the way. So, I’m excited about it. I’ve obviously known Bob Jenkins and the whole Jenkins family for a long time, pretty much since I was 12-13 years old, so it really does feel like family to me at Front Row Motorsports. I hope to be there for a long time and just continue to grow this together.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW MUCH OF THE IN-SEASON CHALLENGE IS A FOCAL POINT AT THE BEGINNING BECAUSE YOU WANT TO WIN RACES MORE THAN JUST ONE DRIVER? “Yeah, if you win the race, you beat the other driver. That’s how I’ve looked at it, but I’ve enjoyed it. Last year, when they started it, I got knocked out in the first round, so I really wasn’t a part of it for more than one week, so going through the rounds this year, I’d see who I line up against that week on Sunday night or Monday – see who you’re against if you advanced in the bracket and I’m like, ‘OK, that’s awesome.’ And then that’s really the last I think about it through the week and really, truly, through the race. Like at North Wilkesboro, I didn’t really pay attention to where the 20 was. I asked after the race if we beat the 20 car because I didn’t really know where he finished and they told me we did and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome. We’re moving on and have a shot at a million bucks.’ I look at it through the week and then I wouldn’t say through the race I’m focusing on that guy. Now maybe if it comes down to the end of the race and you’re both running next to each other, then you’re gonna have that on top of your mind for sure, especially in this finale, but I think it’s a great thing what they’re doing. I hope people enjoy it. It’s something that’s different because in motorsports you don’t really ever get a head-to-head match. It’s 40 cars going against each other and this is a cool little March Madness bracket system that’s just another thing for fans to look for and for drivers and teams to go try to win it.”
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT INDIANAPOLIS? “Everything plays a factor in it. I feel like strategy at Indianapolis is always a huge key to it and it’s gonna start – qualifying is a big part of how you kind of base your strategy, so Saturday is a super important day to try to qualify up towards the front and then you can really base your strategy off that. If you’re midpack, then your strategy is based off of that. ‘Hey, how can we kind of play this to try to get more track position on pit road or through strategy?’ Or, can we drive our way up through there, so a lot of it is determined on how your week is going, how you qualify, start of the race, so everything really comes into play here, but I think one of the biggest things we look at going to Indianapolis is in turn three there’s a pretty large bump that’s just past the center of that corner and it’s a lot of, ‘Hey, how do you get over that bump?’ That’s a super fast part of the racetrack, so those are some of the main focal points that we try to pay attention to going into the weekend.”
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TODD GILLILAND STORY? HE TALKED ABOUT YOU AND A GOLF CART INCIDENT. “Honestly, that’s probably my favorite too. Ford does a great team-building event once or twice a year and a couple years ago we did it at Pursell Farms in Alabama before Talladega, so all of the Ford drivers were out there. We have a half-day together and then have dinner together and spend the night, and then spend breakfast together and then we depart. There’s a lot of activities that Ford like to do, just to kind of create a bond, whether it’s between the drivers, people at Ford, Ford Racing, just to get to know each other and try to make us a family. So, there was a handful of us that commandeered a golf cart and toured beautiful Pursell Farms one evening. There were some liquid courage builders that I think a lot of us indulged in and we were on a golf cart. We were having a fun time, and I might have ended up off the golf cart by the end of this ride through no fault of anybody’s, but that was a fun story. I remember I was messing with Todd that whole night. We were driving through the woods on this golf cart and I kept telling him that there were people in the trees and someone is coming to get us. I was freaking him out – like there were people living in the trees and stuff like that and he was scared. But those Ford team building events are a lot of fun. They help us get to know each other a good bit if you don’t really get to hang out with the rest of the people and that was a fun time. I got to learn a lot about Todd and he’s a good guy. Obviously, he comes from a great family with David being his dad. My dad and David raced together for a long time, so there are some good memories there.”
THIS CHALLENGE HAS BROUGHT TWO THIRD-GENERATION DRIVERS TOGETHER FOR THE FINAL. DO YOU FEEL THIS IS LIKE A HATFIELD-MCCOY DEAL WITH RIVAL FAMILIES? “I don’t think so. I don’t think my dad and David ever hated each other. I don’t think there’s any rivalry there. I don’t think they had any run-ins that I can think about. I’m sure there were a couple times, but that happens to everybody. It’s neat. Like I said, Todd comes from a racing family a lot like myself and we got to grow up around the racetrack. We’re very fortunate that we got to do what our family did and what our fathers did. I can’t really speak for Todd, but myself, I was just amazed at what racing and NASCAR was about when I was younger. I got to see a lot of ins-and-outs of the sport, just being around my dad. What does the race shop operate like? The people that are involved in putting their hands on the race car before it gets on the racetrack. You have a huge appreciation for that, and I’m sure Todd was the same way and we’re both very lucky to do what our fathers did and have really good careers. No, I don’t think there’s a rivalry there that has stemmed down like a Hatfield-McCoy situation. It’s just two kids trying to win their teams a bunch of money.”
