NASCAR CUP SERIES
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2020
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 – KANSAS SPEEDWAY
FORD PERFORMANCE DRIVER – POST RACE QUOTES

FORD FINISHING RESULTS:
1st – Joey Logano
2nd – Kevin Harvick
4th – Brad Keselowski
7th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Matt DiBenedetto
13th – Aric Almirola
14th – Clint Bowyer
17th – John Hunter Nemechek
19th – Michael McDowell
21st – Chris Buescher
22nd – Ryan Newman
23rd – Corey LaJoie
26th – Clint Bowyer
32nd – James Davison
37th – Joey Gase

JOEY LOGANO CLINCHES SPOT IN CHAMPIONSHIP 4 WITH KANSAS WIN

• Joey Logano won his third race of the season with today’s victory at Kansas.
• The win clinches Logano and Ford a spot in the Championship 4 at Phoenix.
• The win today is the 26th of his Cup Series career and 24th with Ford.
• The win is Mustang’s 18th of the season.
• Today’s win is Ford’s 704th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
• Of Team Penske’s 79 MENCS wins with Ford, 52 have come since rejoining Ford in 2013.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang — FINISHED 1st

YOU PICKED A GREAT DAY TO HAVE A GREAT DAY WITH YOUR FIRST WIN SINCE THE PANDEMIC. WALK US THROUGH THOSE LAST 40 LAPS AND THE BATTLE WITH KEVIN HARVICK: “You gotta want it, man. What an amazing team this Shell Pennzoil team is. I am worn out. I spent more time in the mirror than I did in the windshield there. Pit stops got us positions and got us the lead. The 4 was fast, real fast, especially down the straightaways. I thought if I could hold him off the first 15 laps that I would have a chance. Dirty air was the best for us. As we caught lap traffic I was able to gap ourselves as he got more dirty air and I was able to draft somebody because I was a little slow down the straightaway. Man, I am exhausted after that. We are going to Phoenix and racing for a championship again. Heck yeah!”

HOW MUCH OF THAT WAS ON YOUR MIND AS YOU WERE BATTLING KEVIN EVERY LAP THAT THIS WAS YOUR SHOT TO MAKE IT TO PHOENIX? “Yeah, it is on your mind every lap. You come into this race knowing that if you can win this thing you have an amazing advantage. The same thing happened in 2018 when we raced for the win at Martinsville knowing that we have two races to battle for nothing but the championship. I can’t believe it. Especially the way the beginning of the race was going and running back there not scoring stage points. It was a good strategy by Paul and good pit stops and now this Shell Pennzoil Mustang is going to race for a championship at Phoenix.”

PAUL WOLFE, crew chief, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — “You know, we didn’t have the speed we were hoping for early on and we were fighting the balance pretty bad. One of the things we did talk about was how good that pit crew is. With a good pit stop there at the end, a two-tire call to get some track position back and our car was reasonable at that point. Those guys put 4 tires on at the end and got us off pit road first and that was really the key.”

GETTING THIS WIN FREES YOU UP SO MUCH FOR PHOENIX. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU? “It is huge. This is a tough three weeks. Especially with the 4 and the 11 having so many points coming into this. We were already behind the cut line. It was going to be tough without scoring a lot of stage points to do it without winning. Obviously, we were able to do that today. We won Phoenix earlier this year and have a lot of confidence in our short track program. Now it gives us two weeks to kind of take a deep breath and really focus on that car and what we need to do to win that championship.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WATCHING YOUR DRIVER THAT LAST RUN THERE AND HOW HARD HE HAD TO WORK TO KEEP THE 4 BEHIND HIM? “It was tough. The 4 had a lot of speed. He definitely seemed to have more trimmed out speed than we did. We ran pretty much wide open that whole last run. We knew if we could fight him off for 10 of 15 laps that the 4 would have to start lifting some amount. He did start struggling and it was enough to get us to victory lane.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang — (FINISHED 2nd) WHAT MORE DID YOU NEED TO GET BY JOEY LOGANO? “We just needed to get off of pit road first. It came down to controlling that restart and we lost the lead there on the restart and wound up trying to battle and didn’t get the lead on the restart but just really, really fast Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang. All our guys did a great job and we had a fast car, we moved all over the race track and we weren’t the best behind somebody but I had a lot of options as they made the car better towards the end of the race. It was a good run for us. I wish we could have one, but we were one short.”

