Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
eero 250
Friday, August 15, 2025

FOUR FORD F-150 DRIVERS QUALIFY FOR NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES PLAYOFFS

• Four Ford F-150 drivers made the 10-driver playoff field: Defending champion Ty Majeski, Chandler Smith, Layne Riggs and Jake Garcia.
• This marks the third straight season Majeski has qualified for the playoffs with Ford and the fourth time overall.
• Smith, who has two wins this season, is in the postseason for the third time in his Truck Series career.
• Riggs, who won at Pocono and IRP, and Garcia each earned their first playoff berth.
• The playoffs begin on Aug. 30 at Darlington Raceway.

Ford Finishing Results:

2nd – Ty Majeski
3rd – Layne Riggs
7th – Jake Garcia
8th – Ben Rhodes
9th – Chandler Smith
22nd – Luke Fenhaus
26th – Matt Crafton
32nd – Frankie Muniz

TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford F-150 – “You always want to win. When we got spun there when there was oil on the racetrack, there’s a pretty big wicker on that right-rear. My balance just went away a little bit. Even though it was probably good for aero, it was a little bit too good and just made me a little bit too tight that last run. Once I lost control of the race, the 17 is obviously pretty desperate. He moved me a couple times and I lost control. By the time I got to second I was pretty much done there. I’m very disappointed. We had a fast Soda Sense Ford F-150. I’m really proud of everybody at ThorSport. We have a lot of momentum going into the playoffs with a seventh last week and a second at Lime Rock. We’re in the game right now, so we just need to do our deal, step our way through the playoffs and anything could happen.”

LAYNE RIGGS, No. 38 Love’s RV Stop Ford F-150 – “It’s very exciting. It was a strong night for us. I didn’t think we were that great in practice, so to turn around and have a strong performance like that and even at some glimpses in the race feel like I was the best on the racetrack. We had just a good overall day and, in my opinion, that’s what champions are made of. The strategy was so crazy there that it’s really fun as a driver getting put in situations if you’re on old tires or new tires and going forward and falling back. It’s kind of crazy. The 98 spun out and somehow lined up in front of us still, which amazes me, but hat’s off to everybody at Front Row Motorsports. This Love’s Travel Stops Ford F-150 was a good truck, but not a winning truck, so we’ve got to do a little bit of work. It was a good, solid night. We finished second in regular season points. That was really our goal coming into today was to do that and get as many playoff points as we could, so we accomplished that and I’m really happy about that.” HOW DOES IT FEEL TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS FOR THE FIRST TIME? “That’s what our goal was, and I feel like if we weren’t in the playoffs this year that something drastically went wrong with as fast as we’ve been. Hat’s off to everybody at Front Row. I feel like I’ve just gotten so much better as a driver over the past year and a half, and I think we’re gonna be a force to be reckoned with in this championship. I know that the two guys that finished in front of me are fierce competitors and really strong at Phoenix, but I think we’ve got something for them.”

JAKE GARCIA, No. 13 Quanta Services Ford F-150 – HOW MUCH WERE YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO WHERE BEN WAS RUNNING? “I was paying attention to that, especially after we had two good first stages and built a cushion. At that point, it was just a matter of managing our gap and making sure there was no possible way we could crash. I think we did a good job of that, and I tried my best to run a smart race after we had a little bit of a cushion and just get this thing in the playoffs.” HOW DO YOU TAKE THIS CONFIDENCE INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “I think part of the confidence is how fast our truck was today. I know we finished seventh, but I certainly think we were a top three to five truck. We saw that in stage two with how quickly we passed some of those guys. I think we were even catching the 98 a little bit there at the end, so, overall, I’m just really proud of how fast our truck was and the speed we brought. If we can continue to bring that speed into the playoffs, I think we’ll be alright.” SMILE. YOU’RE IN THE PLAYOFFS. “I appreciate it. It’s definitely exciting and I’m just proud of the effort and glad these guys got a little reward and be able to reward them for all of their hard work this year.”

