Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Bristol Night Race — Bristol Motor Speedway
Saturday, September 13, 2025

Ford Unofficial Finishing Results:

2nd – Brad Keselowski
3rd – Zane Smith
4th – Ryan Blaney
5th – Joey Logano
11th – Chris Buescher
21st – Ryan Preece
23rd – Noah Gragson
24th – Todd Gilliland
29th – Cody Ware
30th – Austin Cindric
33rd – Cole Custer
35th – Chad Finchum
39th – Josh Berry

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol/Travel Centers of America Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Jeremy Bullins, my crew chief, played the strategy really well. We did all the things we needed to do to be in position and was really happy with where we were for the last restart. The 77 didn’t get a good launch and then the 38 missed the corner and cleared him up and the bottom lane took off. It was a 50/50 shot and, like everything else, got the wrong one.”

YOU MADE CONTACT WITH BELL ON THE FINAL LAP. WERE YOU JUST TRYING TO RATTLE THE CAGE? “It’s Bristol, baby.”

ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Hat’s off to this whole group at FRM. It’s kind of a home race for our team owner, Bob Jenkins, and it was really cool to have a couple Fords up there battling for it. I could just taste it, but it was crazy there on old tires and a few things just didn’t quite play out.”

WHAT WAS YOUR THOUGHT ON THE FINAL RESTART? “I felt like I did a pretty good job on that restart, but you’re just so loose. I got so loose. I don’t know. You’re picking up marbles there on the back and pulling it up into the 77 and unfortunately that kind of lost our fighting chance.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I felt like we only got two long runs. Everybody kept wrecking. I liked the long runs because I thought our car was strong. We tried to adjust on it and kind of went back and found a good sweet spot, so our guys brought a really fast car tonight, no matter the conditions, whether if it was yesterday with kind of normal conditions or today with the higher wear and the low temps.”

IT TURNED SO QUICKLY WITH THE FIRE. HOW DID YOU GUYS RECOVER AND KEEP YOUR COOL? “Everyone kept their cool. A credit to all the guys from the top-down transferring information, being prepared, not getting any penalties for going over the wall. I mean, everything that went on there and still being able to come out only losing a handful of laps and be in the position we needed to – whenever we do great things we do it as a team and it’s cool to see.”

JOSH BERRY HAD TO GET OUT OF THE CAR BECAUSE OF THE SMOKE INSIDE. WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU? “When they told me to leave the pit stall I couldn’t see anything, so I was hoping there wasn’t anyone with fire extinguishers or anything else like that. It was pretty bad, but it’s gonna take me a lot to get out of the car.” HOW CHAOTIC WAS IT? “Which part? I mean, 40 laps into the race tires are shredding themselves apart, all of the restarts, all of the different tire strategies and then catching on fire there was obviously a huge challenge for us to overcome. I’m just proud of the team for being prepared for the scenario and not lose too many laps under green. It takes a team effort. It seems whenever we do great things as a team we do it together, so I’m proud of the effort and happy to have a Sunday at home and ready to reset.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE ON PIT ROAD? “I definitely felt good about the points we had gotten throughout the day and been able to run well, but you just never know if it’s gonna be over while you’re sitting there on pit road. I think we would have been able to transfer even if we would have stopped then.” YOU HAD A POINT OR TWO POINTS. “Whatever the scenario, I’m just proud of everyone being able to respond that well. It made all the difference in the world.”

DO YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT THE NEXT ROUND? “I feel like our team can do a lot of great things and there’s no reason why we can’t reset and give ‘em hell.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Sylvania Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU HAD TO WORK AT IT TONIGHT. “Everyone did. It was another one of those things where we thought we knew what the tire was gonna do and it did something completely different. I guess that’s happened multiple times and that makes for an exciting race and trying to figure it out on the fly and what to expect what to do and how to strategize and all that stuff. It was a wild night. I wish we wouldn’t have run so many laps under caution. The middle part of that race, two thirds of that race was kind of getting pretty boring, but we were really fast all night. It’s nice to win a stage and good to come home fourth. Overall, I’m really, really proud of the night and the effort. We’ll go on to Loudon next week. I’m looking forward to it.”