JOEY JUST SAID HE WAS WATCHING THE MIRROR MORE THAN AHEAD OF HIM. WERE YOU TRYING TO GO LOW? “I was a little bit tighter low. I needed the lap cars to time out well. Joey is a good blocker.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Ford Mustang — (FINISHED 4th) “You know, here and Texas are two tracks we were nervous about. We were really fast all day, we just didn’t quite have enough there at the end. I feel like if we would have had the lead we could have won but it just wasn’t in the cards today.”

IT SEEMED YOU WERE PRETTY MUCH THE EQUAL OF THE CARS IN FRONT OF YOU, WAS IT JUST ABOUT TRACK POSITION? “Yeah, the last two stops there I just lost a little bit and all in all it was a really solid day. If we keep running like that we will get a win and we will move on to Phoenix.”

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet Team Earn 11th-Place Finish at Kansas Speedway

Finish: 11th
Start: 17th
Points: 10th

“I’m so proud of my No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet team. My crew chief, Justin Alexander, and all of the guys did a great job working on our Chevy throughout the race, and we definitely learned a lot. The track was really fast today with the cold temperatures in Kansas, and restarts were wild. For most of the race we were too loose, but once we got tightened up we were able to contend and just nearly missed a top-10 finish. The bumps in Turns 1 and 2 weren’t working with us today, so we will do our homework to address that during the off-season. Overall, it was a good run for us. On to Texas Motor Speedway, where we will try to get another win before the season winds down. Thank you to everyone at Growth Energy for their support, and congratulations to them on reaching 17 billion miles on American-grown E15.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and No. 8 Caterpillar Team Show Speed Despite Late-Race Damage at Kansas Speedway

Finish: 25th
Start: 15th
Points: 19th

“We had good speed in our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Kansas Speedway today. It was hard at times to get a feel on the handling of our car since it felt like it would take about seven to eight laps for the front tires to come in today, but we did a better job adjusting throughout the race this time than during our first trip to Kansas earlier this year. It felt like for most the day I was snug on entry to the corners but then would become loose on center and exit, so a lot of our focus was on figuring out what changes would help me the most overall. We just have a couple other things to continue to work on as a team to put ourselves in better contention at these races. I thought maybe I had a right front tire going down a couple laps before I got into the wall towards the end of Stage 3, but it was tough to tell if that is what was happening in that moment. That’s a feeling I’ll definitely put in my notebook and learn from. We still have three more opportunities left this year to finish out my rookie season strong, and I’m really looking forward to getting to Texas Motor Speedway next week to try to finish one spot better than we did in July.” -Tyler Reddick

Track: Kansas Speedway, 1.5 Mile Tri-Oval
Race: 33 of 36
Event: Hollywood Casino 400 (400.5 miles, 267 laps)

John Hunter Nemechek
No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang

Started: 32nd
Finished: 17th

Stage One: 20th
Stage Two: 26th
Stage Three: 17th

John Hunter Nemechek took the green flag in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway in the 32nd position. Shortly after firing off, he noted that his No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang was “a little snug off but not bad.” He quickly made his way into the top 20 and took 4 tires with a slight air pressure adjustment, fuel and a packer adjustment at the Competition Caution. By Lap 43, Nemechek said there was “splitter bounce into [Turn] 1” and he was a touch free. He would go on to take the green- and white-checkered flag to finish Stage 1 in 20th place.

After pitting at the Stage Break Caution for 4 tires with an air pressure adjustment, fuel, packer adjustment and grille tape, Nemechek began Stage 2 in the 28th position. He was tight to fire off but mostly satisfied with the handling on his No. 38 Speedy Cash machine when he pitted under green partway through Stage 2. He radioed on Lap 137 that his splitter bounce had gone away and was “just a tick on the snug side, but I like it.” With two laps to go in the Stage, Nemechek picked up some right-side damage that knocked in the right front and right rear fenders. He would finish Stage 2 in 26th place and would pit multiple times during the Stage Break Caution for damage repair.

Still rolling, Nemechek began the day’s Final Stage at Kansas Speedway in the 27th position. He was able to make his way back through the field and into the top 20 with 50 laps to go. When a caution came out on Lap 220, he radioed to the team that his No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang “takes a while to come in,” but didn’t feel a need to make any adjustments on his next pit stop. Nemechek would restart the race P16 with 44 laps to go and take the checkered flag in 17th place.