BEN RHODES, No. 99 TSPORT Trucks Ford F-150 – IT SEEMED LIKE NO CAUTION FELL THE WAY YOU NEEDED IT TO. “Yeah, that’s a really good summary. I was about to say the same thing. I missed our pit box and, honestly, it wasn’t a terrible thing. It put us in position to capitalize on the first caution that came out. The problem was the second caution that came out after that. That really did us in. We had 10 lap older tires than the rest of the field at that point and I think we were going to finish anywhere from second, third or fourth to I don’t even know where we finished at that point. And then again the caution came out with the 88 truck. I think that was the last one of the night and I think we racked back out at like 27th place. It was somewhere way back in the pack. I don’t even know, but had those cautions fell a little differently, it would have been easier to get those 11 points we needed tonight. It stinks. Not good, but they play out like that sometimes. You get in these positions from the whole season. Obviously, our regular season didn’t go the way we wanted. There are a few races that come to mind right away. Rockingham, a power-steering failure right away. Homestead, we got caught up in a turn one, lap one wreck from having to go to the back after a mechanical issue in qualifying, so there is stuff like that we could clean up and I think it would have been a different story tonight, but that’s just part of it.” TWO YEARS SINCE YOUR TITLE AND IT’S BEEN A SLOG. WHAT IS THIS TEAM DOING BEHIND THE SCENES THAT WE DON’T SEE TO STAY RESILIENT? “They’re putting in as many hours as I’ve ever seen. They’re working as hard as I’ve ever seen, but it just seems like we need a little bit more pace right now. You can point your finger at anything, but, obviously, some of those low hanging fruit items – the mechanical issues that we had earlier on, that would have changed the story for tonight, but the pace, we’ve got to find that still. We’ve had moments of brilliance throughout the year, the same with my teammates, but we need that consistent speed that some of our competitors have, like, obviously, the 11 truck.” IS THE REST OF THE SEASON TRYING TO FIND THAT CONSISTENCY FOR NEXT SEASON? “I think so. If I know Duke Thorson, which I think I do now after running for Duke for so many years, he’s gonna say, ‘Absolutely.’ The rest of the season is R&D to him, which he’s probably bittersweet in that regard because now we get to kind of try things and do things we didn’t think we could do, so you’re no longer in a box. I don’t necessarily have to run for points and we can set ourselves up for the end of the race for wins. We weren’t able to do that at Watkins Glen last week and quite a few races now. I guess that’s the silver lining if there is one.” ARE YOU A TEAM PLAYER IN THAT SENSE? DO YOU BECOME THE GUY THAT TRIES THINGS FOR THEM? “I would like to be. Now, if they use that, that’s a different story (laughing). Crew chiefs and drivers, especially crew chiefs, are all pretty stubborn. They all really like what they like, so I might find something that could be five seconds faster than the field. I don’t know if somebody else would necessarily use it though. It’s just kind of the nature of this sport.”

CHANDLER SMITH, No. 38 The Pete Store Ford F-150 – “I’m definitely proud of the effort of everybody on this No. 38 team. It’s certainly not the day we wanted. Honestly, we’ve missed it since probably about Charlotte, just kind of slowly went downhill a little bit and haven’t been able to find our way back to where we were at the start of the year. We’re just trying to get our momentum back on our side going into the playoffs, going into Darlington and start off on the right foot.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Richmond Qualifying
Friday, August 15, 2025

PREECE PUTS HIS FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE ON THE RICHMOND POLE

Ryan Preece drove his No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse to the pole Friday at Richmond Raceway.
The pole is Preece’s second in the Cup Series with the other one coming at Martinsville in 2023.

Ford Qualifying Results:

1st – Ryan Preece

6th – Brad Keselowski

12th – Chris Buescher

13th – Austin Cindric

17th – Josh Berry

20th – Ryan Blaney

22nd – Noah Gragson

24th – Cole Custer

29th – Zane Smith

31st – Todd Gilliland

37th – Cody Ware

38th – Joey Logano

POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/Kleenex Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Being 37th or whatever we were in practice our objective was just to see where the tire fall off went and try to manage that pace. For me, going into qualifying and pushing the tire, pushing the grip level and all those things, you just don’t know what you’re gonna have going into turn one. As I’ve said over the past few months, just trust. Our communication as a team has grown. My trust level that I drive it in there is gonna stick has grown and what I can tell you is when I drove it off into turn one, I know I got it all because the amount of time I drove it in there versus the grip she potentially had was definitely on the limit. It felt really good and Derrick made great adjustments, along with the entire No. 60 RFK team and I’m just proud to have Kroger and Kleenex on the car this weekend.”

IS IT EASIER OR MORE DIFFICULT TO MANAGE TIRES FROM THE POLE IF YOU GET OUT FRONT? “I’d definitely, especially at a place like this, would rather be out front. I think there’s still some questions of how you want to do it, but I’d rather be the one leading rather than trying to have to pass people and potentially abusing the tire that way, so tomorrow it’s gonna be get out front, get clean air and set my pace and take care of them. I’d rather be out front right now.”