SOME WOULD CALL THIS DAVID VS. GOLIATH. HOW WOULD YOU ANSWER THAT? “If they’re making it a David vs. Goliath story, that’s not good news for me. I recall that David won that battle, but, no, I’ve heard that. Indianapolis, a lot of things can happen. That group runs really well. Front Row, they do a really good job. They have good drivers. Todd is a great driver and they have a really good team over there, so it’s gonna be tough. I don’t think people should write anything off. I’m not going into this weekend thinking that it’s going to be a layup because it’s not. It’s gonna be incredibly difficult and we have to be on top of our game to try to not only compete for the win, but also race that 34 car too. I don’t think that’s accurate what people are saying. I think it’s gonna be just as tough as ever no matter who you’re facing because you’re not gonna be able to have any mistakes. You better be fast on the racetrack. You better be good on pit road and your strategy better be where it should be. I think it’s gonna be a heck of a battle, for sure.”
THERE WILL BE A NEW RIGHT SIDE TIRE COMBINATION FOR THIS WEEKEND. HOW DO YOU EXPECT THAT TO IMPACT THE RACE? “It’s always about trying to get fall off. The big talk is if you abuse your stuff are you going to pay a penalty for it? That’s what racing is all about and that’s how racing should be, and I think Goodyear has done a really good job of working incredibly hard on not only trying to work on the short track tire, but also the intermediates and bigger places like that of just trying to find something that falls off and you can really pay the penalty for something if you abuse it. So, I’m looking forward to seeing what that is. It’s nice that we have the extended practice this weekend, getting a few sets of tires on Friday and be able to make some longer runs to see where that goes and get a feel for that. I hope it lays a bunch of rubber down. If you lay a bunch of rubber down, usually you’re gonna be able to abuse your stuff. It just means rubber is coming off of the tire, so I hope that direction that Goodyear is working is gonna make that kind of an impact, so we’ll find out.”
DO YOU EXPECT THE TIRE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AS FAR AS AFFECTING FUEL MILEAGE? “I think you’re gonna get a really good idea after Friday. ‘Hey, where is the fall off? How long does it take to hit your cliff?’ And I think that will affect the strategy side. If you fall off a second-and–a-half in 10 laps, then that’s gonna affect your strategy. You’re gonna have teams that do you really have to contemplate is it worth staying out or doing two. I feel like we kind of have a set strategy piece through the week that Jonathan and I talk about, and then we alter it after the practice session and make our final decisions. I think you do about 50 percent of it during the week and then the last 50 you do after practice, just seeing where that pace is.”
HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS WHERE YOU GUYS STAND AS A UNIT HEADING INTO THIS STRETCH OF THE SEASON? “I feel pretty decent about it. Anyone is gonna sit here and tell you they feel pretty good about it, but I feel like we’ve done a really good job this year of finding speed in places where we needed to find it, and then managing races to where we maybe have not had the best speed, but we’ve gotten better all night. The last two weeks in our building has been really great. It was nice to kind of have a huge win at Atlanta for us and then an absolute dominating win by the 22 group at North Wilkesboro. I mean, that was an absolute butt-whipping that they put on the field, so I think the momentum is high. I’m really excited to get to Indy. That’s been a place to where we had a good shot to win that thing in ‘24. Joey and Austin had a really good shot to win that thing last year, so I’m excited to see where our speed is at there, and then the rest of the regular season – the final month – we’ve got some really good short tracks in there for us and then the speedway where we’ve been strong. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can get and then making a run at the championship. It’s gonna be really tough. There are some great teams out there, but we’ve just got to keep plugging away. I commend Team Penske for hanging in there and always trying to get better. That’s really just the name of the game, and I feel like we’ve done a really good job of hopefully getting to where we need to be. Only time will tell, but no matter what happens, we’re gonna keep working super hard.”
