Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Playoff Media Day
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT ARE THE TEAM’S STRENGTHS THIS YEAR COMPARED TO OTHER SEASONS? “One thing I’ve been really happy about this year as opposed to last year or the year before that when it took us a little while to get going. Early in the year and through the early summer, our pace was just really not where it needed to be, and that was with some car changes and stuff like that. It just took us a while to get our arms around it, but this year I’ve been really happy with our pace all year. I feel like we’ve had super fast cars, been executing really well and we’ve been continuing to get better on our execution and stuff like that. Just mentally tough guys. We’ve had a bunch of DNFs, but don’t really let it get to you, just continue to go do your job very well the weeks after. It’s a cool group to be like that, so this group is very mentally tough.”
ANY REASON TO BELIEVE WE SHOULDN’T BE LOOKING AT PENSKE CARS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP RACE AGAIN? “You’ve got to get there first. It’s a gauntlet to get there. Everyone thinks it’s easy to get to Phoenix and you go win Phoenix. You’ve got to go through nine weeks of hell to get there. It’s tough, but I do think it’s nice to have all three of our cars and the 21 car in it, so it’s just how do we execute week in and week out through the rounds and how do you minimize your mistakes and don’t put yourself in a hole. I do like where our group is at, our company as a whole, with pace and people and things like that and just preparation, and then you just hope you can execute when the day comes and try to just take it one race at a time. That’s all you can do.”
DO YOU ENJOY THE PLAYOFFS OR IS IT MORE MENTALLY TOUGH THIS TIME OF YEAR? “It is mentally a tougher time, I feel like. I try not to approach races differently as far as my midweek prep, but I feel like when you’re at the track and going through the race in the playoffs I feel like what’s really tough about it and it can get to you is mistakes are blown up like crazy. You can’t afford mistakes. You can’t afford. It’s like, where do you find the ragged edge of where you’re used to, but if you do make a mistake and step over the line it has drastic ramifications if you do just because you’re in the playoffs and now you’ve put yourself in a hole, and I think that can weigh on people a little bit. It is tough, just because you know what you’re going for, but it is tough and it’s how do you handle situations like if you have a bad week, how do you bounce back from it. How do you recover, or how do you not put yourself in a hole to have a bad week, but it is tough. There are a lot of ups and downs and it’s how do you handle emotions and try to just simplify everything. At the end of the day, we’re going racing and you’re doing the best job that you can, but you also know what you’re going for and that makes it pretty tough.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU DO TO BOUNCE BACK FROM THAT TYPE OF THING? “A short-term memory. I try to forget things really, really quickly and just try to take my mind off of that stuff and learn quick and move on quick. If you don’t learn anything, like if you make a mistake and you move on, well then you’re probably going to make that same mistake again, so I always try to tell myself here over the last handful of years it’s like, hey, if something bad happens that race day Sunday or something, and whether it’s a mistake by yourself or just circumstances, you can contemplate on it for the night when you get home, but when you open your eyes the next morning you’re over it and done and moved on and learned your lesson and you’re gonna focus on the next week. I’ve just been able to do that and not let everything pull my hair. I’ve worked really hard at trying to do that, but I don’t really have a ritual. That’s just what I find helps me. Be upset about it all you want for that night, but wake up the next day you better be over it and let your brain reset.”
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE STRENGTH AND CHALLENGE FOR YOUR TEAM GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “I think our strengths right now is our pace has been really good. That’s number one. You hope it stays good. I feel like our execution has been really good. Our pit crew has gotten to where they need to be. The communication within our team through the weeks and on the weekends has been great. I feel like this group has been more united than we’ve ever been and it keeps getting better and better each year, which is a great place to be, being strong the last couple of years, too. Weaknesses, I don’t really think this team has a ton of weaknesses. It’s just kind of how you go through races. It’s how do you handle these situations, but this team is really strong both on the track and bonded together off the track. I think you have those couple things, you do all the work you can and try to be as prepared as you can and then just go out there and run and whatever happen happens, so we’ll see.”
HOW DO EXPLAIN TEAM PENSKE’S THREE STRAIGHT TITLES? “It all just comes down to people. Roger has always said it’s all about the people that you have with you. He’s pretty good at knowing who is good and who he wants and who he wants working for him, and he’s a person you want to work for, so you understand what you’re getting into when you walk through the doors over there and you have that badge on your shirt that says Team Penske. It’s just dedicated people and smart people and understanding what the end goal is and how do we get there and how do we just work harder than everybody else, and then it makes the drivers look good. At the end of the day, it’s all about the people that we have around us and around our group at the race shop. They make it happen.”
FROM A MOMENTUM STANDPOINT, HOW VALUABLE WAS THE WIN AT DAYTONA? “It was nice. I’m a believer in momentum and confidence and things like that and being in good moods for everybody on the team, so it never hurts. I can’t say, ‘Man, we won at Daytona, we’re gonna be so fast at Darilngton.’ It’s two different places, but it definitely helps and I feel like also what really was a great confidence booster for us was we came into Daytona with the goal of getting to second in regular season points We were like, ‘We can achieve this. Let’s try and get it and get to second after the regular season.’ We had a lot of DNFs and stuff like that, and I think that would be a huge motivator for us and we were able to do that, and then winning the race was just like the cherry on top, to be honest with you. So, it’s definitely going well and just hope to keep carrying that.”
DO YOU AND YOUR TEAM LOOK AT ANYTHING TO GET THROUGH THAT DNF STRETCH? ANYTHING THAT YOU NEEDED TO GET RID OF? “Three in a row was tough early in the year, but we looked at that as we blew up in two of them and got caught in a wreck in the other one. It’s like there wasn’t anything we really did that we were making mistakes and had to clean up. We just didn’t really let it bother us. Once you get that third DNF it kind of sucks. It would be easy to get down and things like that, especially like those races where we did DNF I thought we had a top three race car and could have been in contention to win. It’s easy to get bummed out, but we just moved on from it and understood we did all the job that we could do and that’s just the way it goes sometimes in this world and we’ll just keep moving on. We built that mentality over the years since 2022 of just, ‘hey, no matter what happens, good or bad, you’re gonna celebrate the good times and learn from the bad and forget them quick and you’re gonna move on to the next task.’ Every one on this team has that mentality and that’s something we’ve been working on for the last handful of years.”
