Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying
Watkins Glen International
Saturday, August 9, 2025

Ryan Blaney earned the pole position for tomorrow’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International in the No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang Dark Horse. His time of 71.96 seconds (122.568 mph) was good for his first pole position at Watkins Glen, the 12th NASCAR Cup pole of his career. The quick time was also good for Team Penske’s 150th career NASCAR Cup Series pole position.

NCS RACE FORD QUALIFIERS

1st – Ryan Blaney
11th – Joey Logano
12th – Chris Buescher
13th – Austin Cindric
16th – Brad Keselowski
17th – Ryan Preece
24th – Josh Berry
28th – Todd Gilliland
32nd – Cole Custer
34th – Zane Smith
36th – Noah Gragson
37th – Cody Ware

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I was planning on running two [laps] regardless. I made my first lap and I saw my time and thought ‘that is pretty good’. The normal pickup I thought was going to be a few tenths and I ran like a mid-20 my first lap. I knew the benchmark. I knew what Shane [Van Gisbergen] ran in the first group. I knew you had to be probably in the low 72s, high 71s to get the pole. I knew I had a really good lap going. I got through the Esses really good. [turns] two and three I got up the hill really well. My car stuck well. I thought I gave a little bit back in the Bus Stop. I kind of committed really hard in there and got loose and hit the curbs wrong. But luckily I had a buffer from the Esses to be able to afford a little mistake. I thought it was going to be pretty good. Judging on the first lap I thought I could compete pretty good for the first handful of spots. Little surprising I was able to run that fast.

ABOUT PROGRESS WITH THE TEAM PENSKE ROAD COURSE PROGRAM – Overall, in general, we have been working really hard in our road course program. It is an area we aren’t as strong as we would like to be, and that is all of Team Penske. We have done a great job of that. I thought we had a great run at Sonoma, didn’t get the finish I thought we deserved. But that was a big step. I felt pretty decent at Chicago. So we are creeping up on this road course thing as a group. From my side, just personal reflection of watching races and watching my own data. Man, you’ve got to do these things just a little bit better. Whether it is braking technique, how do you apply and roll off the brakes differently? How do you commit to carrying speed in the center? It’s all little things. Joey Hand is a Ford Performance guy that really helps me out. He sat at the simulator with me a long time. He’s done it for the last few years. So talking to Joey before this race weekend really helped me out. He explains things in a really good way that I can understand and grasp as a racer. It is just a lot of little things that we put our focus into. We were able to accomplish it for one day. Hopefully we can accomplish it again tomorrow.“

ABOUT RACING AGAINST SHANE VAN GISBERGEN – “I think it is the first time he and I have raced together on a road course, side-by-side. People ask me all the time ‘what does Shane do when you are out there running that he is doing so much better?’ I am like I don’t really race with him that much. He is so much ahead that I don’t really see what he is doing. He is just so much faster. It is going to be neat. Bubba [Wallace] actually came up to me and said ‘congrats but now he is going to make you look really bad.’ One day at a time. I beat him one day. Tomorrow is going to be a lot different and a more difficult task for sure. It is nice to qualify well. Hopefully we are racing together so that I am picking up a few things, that I am seeing them with my own eyes. A lot of it is stuff you can’t see but I think if I see from my seat with my own eyes, I might be able to learn from that. Whenever you can learn from the best guys out there, and obviously he is the very best at the road course stuff, it is always nice. I try and take all of that and absorb it.

Ninety laps are going to be a little harder tomorrow to beat him but you gotta start somewhere right? I think it’s more neat for me just knowing that from our side, the 12 team had an absolutely abysmal weekend here last year. Saturday practice was awful. Qualifying we were terrible and then we made a half a lap in the race because we qualified so bad and went home early. We worked really hard on where we need to get better here. Where do I need to do a better job and how can we improve our race cars as well. It took a big dual effort. I consider myself a pretty average road course racer. I work really hard to try to get better. Where can I improve my driving style and skills so I can compete a little bit better at these places? It is neat when all of that comes together. I try and take all of these things one day at a time. Tomorrow is a whole different task but it is nice to have done our job really well today. But now it is about focusing on how we turn this around and get 90 really good laps tomorrow.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE THE ROAD COURSE GUY AT TEAM PENSKE – I feel like all of us have our weekends. I feel like some weekends I have a little bit of an edge and then other weekends Joey, then Austin. I think we all kind of rotate. No real specific reason why. I think some road courses fit the style of each guy a little bit differently. I don’t think there is one guy who is the road course guy in our group.”

