Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Zoom Media Availability | Monday, March 22, 2021

Roger Penske, owner of three Team Penske Fords in the NASCAR Cup Series and one in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, was a guest earlier today on a NASCAR Zoom call. A full transcript of his Q&A session with the media follows:

ROGER PENSKE, Owner, Team Penske — HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE GARAGE AT ANY RACES? “I have not been in the garage. I went to the Daytona 500. I went to Las Vegas and in both cases I either had to make the decision to be down in the garage on the box or be up in the suite, where we had some of our sponsors, so I elected to do that. So I have not, other than talking to the drivers by phone when I’m at the track. Maybe I’ve been in the wrong bubble, but that’s been my status so far for the first six races.”

HAVE YOU SAT DOWN WITH BRAD AND JOEY TO TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT DAYTONA? “I had the opportunity to talk to them individually. In fact, I’ve talked to all the drivers individually and they talked. I then followed back up them. I think we’ve got a plan. I’m gonna sit down with them just face to face, all of them, before Talladega so we’re all running on the same page. I don’t think there’s anything new that will happen, but I think we just have to make an agreement on just exactly how you want to play ball if you get into that same situation as we had with two of us running as well as we had with a half-mile to go, and then end up with three cars in the trash bucket, but that’s what you have to expect, unfortunately. It wasn’t a good day for us, obviously.”

YOU HAVE A FEW DRIVERS IN CONTRACT YEARS. WHAT IS YOUR PLAN THERE? “We’re in discussion with all of them. With COVID we haven’t been able to get together, but we’ve had conversations with Brad before. I think we’re moving in the right direction. There’s no reason we wouldn’t renew for sure. I guess it’s just a matter of us sitting down and putting it together, but with everybody not being able to move around you don’t do that over the phone and you don’t do it by Zoom, so we want to do that face-to-face with all of them. THE INDY CAR GUYS AS WELL? “Sure.”

WHAT DO YOU HAVE GOING ON AT THE SPEEDWAY? “We’ve got some testing. We’re doing some push-to-pass work coming up in a week or so, and then we’ve got probably 28 cars coming for our open test early in the month of April, which will be terrific to have cars on the track and get everybody back running again because it’s been a while since we’ve been on the oval with an Indy Car. It’s been since August, to be honest with you, and then we’re just going through all the details to get ready. The good news is we’re gonna have a race on Memorial Day this year, which is exactly what we want, not have to wait until August, and then, of course, we come back with the Brickyard. The Brickyard will be everybody running on the road course, which will be terrific. We were just out there today looking at all the corners, the apexes as you’ve seen it in all the different road racing circuits. We’re trying to get something that’s meaningful for the drivers to keep from cutting the corners and on the other hand is safe. That’s been really the focus and then we’ll have the Grand Prix as we start the month of May.”

ARE YOU ANYWHERE ON SPECTATORS YET FOR THE 500? “We haven’t made a decision. That’s gonna be in conjunction with the governor and the mayor. You hear all sorts of numbers. The Kentucky Derby, 50 percent. So, I think, the numbers are getting much better and certainly going in our favor. Our goal is to hopefully be able to have some indication as we get into April. We don’t run until the end of May, so, remember, we have this generational customer, this guest that’s been coming to the track for many years and they have their tickets. I think as we sit here today we’ve got over 170,000 tickets that have already been taken, so we’re in good shape. It’s a matter of do we open up the rest for GA and some of the other things that have to happen and that’s gonna be limited basically to what’s specified by the authorities.”

JOEY SAID IT’S LIKE A MARRIAGE, WHEN YOU HAVE A SPAT YOU WORK IT OUT AND YOU STAY TOGETHER. IS THAT A GOOD DESCRIPTION? “I’ve been married for 46 years. I’ve never had a spat, you can imagine, right? (Laughing). On the other hand, I think they got together. They have to work that out. You can say all the things you want to them individually and collectively, but I think the key thing is they understand everybody loses when that happens. The crew loses. The team loses. Sponsors lose, but from the standpoint of going forward, and I watch where they’re racing now, and I think, look, those things happen. Sometimes they happen for the best. It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but I think it brings that sort of a subject to the surface and we deal with it professionally and I think that’s what the guys have done, and I look forward to getting with them on Talladega because these big plate races, as I call them, anything can trigger something and with the way the rules are today and the way you can draft and the speed, it’s so difficult to get behind someone just exactly right and not spin them out. So, that’s gonna be a discussion we’ll have and we’ll have that before Talladega.”

WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR BLANEY AFTER WINNING YESTERDAY AND HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR ORGANIZATION STACKS UP WITH THE OTHER ORGANIZATIONS? “I think we started with XFINITY, we’ve got two wins and Cindric has done a great job. I think he ran at Daytona and got collected in that wreck at the end and yesterday he obviously had to start last and never drove in that kind of a car. As I told him, I said, ‘I thought you did a great job staying out of trouble.’ That was certainly part of the plan, and then I think from a points perspective Joey is third and I think Brad is fifth and Blaney is seventh now, and we’ve had a number of top fives. It’s interesting and something we’re all looking at is why is one car so good one day and the other ones aren’t? I think you’ve seen that with all the teams. It’s an understanding of why is one better? Maybe it’s driving style, but I feel good where we are. I think the road races, our guys are good on road races. I think that’s gonna be a positive. I can’t tell you about dirt racing. That’s gonna be completely new to our team. I’ve never really had a dirt car that we’ve entered in any race, so that’s gonna be interesting. Our guys have tested some, so I think there’s some preparation that’s taken place by the team. Look, the fact that Ryan Blaney, that first win whether it was Blaney or Logano or DiBenedetto or Brad is so important for a team to get that one, that first one because it just gives you the momentum to say we are competitive. I think to see as good as the 5 car was and when you look at that car and what he’s been able to do with it, to his credit by the way and Hendrick Motorsports, to be able to run him down, and if you look at it he was second, I think, in both of the stages, which he really didn’t get much credit for because the 5 was running away with it, but I think he was there all day. I guess we had a better long run car and then to see Ryan be able to bring it home was terrific, and I think he needed that. He’d won plate races, but he’d never won on a mile or a mile-and-a-half where he had to grind it out with these guys. He’d be fast and he even said it himself, ‘I’m fast early on, but I can’t keep it at the end.’ I think this was a great win for him and a lot of confidence, which I think we’ll see a lot of him this year. I take my hat off to Todd Gordon and the team. A couple of our pit stops at the end were some of the best we’ve had.”

DO YOU HAVE A BALLPARK OF WHAT YOU THINK THE CROWD COULD BE LIKE IN MAY? “We’re not making any predictions at all because anything I would say today could be completely wrong. Our goal is to have 250,000. I mean, that’s what we want to have. It’s outside. We’ve got the biggest stadium in the world here and it’s a matter of where we’re gonna be with the CDC and the governor and the mayor, so I don’t have any number that I’d want to hang my hat on. It just shows you the interest in the race and we’ve got a lot of people that are waiting, and we have our GA and what else we normally do on that weekend, but I think the good news is we’re gonna have the race and it will be limited or be open based on what the current numbers are. Right now, we’re at about 3.1 percent here in Marion county, which is good. It’s way down and I think with that it will hopefully be a big number. That’s what our hope is, but what we’ve done in the meantime we’ve been doing vaccinations here. We did 16,000 in three days and we’re getting ready to do a mass vaccination in April. We haven’t worked out the details yet with the state, but we think there’s an opportunity to make a big impact here, where we could give back to the community. WIth the size of our facility and what we were able to accomplish just in three days, we think we can really help this whole area here — the city of Indianapolis and the surrounding counties.”

DID YOU GET YOURS AS PART OF THAT VACCINE DRIVE? “I got mine earlier on. I hit the top age bracket, so that’s one time the age worked out for you. I checked the box.”

ALL OF THE FIRST THREE INDY CAR RACES ARE EXPECTING SPECTATORS. ARE YOU EXPECTING FANS AT EVERY RACE THIS SEASON? “What we’re doing with each one of the promoters, based on what the local rules are, we’re gonna have the sponsor capability with the teams. We limit some of the hardcards, etc., but we’re flexible, and then the promoter will decide how many fans they will have, but in every case as we did in St. Pete the last race, and I think at the end of the day here, we’ll have fans at all those races, obviously Texas. And the good news is that we’ve got network TV on the first six of our eight races, which will give us a good shot in the arm. You’ve seen the number of teams that are entering. We’ve got a lot of new teams and drivers, so we feel good about it — what we have to do to go racing. The guys all can’t wait to get here on the track and get ready to go. Jimmie Johnson, there’s a lot of interest in him, obviously. Working with Chip will be a great opportunity. At Team Penske, certainly we’ve got Scott McLaughlin and he’s learning just like Jimmie is, but it’s an exciting time for us. To me, all the promoters are playing ball and I think that’s what makes a difference. We certainly here at the speedway are using all the flexibility we can to support the teams and giving them the practice they need prior to them getting here in May.”