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE A LEADER THAT YOUR GUYS REALLY RESPECT? “It’s all working together. There are 15 guys on this team that all have to have each other’s back and you understand that you have each other’s back. They have mine. I have theirs. You’re gonna support each other when maybe it’s not going great. They support me if I’m having a rough day and I support them if they’re having a rough day and understand that we’re gonna get through this together and it’s important to build that relationship. I’ve been lucky to have a great group of dudes that will go to battle every single day for me because they know I’ll do that for them. It’s pretty cool when you can get that atmosphere.”
DO YOU FEEL THERE’S A CHAMPIONSHIP FAVORITE? “I don’t think there’s an odds on favorite. I think there are a handful and maybe even a little bit more who can step up at any time and have had the consistent performance that they can easily get to Phoenix and win it. There are five or six cars that come to mind, but everyone is tough in this deal. All of these 16 are gonna be really tough. How do you out perform and out run them every week and out execute them? I don’t think there’s an odds on favorite. There are a lot of great teams and drivers right now that can make a solid run at it and you just hope to be one of them.”
WOULD IT SURPRISE YOU IF SOMEONE YOU THOUGHT WOULD ADVANCE TO THE FINAL ROUND GETS KNOCKED OUT IN THE FIRST ROUND OR VICE VERSA? “You never know. I think both of them can happen. Somebody who may be people don’t expect to move on does or wins, and I think somebody maybe who people think might make a deep playoff run could have a couple bad races and the next thing you know, you’re out. It happened to Joey in ‘23. He won the championship, had a couple bad races, got in a wreck at Bristol and he’s out in the Round of 16. That can happen to anybody, so you just try to control your own fate and try to do the best you can, but you never know what’s gonna happen. These things are wild and typical racing fashion – unpredictable things happen all the time and that’s sports. You just try to go do the best job you can at controlling the things that you can control, but that’s where storylines are written are unforeseen things and I could definitely see something like that happening. Hopefully, we’re just not one of them.”
IT SEEMED LIKE EVERY RACE FOR A WHILE CAME DOWN TO FUEL MILEAGE. WILL THAT BE A THEME IN THE PLAYOFFS? “It could be. I think those races that that happened it was just circumstantial of the caution coming around the fuel window of guys being close or not. I think we had a couple of those in a row and everyone was like, ‘It’s all fuel racing.’ Well, this has happened in the past. You get fuel mileage races every now and then. It could. You never know It happened last year at Vegas with Joey being able to stretch it like he did and get into Phoenix and win it, so it just kind of depends where everything falls, and then you’re gonna have to be split-decisions of guys who want to try to push it and have to save, and you’re gonna have guys who are charging like him and Bell were last year, so you just never know how these things are gonna play out and what decisions that crew chiefs are gonna get put into.”
ARE YOU GOOD AT FUEL SAVING AND IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO PRACTICE IT? “I wouldn’t say we really practice it much outside of those situations. I don’t go to the sim and practice fuel saving. You can’t really. Maybe a little, but it’s like I think as you get put in those situations more and they don’t happen often, but through your life and through your years in the sport you’re gonna be asked to save gas. It’s how do you make lap time while saving enough gas. Yeah, you can go save all the gas in the world, but if you’re three seconds off the pace, you’re not doing it efficiently. It’s like an efficient fuel save of getting a lap time window while also getting the mile per gallon that you need. It’s kind of a trait that you get put into some situations and you’re kind of learning under fire a lot.”
ARE YOU GOOD AT IT? “I feel like I’m OK. I can turn into a hybrid every now and then and fuel save a little bit. Each track is different. It’s way harder to save gas at certain places than others. You talk about speedways, you can save a lot of gas pretty easy just because of the draft, but you get to – and it doesn’t happen often – but a Martinsville fuel save, it’s way harder to do that and make lap time because you’re heavy brakes and stuff. At a bigger place, you can save more gas because you can not use brake and coast a lot more and still carry center of the corner speed. I feel like I’m decent at it. It’s hard to judge, honestly.”
WHEN YOU FIRST CAME INTO CUP, WHAT DRIVERS WERE YOU SORT OF IN AWE OF ON THE TRACK? “When I first came in, I ran a couple races in ‘14 and half a year in ‘15 and ‘15 was cool because I got to race a lot. I ran like 18 races and I got to race around Jimmie and Jeff, Tony, Kevin Harvick. The only guys I got to run around for like a year or year-and-a-half like Jimmie, Tony and Jeff, that was mind blowing to me because I loved Jeff Gordon growing up. I loved Tony. Those guys, it was really special to get out there and run with those guys.”
THERE COULD BE A KID RIGHT NOW WHO LOOKS UP TO YOU THE SAME WAY. WHAT ABOUT THE IDEA OF RACING AGAINST SOMEONE LIKE THAT ONE DAY DOWN THE ROAD? “That would be cool. I was talking to Harvick on his podcast this week. I was like, ‘Before too long your boy is gonna be whipping my butt.’ I remember and it’s such a weird out of body thing because Twilight Zone stuff is I remember I was a kid holding my dad’s hand talking to Kevin Harvick at driver intros, and I remember Keelan holding his dad’s hand talking to me at driver intros. And now Keelan is really doing great and kicking butt and it’s funny how all of that stuff turns. So, yeah, you never know who is gonna come in this sport. That would be pretty neat. I just hope that I stick around long enough for that.”
DO YOU FEEL YOU AND THE DRIVERS WHO HAVE COME INTO THE SPORT WITH YOU HAVE ESTABLISHED YOURSELF AS THE CORE OF NASCAR? “I don’t necessarily think I contemplate that too much, but it is funny how you see crops come in like those guys you talked about, Jeff and Tony and Matt and all those guys. They were all like the same age and crops of guys coming in, and then after them it was Brad and Kyle and Joey. There wasn’t a ton of them, and then when me and Chase and Bubba and Larson and Byron and Bell it was like, boom, this whole crop of guys within a couple years of each other, so it’s weird how all of that stuff comes and goes. You never know. Hopefully, 10 years down the road, if I’m still around, you’ve got somebody who feels that way about me like I felt about Jeff and Tony and that stuff. That’s the special part to me. It’s like how do you make kids want to look at you in a certain way that you inspire them of whether it’s how you drive or how you act off the racetrack and make them be in awe of this human because those guys were larger than life to me. I’d look up to those guys literally on the driver intro stage like, ‘These guys are unbelievable.’ It was such a cool feeling when all of that stuff comes. I know it probably made the feel really old when I started racing and it’s gonna be the same with me when I’m 40. It’s fun how that stuff goes.”