ABOUT WAITING ONE YEAR TO RETURN TO WATKINS GLEN AFTER MAKING ONLY A HALF LAP IN 2024 – “I got over it very quick. I don’t really stew on things very often. I think maybe for that night. I try to let it go when I open my eyes the next day. I try to make sure it is all gone and focus on the next task. Trying to prepare for this weekend, we didn’t really have any race notes to talk about. That was a little bit difficult so we just looked at a lot of practice [notes from 2024] and where did we struggle at in practice. That was our best comparison to race pace and qualifying pace kind of trickled into that. It was a rough weekend last year. Like the two days were brutal and everyone’s confidence was pretty down. Sitting and going through this year and working on our road course stuff and pinpointing this one as one we could really learn and did we improve? It is a huge benchmark of did we get our stuff better from year to year. A huge props to everyone on our group on digging in and figuring out did we get better?”

ON LANE CHOICE FOR THE START TOMORROW – “I’m not sure yet. Watching ARCA and Trucks and then this Xfinity race today, Look at some trends and see what we are feeling tomorrow. I look at all of that stuff. How does it launch? How is [turn] seven for the inside or the outside guy? So I will be thinking about that overnight and tomorrow.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Snap-on Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We are in the ball game tomorrow. A lot to learn for tomorrow on what this tire has to offer and what is going to be important for the race. Lots to review and see how aggressive we need to be. I think it is easy to observe data and exceptionally difficult to apply it. There are a lot of other factors. Being able to have some flexibility with your car’s balance over the course of a run I think will be important for calling a strategy. Track position is super important here, just as it is anywhere. We have had a good couple of weeks with Indy and Iowa. It is one of those things that you don’t change anything with your preparation or processes but bam you are running upfront and contending for wins two weeks in a row. It is always a nice kick in the pants to know we are all doing a lot of the right things and you just have to keep the ball rolling. The team feels good.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Esperion Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I thought we had a really good race at Sonoma. Our road course stuff has gotten a lot better. I’d like to have a little more pace but the way these races are playing out it’s so crazy you never know what is going to happen. I don’t feel like we are crushing on strategy, I just feel like we have had really fast cars lately. If anything, I feel that some of the strategy stuff hasn’t gone our way. We just feel confident we need to do our best to be fast and put ourselves into position. Our team has grown together. We went through a lot of changes during the off season and it is nice to see them come together and click.”

RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Mohawk Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I think road racing, from a challenge yourself perspective, is definitely different and one that I enjoy. I don’t change my approach by any means [when racing a teammate for the Playoffs}. I look at it as an opportunity of going out and executing. Chirs [Buescher] is tough. He is fast and he is not someone that makes mistakes. These next three races its completely different. Road course racing he is really, really good at and I am continuing to push myself to be better. Richmond is a place that I know he has won at but I feel really comfortable there as well. Then we have a superspeedway. There are a lot of things we have to do right but we are up to the challenge and we can do that. I know we are close on points. At the end of the day it comes down to execution. Road courses can be challenging. There’s an opportunity to go get stage points and you want to do that. But sometimes you do that at the detriment of the finish.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Go Bowling at the Glen Media Availability
Saturday, August 9, 202

Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, is the defending winner of this weekend’s race at Watkins Glen International. He’s also sitting on the bubble in the 16th playoff spot with three races remaining in the regular season. Buescher spoke about all of that in front of the media before today’s qualifying session.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It is detail racing. Last time we were here we had some really good long run speed. We didn’t fire off great for two or three laps which hurt us in qualifying. It put us in a spot where we had to pass a lot more cars but the speed was there. And we had some good strategy throughout the day and really good execution on all of our pit stops. We kept the car clean and it was almost the easiest win we’ve ever had until those last few cautions. I say that, knowing that we have to be better yet. We have to fire off better. We need to qualify a little bit better. We have done that this year pretty consistently. That was a key focus at the beginning of the year and it certainly carries over to here as well.”