Nemechek on Kansas:

“Our No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang was ‘speedy fast’ today. We fired off pretty decent and made a couple of slight adjustments throughout the day to get us to an even better place. We picked up some damage at the end of Stage 2, but my guys on pit road did a great job and we were able to overcome and stay competitive for the rest of the race. We never gave up and managed to come away with a top-20 finish. I’m really proud of my Front Row Motorsports team and so thankful for the effort these guys put in each and every week. A huge thanks to our partners at Speedy Cash for coming on board with us this weekend for their final primary race of the year. Hope we can see them again soon.”

Track: Kansas Speedway, 1.5 Mile Tri-Oval
Race: 33 of 36
Event: Hollywood Casino 400 (400.5 Miles, 267 Laps)

Michael McDowell
No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Prime Inc. Ford Mustang

Started: 26th
Finished:19th

Stage One: 27th
Stage Two: 19th
Stage Three: 19th

It was a chilly Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway when Michael McDowell and his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Prime Inc. Ford Mustang hit the track for 267 Laps. McDowell took the green flag from the 26th position and would be scored in 24th at Competition Caution on Lap 27. Under caution, McDowell told his team that “the front end turns good; I just need more to lean on on the right rear … wind is pretty strong and the track is starting to tighten up.” He would pit for 4 tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. Once racing resumed, McDowell noted that his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Prime Inc. Ford Mustang was still “a little bit too free on the way in … center-off, I need more to lean on, right rear;” and would go on to finish Stage 1 from the 27th position. During the Stage 1 Caution, Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer made the call for 4 tires, fuel, an added spring rubber and a wedge adjustment.

Halfway through the second stage, McDowell came over the radio to say that his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Prime Inc. Ford Mustang was “a little bouncy in the front” and “built free on the long run.” Shortly after, green flag pit stops would begin but McDowell would stay on track longer than most of the field and advanced his position to as high as 2nd before Blickensderfer called him in to pit on Lap 143. Just as McDowell was getting ready to enter pit road, the caution flag would fly and McDowell would make an evasive right turn to avoid pitting and stay on track to hold on to 9th place. Under caution, the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Prime Inc. Ford Mustang came to pit road for 4 tires, fuel and a trackbar adjustment. McDowell would go on take the Stage 2 green- and white-checkered flag from the the 19th position. Under the Stage 2 caution, McDowell would pit for 4 tires, fuel and wedge adjustment, however an uncontrolled tire would send the No. 34 to the rear of the field to take the Stage 3 green flag.

In the early laps of Stage 3, McDowell would make a handful of passes to advance his position to 22nd before the caution flag would fly on Lap 197, to which McDowell would pit for 4 tires, fuel and added grille tape. On Lap 220, the second caution of the stage would occur and McDowell would be called back to pit road for 4 tires and fuel. In the closing laps of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, McDowell would race his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops | Prime Inc. Ford Mustang into the Top-20 and take the checkered flag from the 19th position at Kansas Speedway.

McDowell on Kansas:

“It was definitely a long day for us here at Kansas. We didn’t start off that great, but Drew and everybody on this Love’s Travel Stops team did a really good job of getting our race car faster near the end of the race and we were able to make up some spots and bring home a Top-20 finish. It was a decent day, but we definitely had higher expectations, for sure. It was just really nice to get a decent finish, as the last few weeks have been pretty rough for us. I’d like to thank. Love’s Travel Stops and Prime Inc. for coming on board today. I’m excited to head back to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend with Love’s and hopefully keep up the momentum.”

KANSAS CITY (Oct. 18, 2020) – With a fresh Hy-Vee scheme on board his Ford Mustang, Ryan Newman and his team utilized smart pit strategy to get to the front of the field before a chaotic final stage resulted in a 22nd-place finish at Kansas Speedway Sunday afternoon.

Newman began the day from the 28th spot – and as teams cautiously tracked handling amidst lower than expected temperatures – maintained his track position to finish 29th at the conclusion of the opening 80-lap stage. He steadily worked his way forward from there, as the team put him in position for a strong finish in the closing laps of stage two. As most teams hit pit road with less than 20 laps to go in the stage Newman stayed on track, and the strategy paid off as a caution was displayed at lap 143 with Newman running second.