WHAT DOES THIS CROP YOU ARE IN BRING TO THE SPORT? “I think it’s a lot of talent. I raced with all these guys growing up and they are so good at what they do. It’s super, super hard to just compete with them, so I think it’s just a new wave of talented race car driver. Race car driver and all athlete talents change through the years. I don’t want to say athletes get better as the years progress but there’s more information out there where you’re better at a younger age than I think you ever have been and that’s all sports. You look at golf, there are these kids who are 10 that are ridiculously good. The same with racing. There are these kids that are eight years old and you can tell like, ‘That kid is gonna be fantastic.’ They start racing at five years old. That’s unheard of and it just becomes part of their life, so I think a lot of us were in that age where we started when we were eight or nine. My dad didn’t start racing until he was 18 years old and that was normal back then, so I think as the years go by you just see these younger and younger kids come up. They’re really talented and they have a lot of info to them. I think we bring a lot of talent and hopefully enough personality to where people can latch onto this human being as as well as a racer.”
DO YOU FEEL MORE OR LESS STRESS THIS TIME OF YEAR? “I try not to be stressed. There’s definitely stressful moments, but during those stressful moments I try not to think about it too much. I try to just, ‘Hey, this is a high-pressure situation. This is what it is. Let’s just go do the job.’ I try to not let it eat at me because I think that can really hurt you if you get in your head about stuff. When it comes down to your season and your championships, yeah, it’s stressful. Hell yeah it is. You’re trying to do this for hundreds of people that support you and put a lot of effort and watch you every week and have hands on the car or partners that invest a lot of money and time into the program. It can be stressful if you look at it that way, but I try to not let that get to me. You understand that this is what you signed up for. This is stressful. Sports are stressful, but that’s why you compete and that’s why you do it is who can overcome that stuff the best.”
DOES GROWING UP IN THE SPORT HELP ALLEVIATE YOUR STRESS? “I think it definitely helps. It gets you more comfortable. I was really lucky growing up that I saw all of this stuff at a young age. I saw my dad go through stressful times of who am I gonna drive for next year. I look at that and that is stressful compared to, ‘hey, I get a chance to race for a championship. This is stressful.’ That’s a great opportunity. I saw my dad scrap and claw about what car am I gonna race next year? That’s stress. How are you gonna provide for your family, so I got that perspective of it when I was younger and I think it definitely put my mind just in a different spot of what actually stress is.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT ARE YOUR TEAM STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “I think the challenges are similar for most as far as the execution. That’s at a premium. I think the field is as competitive as it has ever been. I don’t see anything but the necessity for execution being what dominates the grid and who advances and who doesn’t for the first two rounds.”
HOW IS THIS YEAR MAKING THE PLAYOFFS DIFFERENT THAN PREVIOUS YEARS. IS IT A BIT CALMER FOR YOU? “Maybe, but not like at the front of my mind. No. There’s only one year that I’ve been a driver in a national series and haven’t made the playoffs, so I would say it feels normal to be here. Yeah, it’s in the Cup field and it’s super competitive and there are different challenges, but it doesn’t feel abnormal to be in the format and what it requires out of you.”
DENNY PICKED YOU AS ONE OF THE FOUR TO GO OUT IN THE FIRST ROUND, BUT YOU HAVE ADVANCED EACH TIME. “That’s the first I’m hearing of it. OK. I guess we’ll have to watch.
IS THERE ANY TRACK YOU LOOK AT MORE INTENTLY? “I think there are definitely some tracks that are challenging from a mechanical standpoint. I think Bristol. It’s rare that we don’t see a car have some sort of a tire failure or mechanical failure. That is obviously the cutoff for the first round. Personally for me, I would say New Hampshire is probably the biggest question mark of tracks just because it’s one of those places I haven’t gone to and gone, ‘Yep. I’ve totally figured that place out.’ So, it’s a weird place, but, otherwise, I feel pretty good about the schedule.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE AN UNDERDOG? DO YOU LIKE FLYING UNDER THE RADAR? “I would love to be invisible for the first two rounds because then I’ll make it to the Round of 8.”
ARE YOU NERVOUS ABOUT THIS PLAYOFFS? “It’s what we’ve been waiting our whole year for, so I’m excited to be at this point and go make it happen. Our team has done a great job, especially in the last couple of months to be prepared for these opportunities and now is the fun part. Now is the part where we actually get to go do the job and not talk about it.”
10 WEEKS IS A LONG TIME. HOW DO YOU STAY AT A HIGH LEVEL? “I think you can think about it two different ways. I also look at it and go, ‘Wow, there are only 10 weeks left in this season.’ It feels like a lifetime ago that we were in Daytona for the 500 or even at Bowman Gray. I think there are a lot of different perspectives you can take, but 10 weeks like it’s like, ‘I want to make these count.’ I want to have some positives for the offseason.”
HOW MUCH DOES IT CHANGE HAVING GATEWAY IN THE FIRST ROUND AS OPPOSED TO ATLANTA AND WATKINS GLEN? “It definitely changes the first round, especially Atlanta last year with a speedway race and that format, whereas St. Louis I’m sure most probably look at that as their best opportunity for a base hit. It’s not a very normal racetrack, but you could look at it and think, ‘OK, there’s Darlington and Bristol. This is the only one that’s not crazy.’ I think it’s best to not be able to put yourself in a position to where that race has to be incredibly important.”
WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES NOW? “I think strength-wise, I don’t feel like I have any motivation or reason to change my approach just because it’s the playoffs. I think our group has our process really well dialed in, especially this year compared to last. I think that mentality for execution is gonna be incredibly important. Weaknesses, look, it’s a difficult series, but I don’t think there’s a stand out weakness other than have we gone out and dominated races this year? No, but I don’t think there’s a consistent favorite either, so I think it’s up for anyone.”
DOES WINNING TALLADEGA IN THE SPRING GIVE YOU A LIFT FOR THAT RACE IN THE PLAYOFFS? “That’s obviously pretty far ahead, but that’s definitely an opportunity race. We’ve been able to consistently bring fast cars from our team, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity there and if others are dreading it, I might as well embrace it.”
HAS JOEY TOLD YOU ANYTHING ABOUT HIS TIRE TEST AT NEW HAMPSHIRE? “I think the team definitely got some good data from being able to go to the tire test. It’s obviously a similar tire to what we raced at Richmond and have some good notes from there and Martinsville, where we’ve run that tire, so I think from a notebook standpoint we should be in really good shape. Doing that and being able to go out and execute the weekend is a whole other thing.”