About the pressure of needing a win to ensure a Playoff spot this year compared to 2024 – “We needed a win last year for our sanity. For us, the situation [last year] was very much the same internally. But the repercussions are different this year. There are some differences. We know where we are at in the fight for a playoff spot. A win is the way to guarantee your way in but this year we have to be aware of our bubble. As much as I hate to admit that, it is where we have found ourselves. For us, this weekend, we want to get on track and have really, really solid speed and say ‘let’s focus’. I think where you maybe take a step back and start thinking about the point side more specifically than the race win is through any adversity on the day. When your chance of winning has diminished then maybe there is a Plan B that’s probably more thought through than maybe it would have been several months ago for us.”

About where RFKs short track program – “I want to say it’s pretty decent. I think about our year in general it really hasn’t mattered too much what style of race track we are heading to. We have had pretty good speed. Certainly we have had stronger weekends than others but that is everybody. Our short track stuff has definitely taken big steps forward.”

About racing his RFK teammate for the Playoff position – “I don’t know that it is going to be any different than racing anybody else. Just in the sense that we are all trying to figure out how to win races, how to have the best day possible. We have a fantastic environment at RFK that allows us to share across all of the teams all of the time. I think it is very important in moments like this that we don’t lose that. That has been a focus in the shop and I fully believe that the transparency will be there between all of our teams so that we will all be able to have the best weekend possible. At the end of the day it is going to come down to the execution of it. If we are able to win a race and pull it off it is just going to be normal racing. Go to the race track, do everything we know to do. Control what we can and, at the end of it, if one of us decides to run for a bunch of stage points and the other one doesn’t and is able to get a win, that flips it just as easily as both of us going for stage points. There are a lot of different scenarios and a lot of racing left. In some ways it is nice to be racing against your teammate because you know the level of respect. You know what to plan for when you race around each other. We have certainly had that all year. On the flip side, sometimes it is harder. It is a little more difficult to put a bumper on a teammate and shove him out of the way if the situation calls for it. But it will be good hard racing. That is the agreement within the shop. We are not letting each other have anything. We are going to race. We are all competitors. We are all teammates but we are competitors still. But I think you have to race your own shop with just a little added l level of respect.”

About Daytona being the cutoff race for the Playoffs – “Certainly not ideal in our situation. When you are close to that cut line – and that is mostly on us for not having a win before now. If we had been able to win a couple of races throughout the year to this point then you would say ‘I am sure it is exciting and it creates a little bit of extra drama there [at Daytona] but where we are at it just creates a last second opportunity for a very competitive car that is way up there in points. We have seen it, it could be a car buried in the 30s in points. That’s the hard part when you talk about championship racing and putting your whole season together. When it comes down to that race, and how that can be that kicker that takes a year that you feel you were very consistent and fast and didn’t get the win when you needed to and it kicks you out of the Playoffs. It isn’t my favorite option but I do understand the excitement that it can bring and the drama to it. But, it is on us to win before now. I would like to be sitting on the other side of it saying: ‘it will be what it will be because we are locked in’. If we can do that tomorrow or next week, to get to that point then I can put a little more excitement in my voice when I answer that next time.”

About getting experience with the new restart zone procedure in the Craftsman Truck Series race – “I think the idea is right. We can try and make turn one not be quite as chaotic. I think it is important to give a little bit of benefit to being the leader or being in the top three or four in a race. You shouldn’t have to worry about P8 coming barreling in there and wiping out the front row. And I think that is the idea behind it, to help spread us out just a little bit. It’s equally important that if someone has a bad restart and gets sideways off of turn seven there then the next row has the opportunity to get to him. I think that is why the rule now is that out of the restart zone you get to go racing. You don’t have to stay in line all the way to the start-finish line. I think it has been well thought through to be more rewarding to those that have earned the opportunity to be up front not to be on the defense from somebody that you haven’t seen all day. It does it without taking away the opportunity to still make moves and still make gains if you have a really good car to fire off.”

