Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Enjoy Illinois 300 Qualifying
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Media Availability – World Wide Technology Raceway
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is the defending winner of this weekend’s race and comes off a 12th-place finish last weekend at Darlington Raceway. The Team Penske driver is currently ninth in the standings, 12 points above the cut line.
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Freightliner Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
YOU ARE THE DEFENDING WINNER HERE, WHY IS THAT TEAM PENSKE EXCELS ON THESE FLAT TRACKS?
“I can just give you my setup sheet if you like? I don’t think it is just as easy as saying whether the track is flat or not. Obviously our guys have done really well. I feel like the thing that sticks out for me at a lot of the tracks that you would think of as flat tracks is that they are very unique and different from one another. There are not a whole lot of takeaways that we can take away from here at St. Louis and go apply to Phoenix other than maybe gathering some trends. Because the ends are so different and the loads are different. The demands from the drivetrain are different. It’s kind of that way with a lot of those tracks, similar to New Hampshire. New Hampshire is a very different track, there is nothing else like it on the schedule. Richmond is very different from all of these types of race tracks. So as far as relating them and categorizing them, I guess my response would be that our team does a really good job of staying consistent regardless of the challenge of the race track”.
YOU ENTERED 12 POINTS ABOVE THE CUTLINE, LEAVING HERE, HOW MANY POINTS ABOVE THE CUTLINE DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO BE TO FEEL COMFORTABLE?
“Anything under 20 is pretty nervewracking. I would describe our position as being fairly neutral at the moment. Twelve is better than two. Even with 20, nothing is guaranteed. With as many unknowns as there are with Bristol, with what unexpected comes next week?”
CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE PROCESS OF GETTING A SUPERCAR SEAT? WHAT IS LIKE TO CONVINCE PENSKE TO LET YOU DO IT?
“Yeah, I think I could probably take you down two pathways. I think one, it’s been about 10 years since I’ve been down to Australia to go race. And there’s a certain point in time in my career that it was a legitimate consideration to go race full time there. Whether it be Super Two or something else or, obviously, they’ve done a great job with that series and producing great drivers. So as a younger driver, it was something I really looked at pretty heavily. I’ve always kind of kept a pulse on it. I did some racing down there in the past, with the Bathurst 12 hour and I have a lot of great relationships there. It’s really cool to see it all come full circle. Obviously, I wouldn’t be able to do it without the help and connection from Ford, with all the guys at Tickford and kind of just piecing things together to see if it is all possible and then kind of go through the paperwork of how do I get approved and this and that? But all in all, it’s going to be a super fun adventure. It’s something that I look at as a great opportunity to, hopefully, do more races than just the one. And I want to do well and represent myself as well as possible, but it’s a tricky course and an incredibly competitive series. So looking to see what I learned about myself and how well I stack up against a pretty stout grid.”
YOU ARE THE DEFENDING CHAMPION OF THIS RACE.
“It’s definitely been a good track for our team and I think anytime you can come with a good notebook to lean on, it kind of takes some of the stress off of maybe other things. But the cars and competition continue to evolve. So I can be comfortable with the performance we’ve had here. I think going into this race, the big shift to the Iowa tire is definitely something we’ve had to take into consideration and try and understand. How do we adapt where we’ve been here the last couple years to that level of stagger? So it should be an interesting day, and I should be able to learn a lot. But overall, it’s been good. I think we have a good advantage with a Ford powertrain at this race track compared to others. So yeah, I’m excited to see what we’ve got today.”
IN AN INTERTERVIEW EARLIER THIS WEEK WITH DAVE MOODY, RUSTY WALLACE HAD SAID THAT IT TOOK GETTING HIS SECOND CAREER WIN TO FEEL THAT HE BELONGED IN THE CUP SERIES.. AT WHAT WIN OR AT WHAT MOMENT DID YOU FEEL YOU HAD PROVEN YOURSELF?
“I’d say the next one. Whatever the next one is, you’re only as good as your last race. I’m chronically never satisfied with a whole lot else other than winning. Even races where you think I’d be excited after a finish, if I feel like there’s still meat left on the bone, I’m usually not satisfied. The expectation for myself and my team is typically high. So I am really not ever satisfied or comfortable with anything other than success. Which often leaves me frustrated and, you know, confused and wanting more. It is definitely a difficult thing. I feel like this being my fourth year in the series, understanding where I’m at and respected throughout the field and understanding how difficult it really is to expect that. Trying to just go out and win races like this. Yeah, it’s a tough series, but it makes it that much more satisfying to do it.”