DOES HAVING A NEW TRACK AND TIRE CHANGE YOUR PREP AT ALL FOR THE PLAYOFFS? “I think anytime you change the tire at a racetrack it definitely changes your approach just because so much is dominated with the cars and how I drive and what my priorities are – like lane usage and fall off and all these types of things are very much dominated by the characteristics of a tire and my team’s decisions are dominated by those types of things, so going to New Hampshire with a new tire, going to Bristol with a new right side tire. They haven’t decided on the tire for Martinsville. They haven’t decided on the tire for Phoenix, so there’s a lot of variable for that. Even the Roval for this year, there’s a new tire for all the road courses and that will be applied at Charlotte, so I’d say those are usually the bigger variables you could throw at a racetrack.”
DO YOU THINK THE COMPETITION MIGHT BE UNDERESTIMATING THE 2 TEAM? “I guess I haven’t considered that because I guess I don’t care. It doesn’t really change the results or I don’t think it would change how I’d be raced, either. I think the way this season has gone I don’t think there are any clear favorites. I think the playoff grid is as tight as it has ever been. Somebody told me that today, so I feel great. I feel like we have a lot of things that we can rely on within our team to be able to make performance, but also the process is in place to execute well.”
DO YOU THINK THE COMPETITION HAS BECOME MAYBE TOO AGGRESSIVE BECAUSE OF THE CAR? “We definitely abuse the cars more than a steel-bodied car, that’s for sure. I’m probably not the best to ask because I only raced a couple races in the Cup Series with steel-bodied cars. Past that, I raced four years in Xfinity with cars that you could beat the hell out of, so I feel like this car kind of falls in that category, but at the same time you damage it and sometimes it’s really easy to damage it. But, yeah, I think in some ways I think you’re probably better to be 110 percent on aggression than 90 percent.”
DID YOU HAVE TO LEARN THAT LEVEL OF AGGRESSIVENESS AS IT GOES UP THE LADDER PER SERIES? “It’s hard to say. I think the social aspect, right. You talk about aggression, that’s everyone’s perception of what’s happening. I’m sure guys 30 years ago would think we’re all crazy, whereas we all view this as just normal. I look at that as just perspective of those around you and there’s an unspoken norm in a lot of situations that I think experiencing the series and with your competitors probably is more valuable than anything else to understand where that line is drawn.”
DEFINE SUCCESS FOR THE 2 TEAM OVER THE NEXT 10 WEEKS? “I said it last year and I’ll say it again this year. Making the playoffs is my only goal for the season and anything after that is a bonus. Compared to maybe years past, I don’t even know but maybe in 2022 this probably applied as well, but the criteria for making the playoffs is winning a race or being one of the 16 best in the series. Well, we’re top 16 in points and we won a race, so I definitely feel as though we have everything to play for.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ROAD TO WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP IN THIS FORMAT? “I think making the Championship 4 would be one of the, if not the, biggest accomplishments in my racing career because it is that difficult. It is such a difficult format to push your way through, but I really do feel like the cream does rise to the top in these scenarios. As far as being a champion or not being a champion, but having that shot to push through the entire season to make the Championship 4 is a big deal in my book.”
YOU GREW UP IN THE PENSKE FAMILY. HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE THE PENSKE WAY? “I think it’s attention to detail from the top down, and attention to detail includes the people that you have working on your cars. I feel like the people that we have in our company understand that and understand and embrace those values better than anywhere else. Those have been great values for me to have as a leader on my team, as someone that embraces working hard, but it’s definitely what separates our company from others.”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT YOURSELF SINCE COMING TO THE CUP SERIES? “The list is long. I do feel like somebody told me your first three years in Cup are gonna be your most challenging and to be able to be at the point where I am now with the people that I have around me, I look at you spend a lot of time by yourself – like when I was growing up I’d have to travel everywhere with my mom because I’m a minor, so I have to have someone that signs the parental consent form and all that. But in the Truck Series, you’re by yourself so it’s a how bad to you want this type of thing because it’s not easy, and you have a lot of moments that will test that, but I clearly want this.”
WAS IT A YAHOO MOMENT WHEN YOU GOT TO RENT YOUR OWN CAR? “Yeah, even while racing in Xfinity I rode with crew guys until Covid. I still do that from time to time on some weekends just because it’s kind of easier and I do like spending time with my team. That is one of the harder things since I’ve been Cup racing is to actually have the time to spend with your guys and with your team just because there are a lot of demands. Otherwise, the goals are simple.”
DOES IT HELP BUILD COMARADERIE? “I think everybody can approach it differently. At the end of the day, race teams and people you work with, not that it never lasts, but you know you’re not gonna work with the same people forever, so you don’t want to be super personal with everyone, but at the same time, I don’t do anything else. I don’t care about anything else. I don’t want to do anything else. The people I work with are the most important people in my life, so I don’t see a reason why I wouldn’t interact with them as if that was the case.”
WHAT MAKES TEAM PENSKE SO GOOD ON THE SHORT, FLAT TRACKS? “Those are all very unique racetracks. I can’t say there’s like a cookie-cutter banking and corner radius. All of them are so very different, so I feel like our ability to adapt to difficult circumstances probably makes us better. If you were to introduce a new thing to the cars, I feel like our guys are really good at understanding what those changes are and how to apply them with the first crack. And when I look at those type of tracks that you described, you’re applying things that you already know in an environment that is maybe different than normal. I feel like our team is adaptable and that applies to those type of tracks.”
DARLINGTON EXPECTATIONS. “Every year about a third of the playoff grid hits a wall there figuratively and kind of stunts the first round. I would expect some of that. It’s a challenging track. It’s a difficult place to maintain your focus because the race is so long and so challenging. It challenges every part of the team, from more pit stops than any other race to the lines that you have to run to how much the car is challenged throughout the race and in all ways possible. It’s a demanding place for pretty much anyone.”
WHEN YOU FIRST CAME TO CUP WAS THERE A DRIVER YOU WERE IN AWE OF ON THE TRACK? “Yeah. I think the first time in a Cup Series car to race would have been the Duels for the Daytona 500 in 2021, and the lineup was based off of qualifying and I started middle of the field right behind Ryan Newman. One of my earliest memories was watching Ryan Newman win the Daytona 500 for Team Penske for the first time and right in front of him is Kyle Larson. That was my one and only moment where it was like, ‘OK, it doesn’t get higher.’ The level doesn’t get higher than this. I’ve raced in top divisions of a couple different categories of racing, but from a NASCAR standpoint that was my moment where I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to be good or I’m not gonna last here long.”