About Shane Van Gisbergen’s streak of road racing wins – “He is talented, right? None of us are road racers by trade. It’s not what we grew up doing. It’s not the exact craft that we have honed. That being said, we have all had road course aces teach us through the years. But, we all sit down for a week and we go through different things for the race track we are coming into and when we get done with that race we go back to oval racing. I think there is certainly speed out of a handful of drivers that are oval aces but SVG has just come in and he is a rare talent in it. He has been able to find something in this car that works for him. Sometimes I think, 20 years ago in my career, you go to certain places in the country and there were places you showed up and winning was easy. Because if you are in a certain zone, you have to be good enough to win, then everyone strives to be just good enough to win. It makes you move in incremental amounts. But everywhere we showed up we would be 3/10th faster than anybody there it was just because we were racing against the other people in different areas of the country that were just faster. They had faster race cars and better craft. What it did was it forced people to step up. We now realize there is a lot left on the table. We all thought we were all close enough to win these road course races but the truth of the matter is we have time to find. We have to be better. It is just going to force us all to be better at the end of the day.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
AUGUST 9, 2025

 William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Watkins Glen International.

Media Availability Quotes:

Is the dynamic of the summer race at Daytona any different than the Daytona 500, which you have won the last two?

“Yeah, it’s a lot different. I think the fall race is just very chaotic. I think the track is slick in some ways, but at nighttime, it gains some grip. I feel like the cars are edgier to drive in the fall race. Plus, in the Daytona 500, you have more time to dial in your setup and kind of dial in your handling for what you’re going to fight on Sunday. I think desperation is really high for a lot of people, so it just creates a lot of elements that create a lot of crashes. I also feel like the pushing gets more aggressive because of the desperation. The race feels really long, usually.

In the fall, it just seems like there’s a lot of cautions and you’re never fully in or out of it, really. Last year, we were running fourth and I thought, okay, I’m just going to push, I believe it was Josh Berry, to the win on the outside lane. I thought we were going to be able to connect pretty well off of two, and then the inside lane started to get squirrely. I think they were trying to go three wide or something and that’s when Josh flipped over. So yeah, it’s always something there.” .

Rudy said at the end of last week in the press conference that you’ve gotten better at rolling with the punches and what happens next. You opened up in the Netflix show this year about seeing a sports therapist. In what ways has that helped you kind of handle that adversity and overcome any kind of setbacks that you guys have had results-wise over the last month?

“I feel like I’m mentally probably better than I’ve ever been, and it’s really just perspective and balance in my life. I think some of it definitely has to do with working with Joanne. We’ve worked together for a couple years, so really nothing different there. But I feel like just having a really good balance in my life and really good perspective on what I’m doing, what actually matters and what is in my control, right? Like, what aspects of driving the car do I feel like are going to enable me to win the next race? And a lot of times, that’s what keeps me going through the bad results that are due to just circumstances or something out of your control.

Yeah, I feel like I’ve really tuned in and really started, as I’ve gotten older, to understand what is in my control and the things that are going to make me continue to be a consistent threat every week, and I just kind of hold on to those things no matter the result.”

I wanted to ask you about the regular season championship and how close that is. Is that something that you’ve been eyeing every week, or you’re just going out to win the races and that will take care of itself, as they say? And also, kind of the dynamic because it’s really, I would argue, the three of you and you’re all being teammates…

“Yeah, it’s on the front of our mind, for sure, during the week. I’m sure every driver’s guilty of looking at the points right after the race. So yeah, as soon as we get those after the event, you know, typically Bob (Pockrass), Jayski or whatever, we just look at them and be like — okay, here’s where we’re at and here’s how many points we got this weekend. It’s more before and after the weekend. I would say there’s very little decision-making during the race that changes because of the points. I think you just try to run the best race that you can, and typically that’s how you get the most points.

So yeah, last weekend, we were probably in a position where we could have done the conservative strategy for points, per se, and try to run 10th. We pitted, took tires and had a position — at the time, we weren’t thinking a win, but we were just thinking try to be on offense and put ourselves in a position to get a top-five or a win.

I think you just race the best you can. I think we have a really good point system, where if you run well, you’re rewarded for that, and if you don’t run well — like a couple years ago, I’ll never forget when we went to Martinsville, we had like a 23-point advantage over the cutline, and we didn’t run well at all. When we came out of there, I think we advanced by like three points. You just have to remember that stuff.”

(No mic.)

“Yeah, I mean Daytona is definitely – like you’re hopeful that you get to a point there where you kind of know where you stand before you get to Daytona because you can have a 40-point swing at Daytona alone. We saw that at Atlanta — we crashed out in the first stage and we had almost a 40 or 50-point swing to the guys we were around. So yeah, you just hope that by the time you get there, you can kind of have some more certainty.”

