Matt DiBenedetto and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team rallied from a mid-race incident that resulted in significant damage to the No. 21 Mustang and came home with a 12th place finish in Sunday’s Blue Emu 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

DiBenedetto started the 500-lap race from 22nd place on Saturday night, and had moved to 15th place when rain halted the race after just 42 circuits.

When rain continued into the night, the race was postponed until 4 p.m. on Sunday. When the action resumed, DiBenedetto and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team showed good speed and were running 13th at the end of the first 130-lap Stage.

In Stage Two, he continued to run just outside the top 10 until the closing laps when he was unable to avoid spinning drivers ahead of him. The contact crumpled the right front fender of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang, with damage also to the splitter and the front sway bar connection.

Quick work by the Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew led by Jonathan Hassler, filling in for Greg Erwin who contracted COVID-19, allowed DiBenedetto to rejoin the race in 26th place, just one lap down.

He drove his way into the free pass position and rejoined the lead lap when Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher spun as they raced beside him with 178 laps remaining in the race.

Back on the lead lap, he continued to work his way forward, and was able to avoid several accidents. He also steered clear of significant damage when 11 drivers piled up on the backstretch with 114 laps remaining, bringing out the red flag.

When the green flag was displayed again, DiBenedetto was able to move from 16th place to 12th at the checkered flag. It was his fourth straight top-15 finish.

“Our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang was pretty good to start with,” DiBenedetto said. “It had a lot of potential. It could have been a pretty big day for us.”

Then came the damage.

“When Ryan Newman spun in front of me, I just didn’t have anywhere to go,” he said.

But what might have been a disappointing day turned into one to be proud of.

“To come from getting all that damage and losing a lap to getting the lucky dog [free pass] and getting back on the lead lap and finishing 12th was pretty impressive,” DiBenedetto said. “Nobody on the team gave up. Everyone just kept grinding away at it, and we wound up with a decent finish.”

Part of that success included DiBenedetto dodging numerous crashes, many of which occurred just ahead of or beside him.

“It went on the whole day,” he said. “I’m tired. We evaded enough for 10 races.”

Next up for DiBenedetto and the No. 21 team is a Sunday afternoon 400-lapper at Richmond Raceway.

About Motorcraft:

Motorcraft offers a complete line of replacement parts that are recommended by Ford Motor Company. From routine maintenance to underhood repairs, Motorcraft parts offer value with high quality and the right fit at competitive prices. Motorcraft parts are available nationwide at Ford and Lincoln Dealers, independent distributors and automotive parts retailers, and are backed by the Service Parts Limited Warranty of Ford Motor Company. For more information, visit www.motorcraft.com.

About Omnicraft:

Omnicraft is part of the Ford lineup of parts brands: Ford Parts, Motorcraft and Omnicraft. Omnicraft is the exclusive non-Ford/Lincoln parts brand of premium aftermarket parts. With over a century of parts heritage to build upon, Omnicraft provides excellent quality and fit and is a preferred choice of professional automotive technicians. To find out more about Omnicraft, visit www.omnicraftautoparts.com or contact your local Ford or Lincoln Dealership.

About Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center

Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center offers extraordinary service for routine vehicle maintenance including tire repair and replacement with a Low Tire Price Guarantee and a full menu of automotive services including oil and filter, brakes, alignments, batteries, and shocks and struts on all vehicle makes and models. Service is performed by certified technicians at more than 1,000 locations worldwide while you wait, and no appointment is necessary. For more information about Quick Lane, please visit www.quicklane.com.

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan. The company designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of Ford cars, trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and Lincoln luxury vehicles, provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company and is pursuing leadership positions in electrification, autonomous vehicles and mobility solutions. Ford employs approximately 200,000 people worldwide. For more information regarding Ford, its products and Ford Motor Credit Company, please visit www.corporate.ford.com.