SO THERE IS A KID RACING NOW WHO MAY LOOK UP TO YOU THAT YOU WILL RACE AGAINST YEARS FROM NOW. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? “It’s difficult to conceptualize because when I see somebody wearing my t-shirt I find it difficult to conceptualize that someone would spend money to wear a t-shirt with my name on it. I don’t know. I don’t think about that kind of stuff and then when I see it I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s really cool.’ So, it’s not a requirement to be a fan of mine to buy my t-shirt, but it surprises me every time when I see one. I’ll hit my guys and be like, ‘Hey, we’ve got a fan. There’s one. We’ve got one.’ So, it’s been kind of cool to see some of that and they continue to ramp up a little bit, but definitely not something I focus a whole lot on.”
YOU ARE PART OF A GROUP ‘16-22 OF A NEW GENERATION OF GUYS THAT CAME IN. HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR GROUP HAS IMPACTED THE SPORT SO FAR? “I think the way in which we race. We control the narrative and control the narrative on a lot of things. Somebody asked me last week about what do we need to do to make the sport better? We need to be positive. We’re doing a lot of great stuff out here. Anyone I talk to who has been to a NASCAR race for the first time they love it. They’ve had a great time. They can’t believe the access and all these other things. Yeah, there are ways to improve our sport, but let’s be positive about what we’ve got going on here. We’ve got some good stuff going, and it’s never been more competitive. This is definitely an era that’s going to be more challenging to separate yourself, whether if that’s lap by lap or throughout a season. It’s gonna be harder for race fans to decide who the odds on favorites are. Even as a competitor, I can’t tell you who the Championship 4 is gonna be right now. That’s crazy, whereas I feel like three years ago you’d go, ‘Yeah, there are three guys. We’ve got the big three. We’ve got three guys that are clearly gonna be the ones to beat and if they don’t make it to the Championship 4 it’s a tragedy.’ I don’t think there’s a single competitor in the field you could look at and go, ‘If these group of drivers don’t make it, we’re gonna be shocked, disappointed and ready to burn it down.’ I don’t see it. The series has been uber competitive and I think that’s the identity of this group and in the years to come. I think the level of respect that you can probably have throughout the garage area for individual drivers and individual groups of people is probably going to broaden because of how competitive it is.”
CAN YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT WHAT IT WOULD MEAN TO BE THE CHAMPION 10 WEEKS FROM NOW, OR IS IT A WEEK TO WEEK THING? “I can say I’ve thought of that from a playoff perspective, but to hear that there are only 10 weeks left in the year it’s like, ‘Oh, I feel like we just got going.’ But past that, as a competitor, it’s week to week. I haven’t put a single ounce of thought into St. Louis or a single ounce of thought into Bristol. It’s just not how I’ve operated throughout the year and I see no reason to change how we operate. We maximize each week and prioritize that each time.”
WHAT IS THE KEY TO ALL OF THE PENSKE CARS BEING SO STRONG? “I think what we have inside our building is very interesting and a great example of the many ways to make performance. Although we’re all driving very similar cars and so on, there are very different ways to make performance – the way Joey makes performance, the way Ryan makes performance, the way I make performance, what I ask from my team, the type of leader that I am. Those are all very different mentalities and thoughts that go into that. I will say that our teams, between all four cars, have never been more closely aligned than before. I feel like it’s all independently so, which has been interesting to see. I feel like it’s been a good example of if you think there’s a way to do this correctly, go do that because wasting your time trying to be somebody else, it ain’t worth it.”
HAVE YOU LEARNED ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN A LONG PLAYOFF RUN AND WIN A TITLE? “Yeah, I don’t think it’s completely out of the picture to think that we could go race for a championship this year. Do I think I’m a favorite? No, but it’s not like I’m dominating races, but do I think that I have all the tools necessary to be able to go do that? Do I think my team is in a better place than we’ve ever been on the 2 car? Absolutely. I feel like in the last two months we’ve really been able to get into a rhythm and bring some really fast race cars and we’ve been able to execute well as well, so we’ll put our best foot forward and see what we get, but I think we’ve earned the right to make it this far. At that point, I don’t feel like there’s a favorite in the field, so you might as well just embrace the chaos and all of the competitiveness and see what we get out of it.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW ARE YOU GOING TO WIN IT IN AN ODD NUMBERED YEAR? “Just got to make it happen. I don’t understand the whole even, odd thing. I’d really like to break that cycle this year.”
PENSKE HAS WON THE LAST THREE AND WITH THE CHAMPIONSHIP RACE AT PHOENIX AGAIN, SHOULD WE BE LOOKING FOR YOU GUYS TO BE THERE AGAIN? “I believe we will be strong again. I mean, everyone is obviously gunning for you. They’re trying to catch you and they probably are. We’ve got to keep looking for that next piece to make us stronger, but I do think, still, flat one mile tracks is our wheelhouse at the moment.”
WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE SERIES AND HOW TIGHT EVERYONE IS? “It’s just part of Next Gen racing. The field is closer than ever. You look at qualifying, you look at the races, you look at the number of top 10s and top 5s people have compared to what they used to have and wins. It’s not what it used to be. It’s quite a bit different. It’s much tougher to click a top 5 off, where in the past you didn’t have as many top 5 cars. Now you’ve got to have a pretty good day to finish in the top 5.”
HOW IS THE MINDSET KNOWING YOU HAVE YOUR THREE PENSKE CARS AND THE 21 AS WELL IN THE FIELD? “It’s great to have all four of them in there. It’s a huge thing. That’s just the start. The goal is to get all four in the Championship 4. We’ve got to do that. That’s really what matters, but that’s step one. Step one was completed a while ago and now it’s two, three and four to get to the end.”
DOES THE CLOSENESS OF THE FIELD HAVE AN IMPACT ON FUEL SAVING? IT SEEMS MANY RACES COME DOWN TO THAT. “Some races are that way. I think the reason why it’s that way is because you can change four tires faster than you can fill up the car with gas, so then mileage becomes more of a discussion point. Are you gonna slow down your pit stop for more gas? So, that’s really why it’s a discussion point.”