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR YOU AT THIS TRACK?
“The caution that I don’t know is gonna happen in the middle of stage two or stage three. That’s not necessarily in my control, but the strategy for this race is going to be probably as challenging as a road course in the playoffs because of how important track position is going to be. How tight the fields going to be. You know qualifying today will be exceptionally important to give yourself options. Pit Road is exceptionally challenging to navigate. But as this race track widens out, there begins to be a lot of other options with the car. Like, what gear do you want to run through certain corners? Typically, you’re kind of questioning those things at most racetracks. Where here, that’s kind of all over the place, depending on what lane you’re running, what your priorities are, how your car is driving? So on top of that, there’s not too many ovals where you’re really threshold braking like you are into turn one here. So it’s a pretty unique place and definitely presents a lot of challenges.”
HOW AWARE OF THE STRATEGY ARE YOU THROUGHOUT THE RACE?
“I definitely look at it as the team’s job. Typically, I will have an opinion, and I will only share it if asked. So this race will probably be another one of those occasions. Even last year running, full fuel runs, pitting, similar to a road course, right when the window opens so you have the track position. There’s also a different tire this weekend. I think you could easily influence the end result of the race just with one caution at the right time.”
HOW BIZARRE IS IT GOING TO BE TO HAVE A NEW TIRE WHEN YOU GO BACK TO MARTINSVILLE BECAUSE YOU RELY SO MUCH ON YOUR NOTES?
“The same could be said about Bristol next week, so your guess is as good as mine right now. I mean, I can’t say that I’ve thought too far ahead to Martininsville. I can’t even say that I’ve let myself think about Bristol past the fact that it sounds scary, from a playoff standpoint. You rarely, at least in my experience in the Cup series, rarely have had an opportunity to have a notebook to go and say, ’okay, we do this at this racetrack, this has worked well, let’s go do it again.’ Rarely do we get to do that anymore. You know, even when I sit here and talk about, hey, we’ve got a great notebook to rely on for St. Louis, but we’re now on a different tire, so are we throwing it out the window? We don’t know. How much can you take away from Iowa? How much you can’t? When I was in the Xfinity Series, the cars were largely unchanged, at least for my last two years. The tires, the aero, everything was the same. So you could easily go with confidence to say, hey, we’re gonna change things up this weekend, throw the kitchen sink at it before we leave the shop, or we’re gonna run exactly what we ran last year and have zero questions about it. I don’t think there’s really a whole lot of any of that anymore other than maybe at the drafting tracks.
I think our team does a great job at figuring out things quickly. I think our team of engineers are really good at looking at a lot of the facts and separating out what’s important and what causes change and what’s not. I mean, that’s the difficulty in their jobs. Most weeks, it is not just building the setup, but also, we have all this information from other races, how do we relate it to that?”
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race. Historically, it has been a pretty good place for us and the Team Penske Ford Mustangs and I just hope to keep bringing the speed that we have had here in the past. I just want to have a smooth day. Speed is great. That’s what you need to start, but you know, can you execute well all day? Can you keep up with the strategy and what you need? That part’s super tough. But yeah, hopefully we’re where we need to be pacewise, and then we’ll go from there, but I look forward to it.”
ABOUT THIS WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE RETURN OF THE FORD RACING BRAND
“Yeah, we’re going back. Going back to Ford Racing! I’m pretty excited about it. It took me a while to not slip up and call it Ford Racing before. And Ford Racing just kind of slips off the tongue a little bit easier. So yeah, I’m excited for that.”
Josh Berry, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I feel good. Obviously Team Penske has got a really good history here. I really haven’t raced here a lot. Last year, we were pretty good and blew a tire and wrecked. So I felt pretty comfortable there. We just need to go out and have a good weekend. That’s all we can do.”
Joey Logano, No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s a lot different than any other track we go to. The tire fall off here hasn’t been a big deal but we will have to see what this tire is like. It’s just minor tweaks, right? It’s hard to compare Richmond to Gateway [World Wide Technology Raceway]. I mean, it’s just different. You know, Phoenix and here probably are the most similar race tracks of the two. I think it’s the most similar track to Phoenix that we go to.”