THOUGHTS ON THE TIRES. “The tires were interesting. No one expected that. I guess that’s what they want. It practices one way and then it races a completely different way, so we just tried to manage tires and ran a bunch of laps under caution and I thought we were pretty good all night and glad to get a good finish.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “On that long run towards the end we were able to drive up to the lead and those cars in front of us, they were tanking before me. They were getting to the cords before me and so I felt like we had a good shot because they all pitted as soon as they got the cords, and I felt like that was gonna give me a good chance to maybe win the race if it stayed green there because the 6 was falling off hard. He was seven or eight tenths off the last two laps. The 12 was starting to tank as well, so I was feeling like I was gonna get them back and then the caution came out and we were out of tires. We had to put old tires back on it, so, overall, a top five and two top fives in a row, which at this point of the season we need to be doing that kind of stuff. I’m proud of the team and proud of the execution. I felt like the win was right there in front of us, but just couldn’t quite grab it.”

IT TOOK SOME TIME TO GET ACCLIMATED TO THE TRACK AND TIRES. HOW CRAZY WAS IT? “We just fired off really, really bad. It wasn’t really getting acclimated to anything. I felt like even that long run to start, after we got the first green flag cycle, I was like, ‘Alright, we’re pretty good.’ We were just trapped a lap down, so once we got it back we just needed longer runs. There was short run after short run. I can’t believe as much as everyone wants to save tires how much they’re all wrecking each other. It’s kind of crazy.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Maybe seven or eight laps before we came down pit road we started getting some smoke in the cockpit, and then the longer I went the darker the smoke got and then, obviously, by the time we got on pit road it was completely black smoke. Something obviously caught on fire, so probably once again a car burned up for no reason.”

COULD YOU FEEL THE FLAMES? “I don’t think the fire made it inside the cockpit. It was just a lot of smoke. It seemed like the fire stayed in the fender well, which is a good thing, but it’s just disappointing again. The car was really good. That was gonna fall right into our wheelhouse, I feel like, to have a really good night. We were able to make it pretty long on that first set and we were gonna be set up in a really good spot. This one is gonna be hard to watch because that looks like it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

DO YOU FEEL YOUR PLAYOFFS ENDED BEFORE THEY BEGAN? “Yeah, pretty much, but it really hasn’t been because of performance. We’ve qualified well. We’ve had good cars. We just haven’t had the good finishes. That’s just part of it. I don’t think you could ever script three last-place finishes in the ways that we’ve gotten them over the last few weeks.”

COULD IT BE TIRE RUBBER CAUGHT UP IN THERE? “Yeah, I’m sure it’s tire rubber or cords or something that got wrapped around the rotor or brakes. Something caught on fire.” WERE YOU TRYING TO STAY IN AS LONG AS POSSIBLE? “Yeah, I think given our situation and how the race was playing out and how good we were, we were trying to ride it out. They mentioned trying to put the fire out on pit road and maybe keep going, but when I slowed down it got way worse and I was just trying to make it to the pit box so the guys could help me get out because I couldn’t see a thing.”

DID THE TIRE WEAR SURPRISE YOU? “It definitely caught me off guard. I was fully convinced it was gonna be hammer down, but I could tell probably 15 or 20 laps into the race we were running like 16-teens and you could see some people start coming back to you and you could tell. The pace during practice was 15.70s, 15.80s and it was hammer down the whole time, and when we’re in the 16s that quick, you could tell that’s going on. You could see the marbles start developing and, man, it’s crazy. It just has to do with the weather, I guess. It’s excessive, but I think it’s gonna be a hell of a race to watch, for sure.”