What are you expecting today practice-wise at Watkins Glen?

“We have a good benefit to watch SVG and Connor in the first group, so really excited to watch them and kind of see how they do; just kind of get a feel for the racetrack and study some of their stuff. I feel like I have a really good understanding of this place. You know, we weren’t good here last year, but we had a good run the year before when we won the race. Last year, I think we learned a ton. It was a new tire and it kind of threw us all for a loop. We’ve learned that tire since, and this should kind of be a culmination of all those efforts. I feel like we’ll know what the tire is like and just got to study that first group.

In regards to Richmond next weekend, when you look at the short tracks that you’ve run this year, in particular when it comes to what you did last week at Iowa, is there any comparison to the racing that you see at Iowa or how you feel that you perform? What you can attribute that or what you can expect as a result going to Richmond next week?

“Yeah, I mean you hope so, but they’re very different. Like Iowa, with the repave and just the conditions there versus Richmond being really slick old asphalt and slow mid-corner, it’s going to be a lot different at Richmond. So yeah, you hope some stuff translates, but Richmond’s kind of its own beast, really.”

With all the data that’s available for you guys to study of different drivers and to look at what SVG has done, how is it that he has been able to win the last three road course races for as talented as the field is?

“Yeah, what I see with him is he looks like us on ovals. You know, he’s just comfortable from lap one. He has a good understanding of what to achieve in his car. He’s smooth. He’s not sliding the tire to make speed, so he’s not out there out of control. When he makes a good lap time, it’s repeatable, and he learns from it. He makes it another good one.

So when I look at him, I just see a guy that just fully understands what we’re doing. What I’ve always been amazed with him is how quickly he adapted to the NASCAR stuff. I assume there’s nuances and differences to how we set the cars up than out in Australia in the Supercars. So, I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of similarities to that car… the low-profile tire, the sequential shifter. I’m impressed with how quickly he adapts to the car, but I think his technique and everything reminds me a lot of how a lot of us achieve stuff on ovals where we’re just comfortable from lap one. He can just find his limits. He’s very particular with the car, as well.”

You’ve won on road courses, so you are talented and can do a lot of the same things. So what’s keeping you from winning three-in-a-row?

“I think you humble yourself pretty quick. You go to the go-kart track up in Trackhouse Motorplex and you see kids that do it every day and they’re right up to speed faster than I am. Whereas I go there maybe once every couple weeks and I’m still quick, but I don’t do it every lap and I make more mistakes. I don’t maybe feel the car as well.

There’s a whole world of drivers that are doing impressive shit that we’re not really capable of, but they would also say the same about us. If they come and run Darlington, I’m sure they would, you know, be a couple laps down. So yeah, everyone grows up differently and we have thousands of laps on ovals.”

You mentioned the point swing at Atlanta last month. How big of a buffer do you feel like you would need going into Daytona to feel comfortable?

“I mean, I don’t know. I don’t want to put a number on it, but I would just like to see how these next couple weeks go. I look at it as this is kind of its own three-race round right here, so good preparation for us. As unpredictable as Watkins Glen, Richmond and Daytona can be, it’s honestly not much different than the Round of Eight. You’ve got Talladega in there this year, so it could be a lot like this stretch.”

What did you think of the new restart zone and how it kind of played itself out?

“Yeah, it looked fine. I think it’s a good improvement than how we were last year, just watching the race back and how many crashes there were up through the esses and into turn one. So I think it’s an improvement and it still puts on side-by-side racing for the lead.”

William, going back to the regular season championship fight, with it being three of the four Hendrick Motorsports cars, are there conversations that have to be had each week on expectations on how to race each other? How does that kind of play out in the shop each week?

“No, I mean, we’ve all raced for wins and raced against each other in the playoffs and championships, so it doesn’t change for the regular season. It’s the same. We all race each other well and, if anything, you just get a little bit more crafty.”

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NASCAR CUP SERIES
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
AUGUST 9, 2025

 Justin Marks, founder of Trackhouse Racing, and Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, met with the media onsite at Watkins Glen International following the announcement of Van Gisbergen’s multi-year contract extension.

Media Availability Quotes:

Big announcement yesterday, Shane (van Gisbergen) has signed with Trackhouse Racing for a few more years. Can you talk to us about what that means for the team?