DO YOU THINK THE PARTS FREEZE HAS BEEN A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN HAVING SIX DIFFERENT WINNERS TO START THE CUP SEASON? “I think we haven’t had many rule changes and parts have been frozen. If you go back, we had to submit things almost a year ago, things that we could use, so there hasn’t been that engineering changes — creeping elegance I talk about within the team to get better, and I just think the garage area is being managed much tighter than it’s been before, which, quite honestly, is good for everybody. It’s a level playing field and, for me, it’s the same for us as it is for anybody else. I’m comfortable with what’s going on. I can say that now that we have a race, but it’s interesting to see the different cars. There’s a lot more cars being competitive at certain times during the race. The restarts are wild and I think we’ve got a great product right now for the fans.”

DO YOU FORESEE AND RESTRUCTURING IN TERMS OF PERSONNEL TO GET READY FOR THE NEXT GEN CAR? “As we go into the new car, we’re gonna have a big job to do. When you think about the number of cars we have now and will be transitioning to all new cars, all new pieces, so it’s gonna take the same manpower to get that done. I think we always have some attrition each year, people that want to move on or move out of the sport, so we’ll let that happen naturally.”

AS A TEAM OWNER ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THE COST THAT GOES ALONG WITH HAVING A DIRT RACE? “If we can make the show better and make NASCAR even better for the fans around the world and the people here in the U.S., I’m all for it. The incremental cost is nothing when you think about the overall picture. I mean, I think it’s minimal and I’m anxious to see it, quite honestly. We need these road races. Look at the 20 car at Daytona. We’re seeing a lot of people. This brings more people to the forefront and gives people who have experience in these areas a chance to perform and ones that aren’t so good are gonna get better. You’ve seen that with road races, so from a cost perspective that’s not a consideration that we’re even thinking about.”

A LOT OF SPORTS LEAGUES ARE SHIFTING PROGRAMS TO STREAMING, INSTEAD OF OVER-THE-AIR CABLE TELEVISION. AS A TEAM OWNER AND SERIES OWNER WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT GOING TO STREAMING? “I think pay for TV streaming, etc., you’ve seen what the NFL is doing. There are some game changers out there right now and I think that all has to be justified one way or the other with the reach we have. NASCAR, obviously, has got a great TV contract. They’ve done a good job giving us an opportunity to have a piece of that TV contract, and if streaming becomes a major part of the success in the future and we reach more people, I think we’ve got to be part of it, but I’m not really an expert in it, to be very honest with you. I really rely on our people and would rely on NASCAR to make the right move because today they’ve done an excellent job, and I think the fact that we’ve had such a good season last year from the standpoint of our TV ratings, and also as we come into this year the sport is relative. People see it, people that might not before, so even though we haven’t had fans in the stands, the TV situation has kept us on top, so I would expect any streaming deals or opportunities in the front will be, really, we’ll get that from the standpoint of the owner’s council will get a chance to talk about that with NASCAR and they’ll be completely transparent with that, hopefully with the teams as we go forward.”

WOULD YOU BE OK WITH INDY CAR MOVING TO STREAMING, AND THE DEAL WITH NBC ENDS AFTER THIS YEAR. DO YOU EXPECT THAT TO CONTINUE IN SOME FORM NEXT YEAR? “We don’t really talk about the negotiations we’re having right now for the future, but we certainly want to have a broadcast partner as we go into the future, and if that entails streaming and other aspects of what might be available, we’re looking at all of those. We’ll be talking about that certainly in the near future.”