Wood Brothers Racing

Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glen Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glen’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Matt DiBenedetto in the famous No. 21 racer.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet Team Post Solid Performance at Martinsville Speedway Despite Adversity-Filled Day

Finish: 14th
Start: 18th
Points: 12th

“It was a marathon this weekend at Martinsville Speedway in the American Ethanol Chevrolet. We faced a lot of adversity. The entire right side of our Chevy was gone by the end of the race. There was just a lot of beating and banging out there today. We got our car handling pretty well but were held on pit road for a lap as a penalty for pitting outside the box. We lost our track position but did a good job of trying to work our way back to the front. The handling of our Chevy just wasn’t what it needed to be once it got dark outside. The track changed too much. We’ll go get them at Richmond Raceway on Sunday.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet Team Leverage Long Run Speed for Eighth-Place Finish at Martinsville Speedway

Finish: 8th
Start: 13th
Points: 21st

“Today was a good day for our No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, but we definitely had to fight for it. I learned a lot about racing at Martinsville Speedway over the course of the weekend. We fired off strong Saturday night and were able to work our way up a handful of spots after having to start from the rear of the field due to an unapproved adjustment. Then the rain came through and postponed the race, but that also gave our team a good chance to talk about what we had and what we needed to work on. Once we got back going today, I had really good long run speed and was able to use that to capitalize on some good runs to get into the top 10 and grab stage points at the end of Stage 2. I needed more center turn and to be a little looser during that span of short runs that came in the middle of Stage 3 when we had all those back-to-back yellows while being shuffled back a little bit due to our pit cycle. Luckily, the final run of the race was a longer one that allowed us to bring home a top-10 finish. Overall, this was a good weekend for our team and I’m looking forward to carrying this momentum into next weekend’s race at Richmond.”

-Tyler Reddick

NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
BLUE-EMU MAXIMUM PAIN RELIEF 500
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
APRIL 11, 2021

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
4th WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
5th KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE
8th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
14th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE
15th RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/CREST CAMARO ZL1 1LE

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)
2nd Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
3rd Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
4th William Byron (Chevrolet)
5th Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Richmond Raceway for the Toyota Owners 400 on Sunday, April 18, at 3 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 2nd
YOU WERE COMING ON STRONG THERE AT THE END, CHASE. DID THE CAR GET BETTER OR WAS THAT JUST CIRCUMSTANCE?
“I really felt like we were not perfect, for sure, all day. But we did make it better I think as the day went on. The run was kind of that right distance for me there at the end to maximize it. I felt like if it was any longer than that, I was probably going to fade again kind of like I had been all day.”

“I really appreciate the effort. We worked really hard today to get back to second. I felt like every strategy call and circumstance just kind of went the other direction for us. We had a couple of good restarts there at the end; had a good pit stop and made a good last adjustment just for a short run. But definitely need to be better. Our NAPA team has been working hard. We’ve had a very eventful year I feel like, so it’s nice to just have a solid day. We got some stage points and got a good finish. We’ll try to go get them next week.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 4th
“It was a hard-fought day for us. We had handling issues early on and then once we got back further in the pack – it was just crazy. We had fresh tires and the speed but had to manage traffic. Once we got track position back we were making up ground but got held up a couple times which hurt us. Overall though we had a fast Liberty University Chevy. It was a good day and we learned a lot. On to Richmond next weekend.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 5th
“Yeah, definitely the restarts were crazy. I didn’t have the best balance on the restarts and that made it even a little crazier for me because I was kind of on defense, I felt like, most of the time. Even when I was on offense, I was kind of on-edge. But after we would get 15 to 20 laps in, I actually felt really good. I felt like we were probably a fourth-place car on the long runs, so I was happy about that. To get a top-five here at probably, by far, my worst race track feels like a win.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 8th
“Today was a good day for our No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, but we definitely had to fight for it. I learned a lot about racing at Martinsville Speedway over the course of the weekend. We fired off strong Saturday night and were able to work our way up a handful of spots after having to start from the rear of the field due to an unapproved adjustment. Then the rain came through and postponed the race, but that also gave our team a good chance to talk about what we had and what we needed to work on. Once we got back going today, I had really good long run speed and was able to use that to capitalize on some good runs to get into the top 10 and grab stage points at the end of Stage 2. I needed more center turn and to be a little looser during that span of short runs that came in the middle of Stage 3 when we had all those back-to-back yellows while being shuffled back a little bit due to our pit cycle, but luckily the final run of the race was a longer one that allowed us to bring home a top-10 finish. Overall, this was a good weekend for our team and I’m looking forward to carrying this momentum into next weekend’s race at Richmond.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 14th
“It was a marathon this weekend at Martinsville Speedway in the American Ethanol Chevrolet. We faced a lot of adversity. The entire right side of our Chevy was gone by the end of the race. There was just a lot of beating and banging out there today. We got our car handling pretty well, but were held on pit road for a lap as a penalty for pitting outside the box. We lost our track position but did a good job of trying to work our way back to the front. The handling of our Chevy just wasn’t what it needed to be once it got dark outside. The track changed too much. We’ll go get them at Richmond Raceway on Sunday.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/CREST CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 15th
“It wasn’t pretty, but we were able to salvage a decent day at Martinsville Speedway for our No. 47 Kroger/Crest Chevy. We really struggled to get the right balance throughout the majority of the race, but Brian (Pattie, crew chief) made some strategy calls to keep us in a position where we could maintain our track position and stay on the lead lap, and ultimately race in the top-15 for the majority of the end of the race and miss the big wreck that took out our teammate. We were really fast at Richmond Raceway last year and I’m looking forward to getting there next week and keeping our momentum going.”