Justin Marks: “Yeah, this has been this has been a really, really fun project for the company. Obviously, you know, everything happened really, really quickly from Chicago to the Truck race (at IRP) a couple weeks later, into the Indianapolis Cup race, and then a season of Xfinity and now full-time in the Cup Series for Shane (van Gisbergen). I think we’ve got someone here that that can win anytime we show up on the road courses. Winning is so important here in the Cup Series, obviously, but I think what kind of excites us at Trackhouse more than anything is his speed of development on the ovals and just working with him day in and day out and recognizing that even though his history in racing has been not very similar to what the competitors in the Cup Series have with just a lack of experience on the ovals — just his talent, work ethic and kind of showing his progression on the ovals has put our company in a position where we feel excited and comfortable to make a longer-term commitment to Shane. We think he’s got an oval win in him in the Cup Series. Things are just coming together and really starting to gel, so it’s just a good time to make a commitment to each other and we’re thrilled that he that he accepted the offer. We just have to get back to work and keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

Shane, what does it mean to you to have this extension?

Shane van Gisbergen: “Yeah, it’s been an amazing couple of years, as Justin (Marks) touched on — how it’s all snowballed and how we’ve been going. And then this year, you know, it’s been a real learning year but I feel like we’ve made big progression. The road courses have obviously been a bonus the last couple of months. It’s just been a cool team to be a part of — the win lunches we’ve been doing and seeing how much it means to everyone. This week even, the atmosphere in the shop, the build-up and expectations now, it’s really cool. It’s cool to build a relationship with everyone there and, yeah, I’ve just been loving every minute. I’m looking forward to doing it for a few more years.”

Shane, at what point did you decide, I want to stay over here and I want to race in NASCAR? I’m assuming you didn’t necessarily show up in Chicago thinking that, but at what point did you feel comfortable and that this was a place that you thought, I want to stay, I want to do this?

Shane van Gisbergen: “It was probably after Indy when I ran 83rd and I had the most fun of my life just battling people all race on the oval there. Yeah, the truck race was awesome and I thought — this is going to be really cool to do. After Indy, I think we did a deal pretty quickly after that. Like I said, just right from the start, I’ve enjoyed life here and racing every week and the challenge. It was probably time for me to have a new challenge in my career. I’ve raced Supercars for 15 years or something, so yeah, the timing was just perfect and I don’t regret any minute. It’s been the most fun I’ve had in racing for a long time. It’s been really cool.”

Justin, can you address his work ethic to try to get better, to make the push, to be better on ovals because we know he’s got this road course uncovered…

Justin Marks: “Yeah, I mean, I think in this day and age in the Cup Series, it takes a huge commitment because the series is so competitive and it’s the accumulation or the aggregate of so many small things that end up in success in the Cup Series — that’s data, simulation, really understanding the cars, understanding the development of the cars and how things change week to week, all of that. Shane’s just proven very, very quickly that he likes to live in that area, that bubble, of just really understanding all the technical details; understanding how the cars are built and just what it takes to go fast. I think that there’s also just not a lot of noise. It’s just the work. It’s just getting in and doing the work and putting in the hours and the focus when that’s really what’s required to go fast these days — it’s really to understand these race cars and understand the technology, the aero and how to get the most out of them. I think that’s probably contributed to how fast he’s been able to develop on the ovals. He’s a student and he watches tape. He watches the races and looks at the data and really asks the questions of ‘why’. I think that, at this day and age and at this level, that level of commitment, that level of focus and that level of intelligence are real factors in being successful. He’s just demonstrated that from the first time he showed up at Chicago in 2023.”

Shane, this is going to be your first playoff appearance in Cup. What’s realistic for the No. 88 team? Justin, the same question to you.”

Shane van Gisbergen: “I really have no idea. I try not to race with expectations and just take it as it comes. But I feel like we’re ramping up a lot and we’re starting to go to tracks that will be the second time for me, and I felt like I got a lot better at that last year at Xfinity. And yeah, hopefully the same trend this year, but the first round is very difficult. We go to Darlington, which is my favorite oval. But the other two, Bristol and Gateway — I haven’t really been to Gateway before, so it’s going to be very difficult. But if we get to the second round, it’s probably going to be easier than the first one, you know? So I don’t really know how we’re going to end up, but I do feel like we’re improving every week and our average running position or pace is definitely trending in the right direction, so if we execute, who knows what can happen.”