WERE YOU IN DANGER AT ALL WITH THE FIRE GOING? “It wasn’t hot. The flames didn’t make it inside. It wasn’t hot, it just got super smokey really fast would be the biggest thing. They checked me out in the care center and they said all of my levels look alright. We probably should have come a lap or two earlier and just ended it, but we were trying to fight to the very end.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW DISAPPOINTING THIS IS FOR YOU? IT’S CRAZY TO HAVE ALL OF THIS HAPPEN. “It’s hard to put into words, but I’d be way more disappointed if we just ran like crap for three weeks. We’ve been up front. We’ve qualified well. We had the issue at Darlington, bottoming out. Last week, we get clipped by the 9 and then tonight the car catches on fire. It’s nothing that we’re doing on our own. The cars have been fast and the performance has been good. If we just had a little bit of luck, I feel like we could be in a much better situation and, honestly, I think the way that was playing out we would have 100 percent had a chance to win tonight.”

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO END THIS SEASON NOW? Better than three last-place finishes. Len was saying before the race that he never thought they’d had two in a row and now we’ve got three in a row.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
ROUND OF 16: ELIMINATION RACE
TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING REPORT
SEPTEMBER 12, 2025

Allmendinger Puts Chevrolet on the Pole at Bristol Motor Speedway

• For the first time this season, AJ Allmendinger topped the NASCAR Cup Series’ qualifying leaderboard – posting a best-lap of 15.177 seconds, at 126.930 mph, in his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet to claim the pole position for tomorrow’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• This marks Chevrolet’s 11th pole win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, with Allmendinger becoming the seventh driver from the fourth different Chevrolet organization to drive the manufacturer to a pole-winning lap in 2025.
• The feat – Allmendinger’s fifth all-time in his NASCAR Cup Series career – marks Kaulig Racing’s first-ever pole triumph on an oval configuration in the division.
• The top-10 of the starting lineup for tomorrow’s Round of 16 elimination race will see eight playoff contenders, including a pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Kyle Larson and William Byron, who drove their Chevrolet-powered machines to fifth- and seventh-place qualifying efforts, respectively.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 STARTING LINEUP
POS. DRIVER

1st – AJ Allmendinger
5th – Kyle Larson
7th – William Byron

Chevrolet’s season statistics heading into the 29th NASCAR Cup Series race of the season:

Wins: 12
Poles: 11
Top-Fives: 54
Top 10s: 115
Stage Wins: 22

AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – Pole Winner Quotes

You told me a couple weeks ago that as long as you’re having fun and Matt Kaulig wants you to do this, you’re going to keep doing this for him in some capacity. Are days like this the reminder that it is still fun for you?

“Yeah, I know it’s Friday night qualifying and at the end of the day, that doesn’t pay any points or money, but it’s small victories like this for our race team that’s continually trying to grow. I’ve been super proud of all the men and women at Kaulig Racing this year. It’s tough in the Cup Series. Sometimes the results don’t show speed that you’re bringing to the racetrack and at a racetrack maybe that we ran 28th at last year, we run 15th this year, things like that.

So, yeah, days like today are enjoyable and gives me confidence because I feel like I can still do it. And at the end of the day, anybody that knows me knows I’m by far the hardest on myself and I’m always going to be like that. That’s never going to change. So, days like today are important to me, as well, because it proves that I can be here.

You talked about how much work has gone on behind the scenes. Do you feel like this team is making gains, even if it’s incremental to get closer to where you want to be?

“Yeah, I mean, you take Darlington two weeks ago; to go run top-five at Darlington, a racetrack that I’ve never been amazing at. The only thing that’s been tough this year is some of the races that we’ve had a lot of speed at, and a lot of teams can say this I’m sure, but the ones that we’ve been really quick at, we’ve had some bad things happen really out of our control. So, sometimes you don’t get those results and it’s hard to go back to the shop and smile about it and know that you’re making progress. But at the end of the day, we’ve made a lot of progress over the last two years of me driving the Cup car of the speed that we got. Matt Kaulig has put a lot more resources into it. Obviously, Chris (Rice) has got a lot of work on his plate between the Xfinity side of it and the Cup side of it. With Ty (Norris) here and then Mike Cook being here as our competition director. So, yeah, we’re making progress. We know we’ve got a long ways to go, but days like today show we can go do it.”

Was there much, if any, tire wear and or fall off? Do you think that’s indicative of what will happen tomorrow?