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 PETTY’S GARAGE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 30th
“It just wasn’t the day we really wanted for the No. 43 Petty’s Garage Camaro ZL1 1LE. It was just up-and-down trying to find a balance to get the car where it could roll the center and not be too free. I finally felt we kind of got the car where we wanted to be towards the end. We had those string of cautions and got caught up in one of the later wrecks. We really didn’t have too much damage, but I had either an axle or a gear issue that ended our day there. I wish we could have seen where we would have ended up. I think we probably could have drove up towards the top-15, maybe even the back of the top-10. We learned a lot though and I think we can take it to the race coming back to Martinsville Speedway in the fall.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 CAMPING WORLD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 385; Finished 32nd
THANKFULLY, YOU GOT OUT AND YOU’RE OK. DANIEL, WHAT DID YOU SEE FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE THAT LED TO THAT?
“First of all, I saw a couple of cars on fire, so luckily nobody got hurt. I was a bit surprised that the safety people took a long time to get to my car. I tried to make sure everything was good to stop the fire, but for some reason, they just weren’t stopping the fire. In that wreck, there wasn’t really anything I could do. I was trying to slam on the brakes to try to slow down, but it was a parking lot in there. I couldn’t do anything about it. The No. 24 car (William Byron) put us in that position; he pushed me out of the way. I had a few laps older tires than everyone else.”

“But overall, we have to keep working. This weekend, overall, wasn’t great. We came from the back several times. We had a fast car, but we made bad adjustments. It just wasn’t a clean weekend.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 385; Finished 34th
ALEX BOWMAN WAS ONE OF THE FASTEST CARS TODAY. THEN, HE HAD A LOOSE WHEEL AND RIGHT AFTER THAT IS THE CARNAGE YOU JUST SAW. HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED HERE IN THE LAST TWENTY MINUTES?
“It’s very frustrating. I hate it for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports; everybody at Ally and Chevrolet that gives us so much support. Everybody works so hard to give us what we need and we had such a good race car today; such a fast Ally Camaro. I had a loose right-front wheel and that’s just part of racing; things are going to happen. Our pit crew is phenomenal every week. I make mistakes, people make mistakes, it happens. It put us behind the eight ball there and then they all crashed in front of me. I stopped and the guys behind me didn’t stop. It was one of those deals.”

“I hate it. I feel like we had a car capable of winning, which says a lot because I drive this place completely wrong. I’m so bad here. Greg (Ives, Crew Chief), everybody on this No. 48 team have their work cut out for them to make a car work for me and they did that this week. It was phenomenal; couldn’t ask anything more of it, but not much to show for it.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE, SECOND-PLACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:
THE MODERATOR: We are joined now by today’s runner-up, Chase Elliott.
Chase, walk us through your second-place finish today.