SO IT’S MORE OF A DISCUSSION POINT NOW THAN BEFORE WITH THE NEXT GEN? “Only because of the pit stops, I think. I think that’s why because you can change four tires in eight seconds. You can’t put that much gas in it, so that’s where it comes down to more of a discussion.”
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO SAVE FUEL? “It’s something that has become important. It doesn’t happen all the time. I think you’re making it sound like it happens all the time. It’s in the back of our mind all the time, but how often does a race come down to the car that’s got the most fuel is gonna win the race? Not a lot. Maybe three or four times a year? It’s something that you want to be good at because you want to capitalize on those three or four times a year it can happen, but it can change just as quickly as Goodyear changing the tire. As soon as the tires start wearing out quickly again, you don’t talk about fuel mileage at Richmond. It just depends on the fall off.”
IT JUST DEPENDS IN THE TIRE? “It’s just the tracks. If the tires don’t fall off and you’ve got tracks that you can pit without going down a lap. You’ve got Indy. You’ve got Pocono, so you’ve got those type of tracks all piled on top of each other at the same time, so I can see where you could think that way, but all of those tracks were at the same time.”
SO IT’S NOT SOMETHING YOU WORK ON – SAVING FUEL? “It’s a discussion point, but I don’t think it’s the number one thing we talk about every week. If the scenario happens, here is what you can do.”
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE CONNOR ZILISCH FOR GOING TO CUP NEXT YEAR AS SOMEONE WHO STARTED AT A YOUNG AGE? “I think he’s better than I was at that age, and he seems to be more mature than I was at that age. I’d say that the biggest thing is it’s easy as an 18 or 19 year old to drink the Kool-Aid. Yeah, he’s a great driver. There’s no doubt. He can win a lot of Xfinity races. Cup racing is different. Everybody is that great at this level. Everybody is fantastic, so you can’t drink your own Kool-Aid too much to where you think you’re the next thing and then you’re gonna get here and fall on your face. I lived it. I’ve been there. As good as I think that he is and will be, I also think that you’ve got to stay humble throughout it all and just remember what’s important.”
DOES BEING THE 12 SEED CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY FOR THIS ROUND? “I only game plan one week at a time. I know this week I’d like to win. If not, I’d like to leave with over 20 points over the cut line. That’s what I know.”
ENTERING THE PLAYOFFS DO YOU LIKE FLYING UNDER THE RADAR SO TO SPEAK? “I think we’ve kind of ruined the under the radar thing at this point, which is fine. It’s just kind of a unique position for us to be in. I think if you look at our stats, people would say you’re under the radar, but I think they look at the whole body of work over the last 10 years and they’d say, ‘Well, I don’t think they’re under the radar that much.’ It’s a very unique spot to be in. I think we have a really solid race team in the playoffs and that’s why I look forward to this part of the year every year.”
YOU’VE WON THE TITLE WHEN YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO AND WHERE YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO. DOES THAT GIVE YOU ADDED CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THIS YEAR? “Yeah, and honestly the years I felt like we should have won the championship we didn’t, so I think the key lesson of all that is you’re never out of it. Until you are out, you are not out. Even last year when I thought I was out I was not out (laughing). It’s a very interesting 10 weeks that’s gonna come at us and it’s unpredictable. I don’t know how exactly it’s gonna play out. Nobody knows. That’s why the plan is one week at a time because you just don’t know what the next race is gonna bring at you, so you handle what’s ahead of you and you just take it one week at a time. You handle today. Tomorrow will take care of itself. It’s no different than what our parents taught us. It’s the same stuff.”
IS THERE A MOMENT WHERE YOU GOT THIS BELIEF YOU COULD WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS AND BEAT THE FIELD? “There’s definitely a moment. Early in my career I didn’t have much confidence at all. I didn’t have reason to be confident. You can’t just B.S. yourself. You know the truth. The whole fake it until you make it thing doesn’t work with yourself. You know who you really are and you know what your team is really capable of, so, for me, early in my career I had no reason to have any confidence. I would just be lying to myself and everybody else, but I do feel like our team is really, really strong at this time of the year, which makes me feel good about it no matter where we start the playoffs. I feel like we have a great chance of getting there. I think we can rise to the occasion better than any other team out here. That’s why most of our wins come at this time of year. That doesn’t mean that because you did it last year you’re gonna be able to do it again. You’ve got to find more. You’ve got to find the next piece, and I think Paul does a great job at challenging our race team to do that.”
HOW BIG OF A GAUGE IS GATEWAY AND NEW HAMPSHIRE FOR PHOENIX? “Probably Gateway is more similar to Phoenix just because it’s smooth. Loudon has those big bumps and transitions. It’s kind of a unique track and more fall off as well, so Loudon is a unique one, similar, like setup-wise you’re probably not that different, but just the way you drive the track for a driver is quite a bit different. But just because you’re good at those tracks, you’ve got to get there still. Just because we’re good at Phoenix most of the time we’ve got to still get there.”
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS GOING INTO THESE NEXT 10 WEEKS? “Our biggest strength is gonna be those type tracks you just brought up. Those one-mile, flat tracks. That’s our wheelhouse. Our biggest weakness is probably mile-and-a-halves. With that said, I still think we can win at them, I just think that’s kind of our toughest point or biggest hurdle to try to jump.”
WHAT KEEPS THE RELATIONSHIP WITH PAUL FRESH? “Honesty. It’s the same as every other relationship you’ve ever had in your life. As soon as you guys start making up stories or lying to each other, that’s the end. It’s coming. Whether you know it or not it’s gonna come up and bite you. You’ve just got to be honest with each other. You’ve got to have those hard conversations. You have to be able to talk things out and see each other’s perspectives. I think that’s really the biggest thing. I don’t think there’s ever a moment that I feel like Paul hasn’t been honest with me. We’ve had the hard conversations. They’re not fun, but it’s what makes a strong relationship. You see that with your wife or your spouse. You’ve got to have the hard conversations too and they’re not fun. I get that, but you’re in it for the long haul, aren’t you? You’ve got to handle it.”
THE DATA HAS COME SO FAR THAT YOU CAN NOW PROVE YOU WERE RIGHT. WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO THAT EASIER AS A YOUNG DRIVER? “I think the SMT data that you’re talking about being able to compare to other drivers and those type of things as a young driver is very helpful. As an experienced driver you’re like, shut if off (laughing). Just as easy as I can prove I’m right, they can prove that they’re right, depending on how you look at it, and also just a lot of times there’s a lot of data, even today we deal with this all the time, but you’ve got to cut through the B.S. because it looks like this because of this or because of that. You’ve got to be able to understand where the data came from and clarify it. Just like in every business you’ve got to look at how you got it because bad data is definitely a thing, too.”