IF YOU WIN, WOULD YOU CLIMB ON TOP OF YOUR CAR? “I’d climb up on top and I potentially might even do a backflip, but I don’t think the backflip would go very well, but, I think I’ll still climb up.”

SOME DRIVERS SAID WITH THE AMOUNT OF FALL OFF IT MIGHT SHAKE UP THE ONE STOP, TWO STOP STRATEGY EVERYONE JUGGLES HERE. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON WHAT WE MIGHT SEE WITH COOLER TEMPERATURES? “I think that’s a great question, and I definitely think there is some truth to that, but when it comes to what strategy we choose to play, I’m gonna let Derrick make those decisions because at the end of the day he’s gonna be the guy that’s drilling the computer and trying to figure out what’s gonna be the best strategy. From there, I trust him and Brent and Matt to make the right decision and give us the best opportunity to be on the best strategy, have the best track position, have the best pit stops and execute a great race.”

IS IT SAFE TO SAY AFTER PRACTICE YOU WERE SURPRISED YOU GOT THE POLE? “Not necessarily surprised. I knew Brad put down a really good lap, which made me feel a lot more confident on what the potential was going to be, but, like I said, going into that practice I wanted to make sure I was managing the tires right away, that there was no questions going into tomorrow if I could have done a better job in practice or how I needed to do it. So, going into turn one, I leaned on what I drove with the modified and how hard I was pushing the pace there and I felt like a lot of that helped me somewhat going into today. Always a good thing to get those extra laps and run modifieds when I can, but that was one of those moments that I drove it off into turn one and said, ‘If she sticks, she sticks. If she doesn’t, probably not gonna have a great starting spot, but I’m not leaving anything on the table.’”

HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT BEING UP FRONT WHEN PASSING HAS BEEN SO HARD HERE? “Yeah, for sure. That’s a great question. Passing is definitely not easy and then when you’re trying to come from 20th or 30th and having to pass people you’re just abusing the tire that much more, so I think having the opportunity to start from the pole is gonna make our job quite a bit easier as far as keeping control of the race, and then from there as far as managing tires I think with how my car drove in the modified race I know exactly what I don’t want, so when we go into our debrief I’m sure Brad, myself and Chris are gonna have some conversations of what our cars felt like and we’ll just try and make our best adjustments to make sure we take care of those tires.”

WHAT’S THE TRUST LEVEL WITH THE TEAM AND HOW NICE IS IT TO HAVE THAT KIND OF BOND WITH YOUR CREW CHIEF? “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had good relationships in the past, but I think the biggest thing was learning that sometimes, I don’t want to put this the wrong way, but I can be my own worst enemy because I know too much and then I start talking to myself or talking to my crew chief like a driver, but at the same time a driver that’s a crew chief and starting to make them not necessarily believe in what they’re doing. So, I’ve really focused and emphasized just driving the damn race car and it seems to be paying off pretty well, but I’ve really enjoyed my time working with Derrick, being teammates with Brad and Chris. I know I sound like a broken record when I say this, but I’m truthfully honest. I’m very honest when I say this. It’s been nice to have the knowledge and experience that Brad has had, as well as being teammates with Chris, who is super, super fast and raw talented. To be able to lean on two guys that have all that, I just feel like we’re in a really good spot at RFK right now.”

WHAT IS THE MINDSET BEING ON THE POLE AND KNOWING WHAT A WIN WOULD DO? “For me, it’s a great opportunity to go win the stage and get 10 points. As much as I hate talking about points, especially racing against my teammate, I think he’s starting 11th, so this is an opportunity to try and close back in on some of those points he put on us, but as well as an opportunity for us to execute tomorrow. There’s no better place than starting on the pole and with stage one being 70 laps, I don’t think you’re gonna have anybody pitting in that stage because there’s no way you can make it up. So my hope is that we don’t have any cautions and we run 70 straight laps. We can win that stage and then from there it’s everybody whoever came up with the best strategy and takes care of their tires best seems like that’s what it’s gonna be.”