Justin Marks: “Yeah, I don’t know if I think about what’s realistic or what the goals are from like a finishing standings position or anything like that. I think what we have an opportunity to do with the 88 team is to go into the playoffs, have a lot of playoff points and be able to have somewhat of a cushion, so if we go do a good job and he executes it at those first three races to be able to get to the second round, like you mentioned, I think as the momentum continues to grow and his experience continues to grow and we get through that first round and he has a good second round, I think the Round of Eight is something that’s very possible for us. And then you’re really among the best guys in this sport, executing at the most important time of the year, and that’s when it just gets really, really hard. So, I mean, I think the focus is to really just stay with the week in and week out of just improving and grinding. I think this is the first of many playoff appearances for him, so I think it would be good for him to just get the experience of how the dynamic of the championship changes once we get to those rounds.”

Justin, where are you in the Trackhouse 2.0 process right now?

Justin Marks: “Well, I think as we sit here today, I’m probably more excited about the future of this company than I’ve been ever since day one, and I think that started with hiring Todd Meredith, our President of Racing Operations, who’s come in the first three weeks and really done a very deep dive into the organization. This is a guy with decades of experience in the Cup Series and championships under his belt as an executive in the sport who really knows what it takes to assemble great working groups; how to maximize your opportunity every single week, where to push on things, where to organize budgets, where to organize people and org charts, and where to invest in tools and all that. So having him come in has really opened up the 2.0 process. He sat with me two weeks ago in Nashville and sort of presented his plan to me, and I left that meeting just so fired up and so excited. So, you know, it’s going to be a strengthening of our workforce. It’s going to be a strengthening of our tools. We’re right in the middle of that process right now and I think when we unload it at Daytona in 2026, I think the team will just be more powerful than it’s ever been since its inception and I’m really excited about it.”

I understand that teams evolve and teams don’t stay static. You came in with a big push and you guys did some really good things early and were kind of building and building. It seemed like you were kind of on the precipice of something really big and you haven’t been able to meet that, which is why you’re doing 2.0. Why did it get to a point where you were getting close, you couldn’t get over that hump, and then having to go through this 2.0 process? We learn from everything that we go through, so what did you learn from what wasn’t maybe done as well in that case?

Justin Marks: “Well I think if you look over the last decade, the history of the sport, there’s always ebbs and flows and periods of power at different teams and all that. It’s knowledge, technology and process development, things like that.

When the car first came out and the teams didn’t really know how to fully exploit the Next Gen car and we were going to the races in 2022 and 2023, it was really just kind of like an execution game of just getting the car on the racetrack and executing well, and we’re a great team at execution. That really fell into our wheelhouse, so we had a lot of success in ‘22 and ‘23.

Then you have the normal players, your Hendrick Motorsports, Gibbs and Penske, that over time really start to activate the depth in their organizations and the tools and technology they have to really understand what makes the car go fast, and so it’s a different ballgame now than it was in ‘22. As that knowledge center around the cars has developed, that’s where we have found where it’s been more difficult for us because, as an organization, we’re not as big as Penske and Gibbs and all that.

So I think how I’d answer that is just that sport’s gotten tougher and, you know, the cream kind of rises to the top. But with that being said, the plan that we have in front of us I think presents an opportunity for us to come back as strong or stronger than we’ve ever been and really contend for a championship. I’ve seen the plan and I’ve seen the methodology and the psychology around the plan, and it is a championship team framework. It’s going to take money, it’s going to take sacrifice, it’s going to take patience, it’s going to take a lot of work, but as these big teams with a lot of history in the sport now start to really understand the cars, we understand now where we have to make investments and focus our time to get back to where we need to be, and that’s the plan.”

Can you do that as essentially a third Chevy team? I know you’ve talked about just kind of that order. I know you get support from Chevrolet, but maybe just not getting as much as potential…

Justin Marks: “We get the same as Hendrick Motorsports does because we’re a key partner with Hendrick. But Hendrick does have a lot of depth in their organization that we don’t have. I think that I’m very bullish that we can do it because of this race car, and it’s why I’m in the sport to begin with because of this race car. I mean, if it was 2013, I think it would be a lot harder to do it because we’re not designing and manufacturing cars anymore. We understand what that window of success is, and we understand kind of the playbook to be able to get there.