CAN YOU CLARIFY WHAT THE CONVERSATION WITH BRAD AND JOEY WILL BE LIKE? WHAT IS THE MESSAGE SUPPOSED TO BE? “I’ll tell you this, I’m not sure exactly what the outcome will be. I think we’ll talk about a number of subject matters that are just like that. What’s the right thing, because at the end of the day if you have three or four cars in the race, only one is gonna win. But if one wins, the whole team wins so we cannot forget that. These guys are contracted with us. They’re part of the success we’ve had, and I think after the situation at Daytona we’re gonna have some good, solid conversations, and I think we’ll hopefully come up with something that will be meaningful. I can’t talk about what the other teams do. The Fords want to help Fords. The Chevys want to help Chevys, so there’s a lot of give-and-take in parts of that race. I’ve always said in the past, ‘Let’s go for it in the last 10 laps, but let’s take care of ourselves until we get there.’ Now, I might have to change my tune based on what I saw at Daytona.”

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE BEYOND THIS SEASON IN TERMS OF FUTURE SCHEDULES AND POSSIBLE NASCAR/INDY CAR EVENTS ON THE SAME WEEKEND AT THE SAME FACILITY? “Let me answer that question. I’ve had conversations with (Steve) Phelps, that we would be very happy to run on the weekend. We’re trying it, obviously, as we’ve done last year at Indy. We’re gonna do it again this year on the road race, so I think we work well together. We have a short race. We could run maybe two races on a Saturday will help the attendance for any promoter. Maybe we run at night. We run Saturday night and they run Sunday, so there’s lots of combinations. I would hope that we could do more of that. I’m open myself, but it’s a matter of what NASCAR wants to do with our schedule. As far as the series is concerned, I think the ultimate goal here is to have better racing at a lower cost, and I think that’s one of the things that we’ll find out once we build our fleet. Now, that’s gonna take a significant investment by everyone initially to build your fleet back up, and that’s something we all have to do and then we have to sort out the cars, and I think the fact that a lot of the pieces that we were building were special special. Those will all be common across the fleets of all the teams will make a big difference, a big difference in cost and it’s gonna come down — you’re gonna see very tight racing again as we’ve seen here in the last several weeks. I think NASCAR is aware of that from a show perspective. I think dirt, I think road races, I think all sorts of different combinations we’re gonna see. Do we see longer races or do we see shorter races? I think that’s gonna be driven, whether we talk about streaming or whether we talk about the TV contract, I think NASCAR and everyone else involved is gonna have to look at all these pieces, and I think it’s gonna be iterative. I don’t think it’s gonna be one big move that’s gonna change the world. I don’t want to do it that way. I think we’re better off to go slow and be sure we’ve got a foundation we can fall back on if we’ve made a mistake, and I think, to me, that would be my message to NASCAR, but they’ve taken time this extra time with the new car for next year. I think it’s been good. There’s been a lot of testing. I think some of the cars are in production already. We’ve tested some, but we don’t have any yet, obviously, but that’s gonna be an opportunity. Quite honestly, it gives everybody a brand new chance. All the old school stuff that we did, that’s all gonna go away because these cars are completely different from a suspension and the way that you set them up, so we’ll see who comes out on top.”

ONE THING NASCAR HASN’T DONE IS A STREET COURSE. MIGHT THERE BE A WAY TO HAVE INDY CAR AND NASCAR DO A STREET COURSE EVENT IN THE FUTURE? “I think that’s the other side of the coin. I think it’s interesting. The stock cars running, I think you could look at it from the Gen 7 car because remember down in Australia we ran a similar type car. It was a little bit smaller, but we ran every week down there and every race was on some sort of a street or a permanent road course and it was great. So, that could certainly be an opportunity and something we should take a look at. I think we need a year or maybe two years to get our hands around these cars and know how agile they are and what are the costs? Does it need more brakes, etc, which you need. If you’re running on a street course, you don’t have the long straightaways to cool the brakes, so there’s a lot of things that become different. You could even see that at Daytona, couldn’t you, with drivers running out of brakes down there at the end of those stints, but those are things we can adapt to, I think, very quickly as teams.”

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 21, 2021) – Chris Buescher and the No. 17 Fastenal Ford team secured their first top-10 finish of the season Sunday afternoon with a strong seventh-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After starting 17th, Buescher quickly made his way into the field’s top 10, where he ran virtually the entire race – scoring stage finishes of 9th and 8th to pick up four valuable stage points.