“We ran 60 laps today. They weren’t all consecutive. We made a couple of changes to make the car better. That’s what gave me confidence going into qualifying. Our last change, I felt like we had a lot of speed.

There is a little bit of fall off, but at least my car was good enough, so it never felt like there was a cliff there of the tires all of a sudden going to hit that cliff and basically unravel or start really falling off. Looking at the tires, they had wear on them, but they weren’t extreme.

It’s like one of those things — in the spring here, we ran 25 laps and it looked like the tires were falling apart. Then we ran 160 on them in the race. So, I’m not sure what to expect. I just think, like anything, if you’ve got a good balance, you can manage the tires.”

The plan is for them to put the PJ-1 back down or reapply it tomorrow early afternoon. Is that what you would want, or do you think you have any preference on what they do?

“I don’t mind it if they reapply it, just more for a consistency’s sake. I think in the past, when they don’t reapply it, you get the Xfinity rubber out there and it starts clumping. You start hitting patches that have grip and then don’t have grip, which makes it real difficult. So, I don’t mind them reapplying it. I think it’s more, just like anything, 500 laps around here, eventually, we’ll get the top rolling. I know we tried in practice there and never could get enough rubber laid down to make a huge difference. But I think the Xfinity cars will get up there pretty quick. I think that’s more important for the racing, is if we get the top line going. I do think, it may not at the beginning of the race, but I do think eventually we’ll get the top lane rolling.”

Do you have a sense of when that top lane will start opening up?

“That’s a good question. I think in that first stage, as the tires start falling off.

I’ve always looked at it — you need the pace to get to a 15.8, 15.9 to start making the top work and make a difference. Anything other than that, it’s tough to get the top rolling fast enough. The first stage, I think it’s 125 laps, 130 laps around there. I would assume that you start getting 70, 80, 90 laps in the run, if you catch traffic or if you just get stuck behind somebody; eventually you have to get up there. As you get more rubber laid down, then it stays consistent up there. I would be shocked if we don’t have guys running the top lane by the end of the first stage and the good cars making it work.”

When you were talking to TV, you made a big point to explain how it’s awesome to get the pole here at Bristol. I was just curious, in your own words, can you expand upon that a little bit?

“I haven’t had a pole in 10 years, I guess. I got told about that (laughs). It’s pretty cool. It’s Kaulig Racing’s first-ever pole on an oval in the Cup Series, I think. It’s a big deal.

Like I said, it’s not something to get — we haven’t won the race. We’re not going to go party tonight and celebrate that we’re on pole. You also can’t just gloss it over and say, it’s just a pole, it doesn’t mean anything. To me, it shows that, on a confidence side of it, on a self-confidence, like, hey, you can still go out there and wheel for a lap and make it happen with the best of them. And then as a race team, it shows like, hey, we can build fast Chevy’s and we can go get it right and we can qualify up front. We got 500 laps and that’s a completely different ball game tomorrow night. We’ll be refocused, but we at least got to celebrate a little bit in the sense of have pride for ourselves. And all the men and women back at the shop, it’s tough to do, and at a place like this especially. So, yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

I know you just talked about Kaulig Racing a little bit and how much it means for you and the organization, but could you talk about how much this means for the future a little bit more, and then also, would you have ever guessed that it was at Bristol?

“To answer the second part of that question — I guess a little bit because we qualified eighth here in the spring, and we had a horrible practice and only ran a couple of laps. So, the speed is there. Now, if you just said Darlington, that would probably be the shocking one to me in qualifying. I’m not a great qualifier at Darlington.

But at the end of the day, like I said, there’s a happy medium. You don’t want to make too much of it because it’s just a pole on a Friday night. But you also don’t want to demote it and say that it doesn’t mean anything because it does. I can tell you the people at the racetrack, the men and women here, were pumped up about it, and I can tell you at the shop, they’re probably over the top about it. So, yes, it means a lot. It’d be even cooler if we could go run inside the top-10 all night, tomorrow night, and maybe have a chance to win.”