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, really, really hard-fought second actually for us. We were not great, but had some, I guess our strong suit was kind of early on in the run, then really faded hard, too hard there latter part of a run.

But we never got one of those super long runs, which is probably a good thing for us because we were struggling on that end. But, yeah, proud we could fight back. We had a long day with strategy not going our way, restart lane choice at times was tough. I’m glad we were able to get back in the fight there and give ourselves a chance.

THE MODERATOR: We’re going to open the floor for questions.
Q. Chase, does this do anything for you for October when you look ahead, this being such a pivotal race?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think this is an important race. They’re all important, but for sure, when you get down to that Round of 8, if you’re still alive in that deal, a win at any of those tracks gives you an opportunity. Of course, definitely.

As long as it’s where it’s at in the final 10, it will always be an important race.

Q. You just said on FOX Sports, you described this as an eventful year so far. How challenging has the season been for you guys so far, now being your third top five of the year after coming off a championship?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I mean, like I said, every week I feel like it’s been one thing or another, a bad run or just whatever. Just nice to have just a smooth day, no damage. We didn’t break anything. Everything was just smooth. It was uneventful. That’s the days you have to have to compete for wins ultimately. Some of that is in your hands, some of it’s not.
Truly nice to have an uneventful day, so to speak, just get a solid finish. Got some solid stage points. It was definitely a step in the right direction for us.

Q. With today’s solid performance, Truex gets his second win of the season, how important is it going to be moving forward to get multiple wins? Do you think kind of where we’re at in points, what you’ve got right now, is going to be okay? Is it still pivotal to get multiples?
CHASE ELLIOTT: I mean, I definitely think winning is a crucial part to the Playoffs. It doesn’t guarantee you as you go along. It sure does hedge your bet and having a successful Playoff run if you have wins in the bank.

I want to be on that side of the fence when that rolls around rather than in the opposite position.

Q. What do you feel you were missing there at the end in relation to the Joe Gibbs Racing duo?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Just rear grip for me was kind of the story of my day. That was also the problem there at the end. Just didn’t have the drive I needed to get up off the corner like I wanted and to be able to really get the power down early.
Yeah, solid day, but just came up short.

Q. Can you talk about the rocky start you’ve had to the season? How much momentum and confidence does this give you towards Richmond and beyond?
CHASE ELLIOTT: Like I said earlier, just nice to have an uneventful day, so to speak. Just have some nice stage points, have a nice finish, those things are always nice. I feel like we had a mistake-free day, which is what you have to have, so it was good.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for joining us, Chase. Good luck at Richmond.

CHASE ELLIOTT: Cool. Thanks.

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. 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 www.chevrolet.com.

TRUEX SCORES SECOND VICTORY OF THE SEASON
Martin Truex Jr. earns third Martinsville win in the last four events

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 11, 2021) – Martin Truex Jr. became the first driver to score his second victory of the season as he drove by teammate Denny Hamlin with 16 laps to go to score the win. Hamlin, who led a race high 276 laps, retains the points lead. It’s Toyota’s third victory of the season and sixth victory at Martinsville since 2015.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Martinsville Speedway
Race 8 of 36 – 263 miles, 500 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
2nd, Chase Elliott.*
3rd, DENNY HAMLIN
4th, William Bryon*
5th, Kyle Larson*
7th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
10th, KYLE BUSCH
16th, BUBBA WALLACE
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st

You were strong all day, but at the end of the race that car came to life. How did you score the win?

“It was pretty incredible there at the end. The Bass Pro Toyota – James (Small, crew chief) and the guys really hung with me all day. We never could get quite where we wanted it. It started getting dark and she came to life. Thankful to Reser’s Fine Foods, Bass Pro Shops, all of these great fans. Thank y’all for coming out. I hope y’all enjoyed it. We love seeing you. Just thanks to all of the partners – Auto Owners, Toyota, TRD, Sherwin Williams, Textron Aviation, Noble Airspace. We got so many people that help us out. I can’t believe we won here again after not having the dominate car here today for sure. That was a lot of fun there racing at the end with Denny (Hamlin). We raced clean and we were able to come out on top.”

How difficult is it to race a teammate for a win?