Buescher rolled off the grid 17th, but quickly worked his way up to 12th by lap 7. When the competition caution flag waved at lap 25, the team visited pit road for four tires and fuel along with a packer and air pressure adjustment. The driver restarted 15th on the bottom lane but shifted back to 18th with reports of a tight Ford Mustang. After fighting back to 15th, the team pitted under green for four tires and fuel to get back on track in 12th. With 30 to go, Buescher maneuvered his way into the top-10 and took the green-white checkered flag in ninth, earning a pair of stage points.

At the stage break, the team pitted for four tires, fuel and tape to restart seventh. Shortly after the field took the green, the caution flag waved after a spin in front. After reconfiguring starting order, Buescher fired off 12th and drove right into the top-10. By lap 139, the driver was up to eighth and maintaining track position. Another fast green flag pit stop at lap 160 got Buescher back on track in ninth. When green flag pit stops cycled through, the team settled into eighth, where they ultimately finished the stage. Buescher also scooped up two more stage points with his finish.

The Prosper, Texas native drove down pit road for four tires and fuel and restarted ninth for the final stage of racing in Georgia. The driver pitted with a caution at lap 219 for fresh tires and fuel. After restarting ninth, Buescher wasted no time working his way through the field. He even passed teammate Ryan Newman for eighth at lap 235. By Lap 245, the driver was running seventh and stayed there until pitting one last time under green. When the pit cycle finished, he was up ninth but worked his way back into seventh with 15 to go. Buescher ultimately took the checkered flag in seventh, earning a solid top-10 finish.

Buescher and the No. 17 team return to action next Sunday, March 28 for the inaugural dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway at 3:30 p.m. EST on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.

HAMPTON, GA – March 22, 2021 – Ryan Blaney scored his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the 2021 season at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday and recorded Ford’s fifth straight win in Atlanta. Blaney became the second Ford driver to drive a Ford Mustang to victory lane this season and sixth different Cup winner in as many races.

“Congratulations to Ryan, Todd, Roger, and the No. 12 team,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Ryan and the No. 12 crew executed throughout the day and they kept digging until the final lap. Thanks to Ford Performance and their employees that continue to provide our teams the tools needed to win races.”

Blaney and the No. 12 pit crew worked together throughout the entire race to get the No. 12 in position to challenge for the lead. Blaney was able to come from more than two seconds behind to chase down the No. 5 of Kyle Larson with just eight laps to go, then took the lead with a cross over pass. Blaney was able to stretch his lead and take the checkered flag to record his fifth career NASCAR Cup Series race win.

The No. 12 Ford Performance Mustang led the race three different times for a total of 25 laps, but none more important than the last eight. This marked the 80th win for Team Penske with Ford Performance and the 180th Cup win for Roush Yates Engines.

“Gosh, we had a great long run car all day,” commented Blaney in post-race interview. “It took us a little bit to get going. I was pretty free all day, so we made a really good change to tighten me up where I needed it and it looked like Kyle was getting loose and I’m happy it worked in our favor that there was a couple long runs at the end that kind of let us get there. We’ve been good this year and had some bad breaks and it’s nice to close out a race like that. That was awesome.”

Roush Fenway’s Chris Buescher drove a strong race, finishing P7 and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick recovered from an earlier race tire issue to finish P10.

Two Ford Performance teams finished in the top-10 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, Riley Herbst from Stewart-Haas Racing finished P6 and Ryan Sieg from RSS Racing in P10.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the first time ever dirt track race this weekend. It’s time to sling some dirt!

About Roush Yates Engines
Roush Yates Engines is a leading-edge engine development company based in Mooresville, NC consisting of two state-of-the-art facilities – Roush Yates Engines and Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions, a world class ISO 9001 / AS9100 certified CNC manufacturing facility. The company’s core business includes designing, building and testing purpose-built race engines.

Ford Performance in partnership with Roush Yates Engines is the exclusive engine builder of the NASCAR FR9 Ford V8 engine and Ford Mustang 5.2L V8 engine, used in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series.

With an unparalleled culture of winning and steeped in rich racing history, Roush Yates Engines continues to follow the company’s vision to lead performance engine innovation and staying true to the company’s mission, provide race winning engines through demonstrated power and performance.