CAN YOU TAKE ME THROUGH YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ROGER AND WHAT HE’S MEANT TO YOU AND HOW THAT HAS EVOLVED? “I owe Roger everything. I was super lucky to be able to walk in the doors over there in the summer of 2012 and here we are 14 years later. I couldn’t ask for a better place to be at and couldn’t ask to work with better people, the people that Roger incorporates not only in his race teams, but in his business side as well. They’re incredible people and I’ve been really lucky to be able to learn from those folks and just get to know them on a personal level and a professional level. Roger is a rare breed. I don’t think they make many people like Roger Penske anymore, just the drive that he has for as long as he’s been doing it is unmatched. What he’s done for motorsports, whether it’s NASCAR, Indy Car, Sports Car, it’s been amazing how many things he’s been into and just been incredibly successful. He’s been an incredible figure for me, not only to learn on the professional side, but personal life too. I try to take things that Roger does that I think would kind of make you grow as a human being as well of just his demeanor about everything and just somebody that is so easy to talk to for me. I can pick up the phone and call him whenever I need to and he answers, and I could talk to him about anything and he always gives me advice or things like that. So, I’ve been really, really lucky. I’ve been super fortunate to be able to work for him for a long time and call him a friend. Like I said, I owe him a lot. I owe him my whole career to be honest with you. He took a chance on an 18-year-old kid and here we are now. I’m just trying to be successful for him. That’s really my main goal is winning for Roger, winning championships for Roger. That’s the only thing that you can get him. He has everything else in life, but he just wants to be successful on the track, so we strive tirelessly to give that to him because he’s given us so much.”
YOUR 400TH CAREER CUP START IS THIS WEEKEND. WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOUR STAYING POWER AND DOES THAT NUMBER OF RACES JUST FLY BY? “It does fly by. I had no idea it was 400 this weekend. It’s incredibly hard to believe. It kind of goes back to my previous answer – none of this happens without Roger Penske, his group, the Wood Brothers – those folks have really given me the opportunity that I can only dream of. I would never have dreamt that I would make it to 400 starts. You just try to continue to take one start at a time, but it does fly by. It does not feel like 400, so I’ve been really lucky to have a great ride for those 400 starts and hopefully I can make it 400 more, for sure. Growing up around the sport, watching my dad do it, I just wanted to do what my dad did. I was in love with the sport. As a kid, I was just in awe of race car drivers and race cars. I just wanted to do that and I’ve been really lucky in my life to get those opportunities and get amazing opportunities to be fairly successful in that sport that I love. Does anyone know how many starts my dad had? (THE ANSWER IS 473) That’s gonna be a really big eye-opener for me if and when I pass my dad in career starts. That’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, man.’ I would never have thought that, but it’s been a fun 400 and, like I said, I hope to make it 400 more.”
IS THIS A RACE YOU HAVE CIRCLED ON THE CALENDAR? “Oh, it’s definitely circled on the calendar. Everybody that works at Team Penske just knows that this weekend is really special. We don’t talk about it because it’s known that whenever you go to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, even before Roger owned the track, it was a very special place just his history from there on the Indy Car side. It is what got him into motorsports when his dad took him there all those years ago. It’s what made him who he is, so that place is really special to him and especially now, like I said, that he owns the speedway and has done a lot for that speedway. We understand the importance of this weekend. Everybody in that building does, so it’s an unspoken thing. A dream of mine has always been to be able to kiss the bricks with Roger. I don’t think there’s anything that could top being able to do that and share that moment with him. That would be a memory that would be stamped in my mind until the day that I die if I got to share that experience with Roger on the frontstretch. That is the goal. That is one of the things I want most in life is to share that with him and hopefully we can achieve it.”
DO YOU CONSIDER THE BRICKYARD A MAJOR RACE IN NASCAR? “I definitely would classify it as that. To me, NASCAR – and this is just my personal thing – people talk about three crown jewel races and in my mind there are five. The Daytona 500, Southern 500, Coke 600, Indianapolis and the Bristol Night Race. Those are my five majors I guess you could call them in my mind, so it’s definitely in that category.”
IOWA IS COMING UP IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET AROUND THERE AND WIN? “I’ve really enjoyed going to Iowa. I think that place is incredibly deserving of a Cup event. It puts on a really good race. I was fortunate to win there a couple years ago and we had a really good run there last year. That place is pretty difficult because the front and backstretch are the old pavement and then the corners are fresh pavement, but your braking and entry turn-in point is on the old pavement, so trying to get that secure enough and good enough over the bumps, especially into turn one, is super critical, and then very smooth corners is how do you kind of balance that out? We’ve just been able to have a really good package there that I feel like I’ve been able to do both. I’ve been able to enter fast over the bumps with speed and then that benefits me when I get to the fresher, smoother asphalt. So, it would be nice to get back in Victory Lane there. I have a lot of family ties in that area in Iowa, so it would be nice to do that like we did a couple of years ago, but it’s all about connecting the entry phase of the old track to the new racetrack in the corners.”