I HAVEN’T HEARD A DRIVER THINK THEY CAN GO 70 LAPS ON THESE TIRES WITHOUT ONE BLOWING, SO IS THAT REALISTIC? “I don’t think you’re gonna see people pit 35 laps and then 35. I just don’t see that happening. I haven’t also looked at the tire wear, so maybe you have talked to some people they have looked at those wears, but my math would say that somebody coming in and pitting after 35 laps and splitting a 70-lap stage, where there is a lot of potential for cautions and putting you two laps down, the risk is too much. So, from what I see and what our job is gonna have to be if it does go green, is to manage those tires and do the best you can there. So, make it work.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s a decent spot. It’s an important race for track position, so being able to have that flexibility for strategy, I feel like I’m sitting in the exact same stuff from last week when I also qualified 13th. We’re at least starting in the ballgame, but the tire today was pretty interesting. It’s gonna take a lot for me to understand what I want out of my car for tomorrow. I feel like it’s one of the more difficult racetracks to really dial in on one thing that just needs to be better and that will improve our performance.” DIFFERENT CONDITIONS TOMORROW NIGHT. WILL THAT BE AN ADJUSTMENT? “Yeah, I think tomorrow you’ll experience a lot of change from today, so that just adds another factor on top of making those decisions for tomorrow.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We just had to go out there to attempt to qualify. Something went wrong earlier in the day, and I’m not sure why the tire went down, but it was messed up from lap one. That kind of showed its head a little bit more as the run went, so not good.”

Second Career Cup Pole for Preece, Eighth Overall for RFK at Richmond

RICHMOND, VA (August 15, 2025) – Ryan Preece will lead the field to green at Richmond Raceway after earning the pole in Friday night’s qualifying. Driving the No. 60 Kroger/Kleenex Ford for Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing, Preece posted the fastest time of the session, securing his second career NASCAR Cup Series pole—and his first since Martinsville in 2023, where he led a career-best 135 laps.

“When I drove it off into turn one, I know I got it all because the amount of time I drove it in there versus the grip she potentially had was definitely on the limit,” Preece said. “It felt really good and Derrick (Finley) made great adjustments, along with the entire No. 60 RFK team and I’m just proud to have Kroger and Kleenex on the car this weekend.”

The pole is the third ever for the No. 60 car, and its first since July 2006 when Boris Said topped qualifying at Daytona. It’s also RFK Racing’s first pole since September 2022 (Keselowski at Texas), and their 92nd in Cup Series history. At Richmond specifically, it marks the team’s eighth pole overall and the first since Carl Edwards did so in 2010.

“Having the opportunity to start from the pole is going to make our job quite a bit easier as far as keeping control of the race,” Preece said. “I trust Derrick, Brent and Matt to make the right decision and give us the best opportunity to be on the best strategy, have the best track position, have the best pit stops and execute a great race.”

Preece’s strong qualifying run was backed up by solid efforts from his teammates: Brad Keselowski will roll off sixth, and Chris Buescher will start 12th in Saturday night’s 400-lap event.

Preece enters Saturday’s race with two top-five finishes across his last three starts and will start first in the 300-mile, 400-lap race. Race coverage is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on USA and can also be heard on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

About RFK Racing
RFK Racing, in its 38th season in 2025, features an ownership lineup pairing one of the sport’s most iconic names, Jack Roush, along with NASCAR Champion, Brad Keselowski, and Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry. Roush initially founded the team in 1988 and it has since become one of the most successful racing operations in the world, propelling him to be the first NASCAR owner to amass three hundred wins and capturing eight championships, including back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles in 2003 and 2004. Keselowski, a former owner in the NASCAR Truck Series, is the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. In 2007, Roush partnered with Henry, who also owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, English Premier League’s Liverpool F.C., and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, to form Roush Fenway Racing. Off the track, RFK is a leader and proven winner in NASCAR marketing solutions, having produced multiple award-winning social media, digital content and experiential marketing campaigns. Visit rfkracing.com, and follow the team on all social platforms @rfkracing.

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

RICHMOND, Va. (August 15, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Friday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Progressive Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
How much shifting play into this race?
“I think everyone probably uses it equally – like 100 percent of the time on restarts. The first couple of laps when you are side-by-side and trying to battle for position, you are trying to get the best run you can off. As it gets single filed out, it is kind of driver preference and car preference. I think each driver and car want something different at different times, so I think you will see guys that will probably be battling 30, 40 laps into the run – one might be shifting, one might not be. It is just a matter of what your car needs at the time, just because the lap time difference is very minimal between the two.”

Is the practice time enough time to figure out this tire?
“I’m not sure it is going to be quite enough. It will be close. Last year we were able to – when you put on this type of tire, and it is, again, not the same. The hardened the left side tire for some reason, but the right side tire – we don’t know. It could last 40, 50 laps. It could be longer than that. We don’t know. If you go out right away and try to run every single lap that you can, maybe you will start to see some of that fall off, but last year, we had enough set of tires to just change them, whenever the lap times started falling off. We saw it at Watkins Glen as well. Really all of the position changes happened at the end, and then when it happened, people pitted. With us having less tires this time around, it is going to force you to go longer on them, and I just think most of the passing will happen at the end of those runs.”