“It’s definitely difficult. We try to race hard, race clean. He was making it difficult on me. I was loose coming off of the corners and his car got tight, so we kind of had opposite things going on and it made it difficult to pass, but we played nice and Coach (Joe Gibbs, team owner) will be happy. It will be a cordial meeting tomorrow.”

Is it hard to believe that you have now won for the third time at Martinsville?

“This is unbelievable. This place has become a playground for us I guess. We didn’t have the best car all day, but we just kept working on it and never quit on it. Proud of James (Small, crew chief) and all the guys. This Bass Pro/Tracker Toyota Camry came on at the end and that’s when it counts. There’s something about when the lights come on here, we’re really good so that was cool.”

What was the battle like in the closing laps with Denny Hamlin?

“It was good, hard, clean hard racing. He (Denny Hamlin) was getting tight. I couldn’t get the power down so we kind of had opposite things going on there. I could get inside of him, but I couldn’t clear him, he could get the power down on me. It was a fun battle and it was a clean battle. Coach (Joe Gibbs, team owner) will be happy tomorrow. We didn’t make each other mad or do anything stupid.”

What has changed in recent years with your wins now coming at more short tracks?

“Just continuing to work with my team on the cars and the setups. They’ve been able to make the cars do what I need them to do and that was something I’ve been missing for a long time. Great race cars. Thanks to JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and everyone back at the shop and everyone on this No. 19 Bass Pro Camry team. They do an awesome job. We keep tweaking on it and tweaking on it. For awhile there, I’m like, man, maybe we shouldn’t have done a few of the thing that we did, but here we are. Like I said, when the lights come on for some reason our cars get really fast.”

Are you shocked to think you’re about to go receive your third Grandfather clock?

“There was a time when I thought there was no chance in hell I’d have a clock so to have three and to have a shot at even more than that has been amazing. Thank you all.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx OfficeToyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd

In a perfect scenario, what would you have done differently to hold off your teammate?
“That’s just the cards we were dealt. We had a really good short run car. We just didn’t have a good long run car. We saved a set of tires – we had the tire advantage – but we couldn’t get the car to turn on the long run. That was the bugaboo, you could say, but overall, the FedEx Camry team performed well. We had a really fast car for 20 laps or so, and then it would just kind of go away. Fortunate for us, we had a great day and had ourselves a shot at it, but just wasn’t quite good enough.”

You were strong on short runs all day, but was the run at the end just too long?

“Yeah, basically. We had a fast car for 20 or 25 laps especially, but after that our car just faded and didn’t have the grip that the 12 (Ryan Blaney) or certainly the 9 (Chase Elliott) and the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) had there at the end. Gave ourselves a shot by getting that restart and getting around them, but inevitably we just didn’t have a fast enough car after 30 laps.”

How do you make your peace with a third-place finish after dominating most of the day?

“We just continue to run top-three every single week. Every stage, every finish – we’re right there. We just need to get a little better. We’re barely missing it. We led a lot of laps and that’s because our competitors that we were racing against, had some issues. We had a good short run car that could keep us up front on the restarts. Overall, a lot to learn.”

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Toyota Racing Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th

Solid top-10 run and big improvement over last season. How was your race overall?

“I’m happy with the top-10 in our Camry. It was a very hard-fought race for us. We went from the back to the front to the back to the front – it felt like 20 times. We had moments where our car was a top-10 car and we had moments where our car was a 20th-place car. We hit there at the end and we were able to keep going.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit ToyotaNewsroom.com

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series — Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500
Martinsville Speedway | Sunday, April 11, 2021

Ford Finishing Results
6th – Joey Logano
9th – Kevin Harvick
11th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Matt DiBenedetto
13th – Chris Buescher
18th – Cole Custer
19th – Ryan Newman
20th – Aric Almirola
23rd – Josh Bilicki
26th – Anthony Alfredo
27th – Chase Briscoe
29th – BJ McLeod
31st – Michael McDowell
33rd – Brad Keseslowski

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang — “We weren’t very good. It was kind of a confusing race for us. I thought we were decent yesterday the first run and then fired off on this first run and was like, ‘Uh oh.’ I had no rear grip and started fighting loose in and off. We almost went down a lap, but a good strategy play got us up toward the front and a couple good changes got us closer to where I needed to be as well, and then it was just kind of a slugfest, a grinding race from there. There were points I thought we were decent and then the next run we were no good, then we were pretty good, and then no good. We just kept jumping the fence back and forth, and trying to understand where to be was pretty tough. We almost got a top five out of something that was a pretty challenging day. We got something out of it. I was expecting a lot more out of today, but we still got a sixth-place finish with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang which is just OK.”