YOU CAN READ DATA DIFFERENT WAYS? “Absolutely. You look at one car, well he’s in dirty air and I’m in clean air or vice versa. You’ve got to look at the full picture of things a lot of times, which is the same.”
HOW HAS PAUL MADE YOU BETTER? “Paul has like a never enough attitude. I don’t know. He’s like a big brother that you want to make proud. I think everyone kind of has that feeling where they want to make Paul proud of them and he is a really hard person to achieve that because his expectations are wicked high of everything we do. It’s not just in the race car, but you look at the way he lives his life, everything is way up here. His house, everything he’s put together perfectly. The guy, he’s great. He works out. He’s disciplined. It’s ridiculous. I’m a competitive person. I’m like, ‘I want to be better than that.’ It’s always a little level of competition, but it’s also like you want to make him proud. I think that keeps me going, so I think that’s motivating. I think his ability to ask challenging questions is probably his way of doing that. He’ll question you in ways that’s gonna make you go to work in a lot of different ways, and sometimes it’s as simple as, ‘Eating that is gonna make you faster tomorrow?’ Things like that, that might be small, but it’s that attitude that you kind of have to bring everywhere you go and Paul does a tremendous job at it. He’s tough to beat.”
WHY DOES THAT STILL WORK TO HAVE THAT QUESTIONING BECAUSE WE SEE A LOT OF COMBINATIONS HAVE A FINITE SHELF LIFE? “I’m not that guy. I’m not saying either one of us would be perfect with anybody else. I’m OK with that. Paul asks really hard questions that in times can bring you down a few notches, but it’s factual, so I just want the honesty. ‘OK, if that’s how you feel, let’s talk it out,’ and that’s fine to me. Now, if I was a rookie it would be much harder. I kind of lived that story as a rookie and I couldn’t do it, but as an experienced driver with an experienced crew chief, and one that’s willing to challenge you, it works because both of us know we can do it. It’s not like I take that criticism saying he doesn’t think I can get the job done. It’s he wants me to be better and we just want to win. The bottom line is we want to win and I know that’s where it’s coming from and I know internally I know how to do it. He knows internally he knows how to do it. We’re just challenging each other. That’s really what it comes down to.”
DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING AT DAYTONA THAT TRANSFERS TO TALLADEGA? “At Daytona, the car was just too loose, being honest. I was just too free and I knew it. When it was 20 to go and I was up front and I was already hanging on I was like, ‘Oh, boy. This is gonna be a tough one to finish here.’ But you can’t really do anything. You’re kind of just there. You just have to hope the pushes come at the right time and the push came at the wrong time.”
SO YOU WILL BE BETTER TO DIAL YOUR CAR IN AT TALLADEGA? “Yeah, and Talladega is lot different, too. It’s just a scenario of what we had for balance also the scenario of what was going on around me as far as I didn’t have any Fords, and I had cars that had to win. I was a sitting duck. I was leading the laps, which was great. We were managing it, but eventually there was gonna be a push in a bad spot and that happened.”
SO SAME SITUATION AT TALLADEGA DO YOU APPROACH IT DIFFERENTLY? “No, you really can’t. Where was I supposed to go? What’s the alternative? You’re in the lead. You’ve got to just ride it out. You’ve got to make a little better decisions. That’s all we’ve got to do.”
JOSH BERRY, No. 21 – Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT ARE YOUR TEAM’S STRENGTH AND CHALLENGES GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “I feel like our strengths going into this deal are basically every oval track. I look at throughout this season at different races where maybe we didn’t get the finishes that we deserved or the little things here or there that held that back, so I think generally more often that not we had speed at a lot of these places and that’s gonna be important when we get into these playoffs and just executing smooth races, making it to the end and seeing what happens. I think weakness probably for us would be the Roval, but we’ve got to get there before we worry about that.”
YOU WON SO LONG AGO, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HERE NOW IN THE PLAYOFFS AS A CUP DRIVER? “It’s really cool and it’s definitely been unusual as early as we won, and that was a big goal for us setting out this year – it was to win my first Cup race. I hadn’t won a Cup race up to that point, so it’s easy to look at that as the first goal on the list, so to accomplish that and obviously make the playoffs is something that we’ve been looking forward to throughout the year and really it just comes down to three races at a time now and we just have to have solid races and keep ourselves in contention and see what happens.”
WHAT ARE YOU CAPABLE OF THESE NEXT 10 WEEKS? “I feel like we haven’t finished as well as we’ve ran a lot of races, and it’s been a number of different issues. I could probably, if you name off a race I could probably tell you what happened in that race and what I messed up or what issue we had, but I feel like the speed has been there more often than not, and I don’t think it should be a surprise if we find ourselves running in the front at a couple of these races. We just have to execute them and have good days on pit road and score some stage points, have solid finishes and find ourselves in contention.”
ANY ADVICE LEONARD, EDDIE OR LEN HAS GIVEN YOU? “Nothing too much yet. They’ve been pretty laid back this year and enjoying what we’ve been doing, and enjoying how we’ve been running. I know what Len is gonna say. He’s gonna say, ‘Do good.’ That’s pretty much what he says before every race, so he’ll probably tell me that. It’s so easy to over-analyze and pump yourself up too much going to these playoffs. It’s racing like we’ve done all year. Anybody that thinks they need to do more just because of this playoffs, I just don’t think it’s realistic. We do the best that we can week in and week out, so it’s just about establishing a routine and executing three weeks at a time.”
WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR YOU GUYS AT VEGAS? “We had a great race car for one, and we’ve had a lot of fast race cars this year. More often than not, I feel like we’ve had cars more than capable of running in the top 5, top 10. I feel like there’s only been a couple races where maybe we felt like we missed it and didn’t show the speeds or signs of potential, but a lot of the races we have. I think Vegas was one that our car was really strong and we had the right strategy. We had a great day on pit road. We were able to do a lot of things right to keep ourselves in contention. That’s been the biggest thing that’s held us back at times this year. If it’s a small mistake on my end or a bad pit stop or a penalty, those things like that have hurt us from time to time and if we eliminate that stuff, then we’ll be fine.”