It’s a huge thing for us to be key partners with Chevrolet, so we have access to data and we have access to support. But you’re only as good as what you can do with that support and what you can do with that access and that data, so that’s what we’re focusing on. I think ultimately, we’ll end up in a business structure that puts us in a position to succeed and contend for championships.”

You upended your whole life to come here, and your situation’s a little different, but how long do you want to be here for?

Shane van Gisbergen: “I don’t really know. I haven’t thought about it. I definitely have a lot of years left in me. We’re lucky as race car drivers. We have a very long shelf life, you know? You see guys competitive till their late 40s, so I can go as long as I want. But I do have other things in racing I want to try. I still want to do some European stuff. I want to do Nürburgring 24. That’s on my list to do that properly. I want to do a bit more rally car driving. I got into that 2021-22. That’s a crazy sport, so I’d love to do more of that. But definitely for now, I want to stay in NASCAR and concentrate on that, but I don’t have a timeline. Two years ago, I wasn’t meant to be here, so I’m really happy here at the moment and can see myself doing it for a while. But it is a sport that fully consumes you, you know? I am very homesick. I miss home a lot, and there’s no time to get back there. I’m a long way from home. I’ll move back there as soon as I’m done racing, but yeah, to answer your question, there’s no timeline. I’m happy here for now.”

Justin, Ross Chastain had the high of winning the Coca-Cola 600, and since then, I think he only has two top-10s. Qualifying’s not been great, which probably puts him behind for the whole weekend, so where do you kind of assess where the No. 1 team is at going into the playoffs?

Justin Marks: “Yeah, that’s a great question. The No. 1 team is a very, very talented group of people; very motivated group of people and working very hard. We’re trying a lot of different things right now. We’ve got just a couple weeks left to try a couple things. I mean, the pace in the race, I think, has been pretty good. I think we’re able to make lemonade out of lemons a lot more often than not. I think that for us, we do have to get better on Saturday’s. We absolutely have to get better on Saturday’s if the No. 1 team is going to have an opportunity to deep run into the playoffs because, like you said, if you qualify 28th, it’s just so hard to pull yourself out of that. So that’s where the focus is.

I’ll say that, if we can get those Saturday’s to be better, if we can get the No. 1 team off the hauler faster in practice, better qualifying, better pit selections, and better position for strategy, then we’ll see what that group is capable of. My hope is that we’ll get there. There’s certainly as much fight in that team as there’s ever been. We’ve just got to keep working really, really hard.”

Justin, Shane was definitely, I would imagine, the goal of PROJECT 91 when you started that. I know a lot has gone into Connor (Zilisch) for this year, but do you have any update on any interest for PROJECT 91 going into 2026 and beyond?

Justin Marks: “ I love PROJECT 91. It’s near and dear to my heart. I think it’s important for the sport. I think it’s obviously been very creative to our business. We’ve been able to do big sponsorship deals that have come through PROJECT 91, and obviously great talent through PROJECT 91. So it’s an important mechanism in the business. It is a draw on the company. It is tough. I mean, like Daytona was really, really tough this year to take four cars there, which is why with the races we’re doing with Connor (Zilisch), we just wanted to do Daytona and then park it. I very much would like to keep that program alive. We’ve got a couple of fairly interesting opportunities with everything that we’re trying to do in the company to get us back into championship form.

It’s No. 85 on the list right now, but it’s not dead. There are conversations happening. There is a strategy around it. Just right now, we’ve got to get these three race cars running better on Sunday’s.”

What are your thoughts on racing here at Watkins Glen?

Shane van Gisbergen: “Yeah, it’s a really cool track. It’s like Phillip Island with walls. I feel like it reminds me of that track in Australia. It’s so fast and flowing. We were just having a little walk around and the surface has held up really well for how old it is now. It’s a proper ‘tighten-your-belts’ type road course with no room for error. The walls are so close and it’ll bite you really hard. But yeah, I like it. When you get in a good rhythm here and you can flow the car and try not to use the tire, it’s one of the best feelings in a race car ever around here. Just got to not hit the bus stop wall this year and I’ll be fine.”

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