ARE YOU CONCERNED AT ALL WITH WHERE THIS TRACK SITS IN THE PLAYOFFS? “I still think this is a good track for us. Any way you look at it this has been a pretty solid one for Penske in general and for the 22, so we came here trying a couple different things. We don’t have practice to know if it’s better or not, so things we felt like were probably gonna be better and we’ll probably have to decide which one wasn’t better tomorrow. I’m not super concerned at the moment. We tried some things and some things didn’t work. Some things were confusing, so it gives us some questions that we all need to answer and think about. I’m not super concerned yet, just have a bunch of questions.”

NASCAR IS GOING TO START LETTING SPONSORS IN THE GARAGE IN A FEW WEEKS. DO YOU HAVE ANY RESERVATIONS OR CONCERNS ABOUT THAT? “I think it’s very important for key stakeholders in our sport to be around the racetrack and particularly in the garage because it was a very exclusive experience that these race teams are able to present to sponsors, and I think that’s something that is very important. It’s a huge value that we all brought to sponsors or key customers of certain companies, so we have to do it. I have zero concerns. The first thing that comes to my mind is it’s about time.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang — “We had a really good Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang tonight. On the long runs we were really good. Denny was good on short runs. I was just kind of trying to hold off the guys behind me until we got 20 or so laps in and then I could kind of start creeping forward. But, we just got that pit road penalty at the end. It’s just a mistake and something that should be avoided. We’ve had an issue the last three times we’ve been here with a car to win, so that’s frustrating but I’m real proud of the effort. I just wish we could close one out.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang — “We just maintained today. I got one good restart and then went too loose at the end.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang — WHAT DID YOU SEE IN THAT PILE-UP? “It’s just unfortunate that we got caught up in it. It looked like some guys got in front of me and the track was blocked. I think I was just barely gonna get stopped in time and somebody clobbered me from behind and just tore us up. It’s a bummer. I think we were really good. We drove up into the top five and lost the power-steering. I was able to manhandle it around the racetrack, but I couldn’t get down pit road where you go to turn in your pit box. Every pit stop, it wasn’t my crew’s fault, I just couldn’t get the car stopped in the box and pointed the right way. That kind of got me in the back, and then I got dumped. We recovered from that and then we got caught up in a wreck that we just didn’t look like I could miss. Just one of those compounding, frustrating short track days, but we had decent speed. We just have to figure out why we lost the power-steering that kind of put us behind.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE WHEN THE POWER-STEERING GOES OUT? “It’s really tough. I mean, you’ve got a really tiny 8:1 steering box. You go back in the day 30-40 years ago and none of the drivers had power-steering, but they had like a 16:1 steering box. Now you’ve got 8:1, 10:1 steering boxes and you do the math real quick and they’re twice as hard to steer. It’s a really tough day.”

THE TRACK WAS BLOCKED COMING OFF TURN TWO. WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU AT THAT POINT? “It’s just part of the short track deal. We got caught up in the back. We had an issue with the car and we were working through it and doing the best we could to make the most of it, and then they just kind of wrecked and blocked the track. There was nothing we could really do.”

WHAT CHALLENGES DID YOU HAVE WITH NO POWER-STEERING? “It was frustrating. We were kind of hanging on on the racetrack and I was able to kind of hold serve and actually move up a little bit, but the pit road stuff I couldn’t get into the pit box for my guys and it just really screwed up our pit stops and we kept losing spots. Finally, we got back in some of the not-so-good cars and drivers and got ran over, but recovered from that and then just got caught up in something we couldn’t miss.”