What can Richmond show that they should have two races on the schedule?
“I think I’m probably the worst person to ask. I’m very biased. I grew up with two races here. We always went to both, but the sport is in a different place now. The way to get it back is you have to come here and sell out – at least the one time you are here, or have a really strong showing during that time. That, and improve short track racing. If you can do those things with the car, so if you can do those things, then possibly it is going to be put more in the forefront of the schedule going forward as well. I think all of those things are fluid things that can change year to year, and if we can get our short track stuff back better where it was towards with these types of cars, I think you will have a better case to having two races here.”

Did you watch the last lap back and if so, did it bring back any emotions?
“I mean, yes. It is just disappointing from my stand point, but I wasn’t going to win the race anyway had it not. I had about a one second period where I was supposed to win, and the other time, I was not. It wasn’t like the race I had here in ’08 where we led the entire race and then you don’t end up winning. Those are a little harder than the ones where – I’m going to win, and well, I’m not. It is just wild. It is wild how things turned out when you hear all of the radio back, now looking back on it, it was just a wild moment.”

Do you expect the intensity to increase with the Playoffs looming?
“I don’t really see a big change. This is not really a big fashion forward track when it comes to strategy. It is pretty straightforward, especially with the amount of tires that we have, so I don’t really notice a big change in intensity. More desperation perhaps, you may see someone mid pack try to take a big swing with their setup trying something just totally out of the box, hoping to hit something, but other than that, I can’t really pinpoint anything, except for at the end of race. There is always going to be chatter when you are racing around those that have to win to get in the Playoffs at this point of the season. You just know that those group of drivers are going to be more intense around you and make more aggressive moves and put you in pretty tough spots. That is really where it changes – late race restarts where that is their last and only attempt.”

What is your response to Kyle Petty’s thoughts this week?
“He is right in that sense. It is not a stock car. Talking about – I definitely heard him talk about, how we used to bring a car off the street and turn it into a racecar – those days have obviously been gone for decades now. He is definitely partially right. The difference is that to address – we’ve had exciting moments in this car, and I don’t disagree with that. The issue is that it happened early in the Next Gen era, where there was so much disparity between the fast cars and the slower cars. Now – everyone over time, sense there has been no development for years and years now, nothing has really changed – the field has just tightened up. You can see it from the fastest to the slowest. The first time here in the Next Gen was on average lap time seven tenths or something in that range, and last time we came here, it was three and a half. The field is just now running the same speed, and at a track where you have to have three to three and a half tenths of speed to overtake the car in front of you, that mean that the first-place fastest car is going to struggle to pass the 25th if he just gets put behind him. That is the fundamental part that is going to be tough for us to overcome, unless we have some major changes with the tire – Goodyear is working on that. They are coming here with a more aggressive tire. You have to applaud that. They are willing to do it, and it came from tying it last year, but beyond that, you have to fix the attitude – I’ve said it a million times on my podcast – you have to get rid of the underbody downforce and put it on the over body so you have the ability, like you do in the Xfinity Series to drive up behind someone and get them off the bottom. That is when running the same speed will be okay, because you can at least get close to the car in front of you to manipulate them and slow them down, where now the leader has the 100 percent advantage over the second-place car. Xfinity is a little more even, a little more 50/50.”

How are you approaching this race knowing you only have one shot to win at Richmond this year?
“It is an important short track for us. We certainly have a lot of race tracks where this place kind of plays into that. Certainly, there is some similarities to Loudon that you can draw. Iowa is a hybrid of it. It is important in that sense, but it is important to me because it is my home town track. You have to take advantage. I only have one shot.”

Do you know where the line is because of what happened here last year?
“I think NASCAR drew a line in the sand and said that was too far. I think that they have been better about drawing the line in the sand on certain things, like the right rear hooks we have seen over the last year, them kind of drawing the line in the sand. They are not afraid to make hard decisions, and I think that is very, very important with the governing of the sport in general, so it is not a circus. I do feel a little bit better about it than we did 12 months ago; I just feel that I think certainly, that was the first time we’ve seen something like that happen and then NASCAR had a precedence to set in the sense that – what do you from here. If you let that go, then you open up a floodgate of crazy things that could happen that would be bad for the relevance and the legitimacy of the sport, and so I think everyone probably has a little better understanding now, because of the ruling. I’m not saying I agree or disagree with it, but you certainly have a better understanding.”

Will Corey Heim be a contracted 23XI driver next year?
“Yeah, he is our development driver for the foreseeable future, so he has plenty of races ahead of him with us.”

About Toyota
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For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.