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Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Bristol Night Race Qualifying — Bristol Motor Speedway
Friday, September 12, 2025

Ford Qualifying Results:

2nd – Ryan Blaney
3rd – Austin Cindric
10th – Josh Berry
18th – Brad Keselowski
20th – Ryan Preece
21st – Chris Buescher
22nd – Joey Logano
24th – Zane Smith
26th – Cole Custer
30th – Noah Gragson
34th – Cody Ware
36th – Todd Gilliland
39th – Chad Finchum

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Sylvania Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I’m proud of our lap and proud to be starting on the front row. I wish I could have had it back and I’m sure a lot of guys say that. I just got tight in three and four. I feel like my first lap I got through one and two pretty good, and probably got a little greedy into three, a little too high of an arc, a little too much speed and then I tried to jump back to the gas quick and I got tight and I kind of had to burp it for a second. I probably lost a little bit there, but, overall, it was a good day. I think our race car is really good, too, over the long haul and I’m just looking forward to tomorrow night. Hopefully, we can run a good 500 laps and keep up with the racetrack and see what we can do.” HOW COMMITTED DO YOU HAVE TO BE FOR A 15-SECOND LAP AROUND HERE? “It’s wild. You think qualifying, you are pretty much holding your breath the whole lap. There’s a lot of commitment, but it is fun, that’s for sure. Little, tiny points in the racetrack kind of where you place your car on entry and your speed, it can really make or break you. I was just a little off. I was like a foot higher into three than I should have been and lifted probably half-a-car length too late and that’s what it is, but, overall, I’m proud of the effort. To be that close to the pole, it’s a good day.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Bristol has been a pretty difficult qualifying track for me in the Cup Series. However it shakes out, that sets us up with a reasonable shot to continue to execute well for tomorrow night and that’s what’s gonna matter.” STARTING UP FRONT IS A GOOD CHANCE TO GET POINTS IN STAGE ONE, SO THAT’S THE IMMEDIATE GOAL TOMORROW? “Yeah, I think points in both stages are gonna need to be a must for us to really control our destiny and control that gap that we have and any craziness that happens at the end of the race. It’s the first box checked, but nothing is guaranteed from here on out. Still, we’ve done a good job today.” HOW DO YOU FEEL GOING INTO TOMORROW? “I feel like we’ve done our job for Friday. Whatever that means for Saturday is still yet to be seen, but this sets us up well to try and continue to control our destiny for the end of the race.” HOW SOFT OF A CUSHION IS 11 POINTS? “Not really. Essentially, you think of it like 10 spots, so it’s not anything that’s out of the question if you have a problem or have a mistake or something happens or one of the other cars has a really good night or if somebody else wins. That’s the other thing too is you could easily think of the 48 or the 21 or even the 3 car going out and having an excellent day and we’ve got to be prepared for that. We’re close to the guys that are just ahead of us, so we need to go out and have a really great day.” WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO BE THE BUBBLE GUY GOING INTO AN ELIMINATION RACE? “Call me bubble boy, that’s fine. It’s no different than any other day, really. My job is still the same, just the emphasis on doing it well is more, but it doesn’t mean I can try any harder to change the outcome.” WERE YOU SURPRISED BY THE LACK OF TIRE FALL OFF? “Not at all, no. The temperature in the track, I think tomorrow night will be interesting if it gets really cold out, but, overall, not really. The pace increase and I’d say that’s probably it from today. I think there might be some fall off towards the end of the stints, but nothing like we had here last spring, I don’t think.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I thought it was a big improvement from practice. I didn’t feel very comfortable at the start of practice because I was struggling being pretty free, but the guys made some really good adjustments there. I thought we hit a solid lap there, probably left a touch out there with how far we were off to start, but, overall, the guys did a really good job. We should be in the top 15, hopefully, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.” WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET FOR TOMORROW? “It really hasn’t changed. Every week we come out here and try to win. We try to do the best job we can every time we’re on the racetrack and that’s gonna be the same tomorrow. We just need to be able to move forward through the race and execute, have good pit stops and just see what happens.”