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 21, 2021) – Despite starting Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway from the 28th position, Ryan Newman would only spend two laps outside the top-20 at the 1.5-mile track. By the third lap, the veteran driver had worked his Kohler Generators Mustang into the 19th spot, and would steadily work his way through the field to net a 13th-place finish in a solid start to finish performance.

Newman navigated through a wild start to the race, a harbinger of chaotic restarts to come, picking up seven spots in the first circuit of the event. A relatively tame first stage was interrupted only for the scheduled competition caution at Lap 25, and Newman picked off positions one-by-one to earn a 16th-place finish at the green-white checkered flag.

The second stage restart saw the top line with Newman and teammate Chris Buescher get stacked up behind the leaders, and aggressive maneuvering in the pack sent a car into the wall and an immediate caution flag. Both Roush Fenway drivers narrowly avoided taking damage, and maintained their positions.

The following caution was nearly as wild, with Newman making slight contact and dropping several positions as his team assessed the potential damage. The No. 6 Ford Mustang did not sustain any lasting impact, and Newman began his march forward once again. He would make quick work of the middle of the pack, advancing to 13th by the end of the second segment.

Newman began the third and final stage of the race from the 12th position and once again a caution flag flew quickly after the start of the segment. A perfectly orchestrated pit stop from the No. 6 pit crew netted five spots on pit road, and the valuable track position allowed Newman to restart from the 7th spot.

With the sun beginning to set at the track just south of Atlanta, track temperatures quickly cooled and altered the handling of Newman’s Ford Mustang. He worked his way through both the high and low lines of the tri-oval, holding onto positions through the long green flag run to the checkered flag. The last 101 laps of the 500-mile event ran green, with Newman ultimately finishing 13th.

Newman and the No. 6 team return to action next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway for the inaugural dirt race at the half-mile track. Sunday afternoon’s race is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX. Coverage can also be heard on PRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Maytag team had their best run of the 2021 season in Sunday’s Folds of Honor/QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, coming away with an 11th place finish.

DiBenedetto lined up 20th for the start of the 325-lap race and was on the move from the drop of the green flag. He had climbed to 12th place when the competition caution flag flew on Lap 25.

He cracked the top 10 for the first time on Lap 31 and raced around 10th place for the remainder of the first 105-lap Stage, finishing that segment of the race in 12th place.

At the start of Stage Two, he used some bold moves on restarts to work his way into the top five and ran as high as third before finishing that segment in sixth place, earning five Stage points.

In the third and final segment of the race, he ran in the top five early on, then lost a few spots in the latter stages, finally ending up 11th at the finish.

“We had a solid race from start to finish with our Menards/Maytag Mustang,” DiBenedetto said. “Our pit crew did a great job keeping our track position, which took some hard work on their part, and we were able to get some Stage points, which was good.

“We got a little loose at the start of the third Stage, and that may have cost us a spot or two, but we had a 10th place car pretty much all day, then gained some track position that got us further up for a while. Overall, it was a solid day. I can’t complain.”

DiBenedetto also said the No. 21 team is steadily overcoming a slow start to the season.

“It started at Las Vegas,” he said. “We had a great car there. Since then we’ve had some well-prepared cars and some good, solid races.”

On Sunday, DiBenedetto was one of six Ford drivers, led by race winner Ryan Blaney, to finish in the top 15. Blaney’s win extended Ford’s win streak in AMS Cup races to five.

Eddie Wood said he was proud of the efforts of the Menards/Maytag team and the entire Ford contingent.

“Matt drove a good race and did a good job managing his tires,” Wood said. “[Crew chief] Greg Erwin made good strategy calls, and the pit crew had good stops all day.

“It was a really good day for us, and we’d like to congratulate our Ford teammates Ryan Blaney and his team on a big win.”

DiBenedetto and the No. 21 team now head to Bristol Motor Speedway, where the Cup Series will race on a dirt surface for the first time since 1970.

Menards

A family-owned and run company started in 1958, Menards is recognized as the retail home center leader of the Midwest with 236 stores in 15 states. Menards is truly a one-stop shop for all of your home improvement needs featuring a full-service lumberyard and everything you need to plan a renovation or build a home, garage, cabin, shed, deck, fence or post frame building. Menards is known for friendly Customer Service and as the place to “Save Big Money” with low prices every day, and sales too! For more information, please visit Menards.com to learn about our store locations, offerings and services.

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.