Following his scheduled service under the yellow – and a subsequent restart – the 2003 race winner ended the stage in 18th. A strong pit stop to change tires and adjust the handling of the car set Newman up to fire off 16th for the final stage. With under 75 to go as another yellow came out, Newman reported he had the best balance of the day and continued to battle the 1.5-mile track.

The final restart came at lap 225 with just over 40 to go, as Newman fired off 24th. From there, he picked off a pair of positions to finish 22nd in the Hy-Vee Ford Mustang.

Newman and the No. 6 team return to the track next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Race coverage on Sunday begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Coverage can also be heard on MRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.

KANSAS CITY (Oct. 18, 2020) – Falling temperatures on a brisk fall day at Kansas Speedway threw a curveball to teams preparing for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 with no practice or qualifying sessions. Chris Buescher and his team worked to adapt to the difficult conditions, ultimately bringing home a 21st-place finish for the No. 17 Fastenal Mustang.

Buescher began the event from that same 21st position and spent the early portion of the race feeling out changing handling conditions with a colder than expected temperatures at the track. With other teams in the field doing the same there was little passing in the first stage of the race, which Buescher finished in the 23rd spot.

The second stage introduced differing pit strategies to the equation, with crew chief Luke Lambert electing to pit early in the cycle to take advantage of fresher tires. Just a few laps after the No. 17 Fastenal Ford hit pit road, a caution came out with Buescher two laps down to the lead cars who had not pitted yet. He was able to get one of the laps back by waving around during the caution, and furiously battled at the end of the stage to finish in the free pass position. He would be scored 27th at the end of the second segment, but earned his way back onto the lead lap for the third and final stage.

The team was able to dial in the handling of the Fastenal Ford during the stage break, and Buescher began to move forward through the field. He worked his way to 19th with less than 50 laps remaining, but an incident just in front forced him to hit the brakes and lose positions. Buescher was able to battle back from the interruption and finish the day 21st.

Buescher and the No. 17 team return to the track next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Race coverage on Sunday begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Coverage can also be heard on MRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.

Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

KANSAS CITY (October 18, 2020) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media via videoconference in advance of the race at the Kansas Speedway:

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How much of an advantage do you believe it is to win at either Kansas or Texas?

“I don’t know. I think it’s a little bit of an advantage just because you kind of know your game plan and you know you are going to Phoenix and you get to work on it, so you don’t have to spend quite as much time on Texas and Martinsville, depending on which race you win. It just gives you a little extra time to prepare. You lift two weeks off the hot seat there. It’s pretty relaxing. It just gives you a little more time.”

Do you think it’s bigger from a mental stand point or a team preparation stand point?

“Definitely, team preparation.”

I’ve heard you may have to start from the back today. How big of a challenge is it starting from the back?

“I just heard I was. It’s not optimum. It’s not what you are hoping for. I don’t know. We will see. We have done it a lot this year. It is what it is. We will deal with it. This place, fortunately, there are a lot of lanes that you can run, really the whole racetrack works. You just have to go where they are not and pick them off one-by-one.”

How do you keep perspective coming into the Round of 8?

“It’s just another race, really. Obviously, there is a lot on the line. The next three are very important. The next three are probably the most difficult. It’s been whittled down to the best eight and you have to beat half of them. It’s definitely a challenge. I definitely feel like we are up to it. As far as my approach, I approach this as just another race, because you kind of have to. You can’t change who you are just because of what race it is and where you are at. We will go do our thing today and hopefully have a solid day. I feel like we probably had the strongest car last time we were here, and it didn’t quite go the way we needed it to the last 50 or so laps of the race. We lost track position and had to battle back from it, but the weather is a lot different today. It’s a few months later and guys are really pushing, probably, pushing with new stuff for the Playoffs, so we will see how that plays into it, but optimistic. This has been a good track for us. I’m looking forward to see what we can do today.”

How does the cold weather affect the driver?

“The biggest thing is when it’s cold out the driver is nice and comfortable. Normally, when it’s hot, we are not very comfortable at all. That’s the biggest thing. It’s going to be nice in the car today. It will be nice and comfortable with the heater on. The track is going to be really fast. A lot of on throttle time. Generally, it makes it a little bit harder to pass when it’s cool because the bottom is going to be more dominate, I would say. Everybody is going to handle pretty good. No one is going to be really bad, like when it’s hot out, slippery. It’s going to be a challenge for sure, but hopefully the tires will wear enough that we can get the track widen out and move around a bit.”

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