YOU ARE VIEWED AS AN UNDERDOG. DO YOU USE THAT AS MOTIVATION? “Yeah, I think so. We are in a day and age right now where everybody is worried about consistency. Everybody is worried about they want to bring back the old point system and they want to do this different. It’s just the flavor of the week right now, so it’s easy to look at us and feel like we’re not deserving, but ultimately we won our race, won my first race that advanced us to the playoffs, and I feel like there have been plenty of races along the way that we’ve been fast. So, I don’t view us as a team that’s an easy first round exit. I feel like we can hold our own and we’re ready to do it.”
ARE YOU HAPPY VEGAS IS IN THE PLAYOFFS? “Yeah, for sure. Honestly, I think a lot of the playoff tracks line up really well for us, even this first round. If you looked at the results at Darlington, you might be skeptical, but if you actually watch the races you’d see that the past three races I’ve spent laps in the top 5, top 10, scored stage points and did all the things we’ve got to do Sunday night. You look at Gateway and Bristol, those places have been solid for us, too. Kansas, we had a great car. I mean, it’s just one after the other. I feel like if we can just get that little bit better and execute, then we’re gonna have a lot of fun the next 10 weeks.”
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE FOR YOUR TEAM THE NEXT 10 WEEKS? “That’s hard to say. Obviously, our biggest goal was to definitely make the playoffs and accomplish my first career win, which we were able to do. Going into this, I mean, it’s hard to say. We want to advance through the Round of 12 and hopefully the Round of 8 and I think those are very possible if we execute and we do the things we know that we can, but I think just more than anything we just want to be competitive. We want to be in the mix. If we lose by one point here or there, obviously it will sting, but we want to be in the mix and I think with how these tracks line up, we’re more than capable of that.”
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THE ADRENALINE RUSH OF THE PLAYOFFS? “That’s what makes me laugh when everybody does their playoff grids. It’s like, ‘Oh, these four guys are definitely getting eliminated.’ They’re not counting for things that can happen outside of your control and mistakes that get made. For us, I’ve been licking my chops to go back to Darlington. We’ve had really strong races there the last three times. Two of the finishes we got in accidents and didn’t get the finishes we deserved, but we spent laps in the top 5, we scored stage points, and we did all the things that we need to do Sunday night to keep ourselves in this deal, so I’m ready to get there.”
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE GOOD AT DARLINGTON? “It’s hard to say. I think you’ve got to have a good feel for your race car and what the car needs to do, and you’ve got to have a plan. You have to decide where you want to run the car. What you need from the car and you’ve got to be patient. You have to take care of it and keep it out of the wall. You have to have a good day on pit road. There are obviously a lot of pit stops, so all of those things really add up.”
IS IT A TECHNICAL TRACK? “Yeah, I think so. It’s a pretty technical place. You’re running right up against the wall, so you’ve got to be accurate with what you’re doing.”
DO YOU LIKE FLYING UNDER THE RADAR? “Yeah, it doesn’t bother me any. I feel like these tracks line up really well for us. I feel like if we go do some of the things we’ve done at the spring races and just execute a little bit better and finish where we should, then we’re gonna keep ourselves in contention. The pressure is on the guys that everybody is calling the favorites, the guys that have talked all about wanting the old playoffs. The pressure is on those guys to deliver now, not us.”
BIGGEST STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS? “I feel really good about a lot of the short tracks, intermediates that we’re going to. Nearly each one of those we’ve run well and showed potential. Aside obviously from Vegas and Phoenix we had little issues with execution here or there that we didn’t get the finish that we wanted, but I feel like all of those are places where we can go run well and score stage points and run in the top 5, top 10 and contend. I think the weakness is going to be the Roval. Road racing has been a challenge, but the Roval I feel a little more comfortable than some of the other road courses and we’ve made improvements in that program. If we made it to that point in a must-win, we’re probably in trouble, but if we can go there and have a solid day and score some stage points, I think we can make it through.”
HOW DOES HAVING GATEWAY AND NEW HAMPSHIRE WORK FOR YOU? “I think that each round presents its own challenges. I think you look at Gateway is a short track, but kind of a faster short track. Strategy and fuel mileage can be so important there, so there are things that can definitely go awry. New Hampshire is one that I’m pretty excited for. I know we’re bringing back a little different tire, similar to what we had at Richmond. I think that hopefully should race well there and be a positive. We saw last year, you never know with the weather. If it were to rain or something like that, it could definitely throw a wrench into things.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN CORRELATE FROM RICHMOND TO NEW HAMPSHIRE WITH THE TIRE? “It’s definitely gonna be different, but looking at what we saw at Richmond, it’s definitely gonna wear more that what we’ve had, so that’s gonna make tires more important and keeping the tires underneath you over the course of a long run, and not maybe just being sole reliant on track position – obviously having to have the grip and potential in your car there. It’ll be interesting to see how all of that plays out. It’s a good change in the right direction and we’ll see how it all shakes out.”
HOW WIDE OPEN ARE THESE PLAYOFFS WITH IT BEING SO CLOSE? “I feel like it’s a great opportunity for us. I look at how the tracks line up and I feel like they’re all tracks that we’ve either ran well or definitely showed potential at and we feel confident going to, so it’s just about going out and executing. Obviously, you’ve got to have the speed and you’ve got to have the car, but really just executing and having a solid day on pit road, having good restarts, doing all of the little things right. For us, I feel like we could easily look at three top 10 finishes and a couple stage points and be in a really good spot.”
YOU SEEM TO HAVE A SENSE OF CALM. HOW DO YOU FEEL? “Obviously, even though this is only my second year in the Cup Series, I’m very experienced in racing. Just what I’ve learned over the years is you prepare for each race the same. There’s no reason that you should feel like you have to try harder or do things different just because of the playoffs versus what you do any other weekend in the year because every week we’re all trying to go out and win and get the best finishes you can. Pressure is a part of it. I think in our situation we don’t really feel that much pressure because what do we have to lose? We’re in the playoffs. There’s only positives that can come out of this. The pressure comes from the people that have had really strong years and things could go away really quickly. I think for us we’re just gonna try to take it one week at a time and enjoy the moment and see how it all plays out.”
WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO MAKE IT THROUGH AND CLINCH A CHAMPIONSHIP 4 BERTH AT MARTINSVILLE? “That would be huge without a doubt. Obviously, Martinsville is such a special place to the Wood Brothers and a special place to me. That would be a huge moment, but there’s a lot of racing to do before we get there. But if we do things right, you never know what can happen.”
