Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Straight Talk 500 Qualifying — Phoenix Raceway
Saturday, March 7, 2026

LOGANO CAPTURES FIRST CUP POLE OF THE YEAR FOR FORD RACING

• Joey Logano captured the first NASCAR Cup Series pole of the season for Ford Racing today.
• The pole is Logano’s 34th overall and third at Phoenix Raceway.
• Logano’s pole is his 29th with Ford Racing, which puts him fifth on the manufacturer’s all-time list. Only Fred Lorenzen (30), David Pearson (31), Mark Martin (39) and Bill Elliott (48) are ahead of him.
• The pole is Ford Racing’s 713th all-time in NASCAR’s top series.

Ford Qualifying Results:

1st – Joey Logano
3rd – Austin Cindric
5th – Ryan Blaney
10th – Josh Berry
13th – Ryan Preece
17th – Chris Buescher
24th – Zane Smith
30th – Todd Gilliland
35th – Noah Gragson
37th – Brad Keselowski

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

TAKE US THROUGH YOUR LAP. “Today the car was really good. I don’t know if I can take much credit. The car drove really well and I just kind of took what it gave me. The car, I thought was good in race trim – a lot of sliding around from everybody. It’s funny because it doesn’t drive nice, but the pace was there, which was encouraging for tomorrow because it still feels like there are some areas to get better, and then Paul and Joe and the guys did a good job at dialing it in and getting the balance really good for qualifying to where I didn’t have to do anything crazy to make speed. It just happened, so I’m really proud of that. Obviously, this is a big weekend for Team Penske with the Indycars here. Malukas getting the pole for here in a few minutes when that race starts, and then us being able to do it on our end, too. There’s a little bit of a rivalry there. I don’t know if we’ve really talked about it, but I think internally all of us want to deliver some wins this weekend. On top of that, our paint scheme for this weekend is also really special. It’s the Scott McLaughlin Bathurst 1000 win, so that was really big for his career, but also really big for Team Penske. That car won, I think it was 18 or 16 races that year. It was a boat load. You start to lose count when you get to your toes, so he’s definitely done a lot in that paint job, so it’s neat to continue some of that success, at least in qualifying.”

TEAM PENSKE WON BOTH POLES AND ROGER IS HERE. THINGS ARE LOOKING GOOD THIS WEEKEND. “This is a big weekend for us. There are a lot of partners here. The hospitality trailer setup there going into turn one, so you want to make sure you have a good run. It’s the worst feeling, and I’ve been through it on both ends. I’ve been through it where everybody comes to the race and you don’t show up. There’s just nothing good to show them, and then there are times where everybody is there and you win and there’s really nothing better than that, so everybody is here and it’s nice to show that. All of the Team Penske cars are fast – our three cars, the three IndyCars all looked solid yesterday in practice as well. Now it’s just time to execute the race, which is the hard part.”

ALL THREE DRIVERS ARE STICKING AROUND TOMORROW FOR YOUR RACE. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? “I think they’ll be on the pit boxes, yeah. I don’t know what a timing stand is. Welcome to NASCAR over here. We’ve got to get them used to it. I’ve got to go up to the Fox booth here in a minute for the IndyCar race and my terminology is a little different than what they’re used to over there, so it’s gonna be fun. We’ve had a good time doing some fun things this week so far out here all together. We obviously are around each other a lot at home with our race shops being the same building, but this is the second time I can remember that we’re at the same racetrack together, so it’s fun to be able to talk to each other about the differences. Usually, we talk about the differences, but we’re at different racetracks. Now we’re at least at the same track and you can hear how they drive their cars and what they need out of it and those types of things versus us. It’s polar opposites. It’s so different, but fun to talk about.”

WERE YOU EXPECTING TO WIN THE POLE TODAY? “You never know anymore. When you have practice like we used to have, like a longer practice when you can put a set of tires on and you can maybe make a mock run. You’re like, ‘OK, I kind of see what we have for pace.’ But these days you just don’t know. You just go out there and you go as fast as you can and you don’t know if you’re gonna be 30th or first. It’s really hard to say before the run starts. Obviously, the 2 had a pretty good lap going out early and still was able to qualify, I think, in the top five, so that’s pretty impressive to do it as early as he did, so I felt like if I didn’t screw up, the speed was in the car. I just had to make sure I got all of it out of it. Like I said, the speed is there for the Penske cars right now.”

WHAT HAS ROGER MEANT TO YOU PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY? “I think probably everyone in this room has had some kind of interaction with Roger at some point, probably, and I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I’m sure it’s been the most professional thing that you can be involved around. As a driver for him, or even someone just on the team, those are the people that you want to be around – somebody that’s gonna do something the right way, that’s gonna do it in a professional way, but is also very competitive and wants to win no matter what it is. Business. Racing. You name it, he’s gonna want to be the best at it. You can imagine as a competitor no matter what your position is on a team, you want to be with the best. I say this all the time, but you can’t soar like and eagle when you’re working with turkeys and he’s an eagle. Those are the ones you want to attach to. You want to fly together and I’ve been very fortunate to drive for him for the last 14-15 years and I think when you look at the tenure of the employees, the sponsors, the drivers, no one really moves that often. Once you’re in, you want to be there. Nobody wants to leave because you’re gonna see success eventually, one way or another. Everyone works hard. Everyone has the same culture and the same thought process. It’s something I’m really proud of. I take a lot of pride in saying I drive for Team Penske because I think it’s a dream for almost all drivers to say that you’ve driving for Roger Penske. You see the list of legends that has driven for him and it’s ridiculous, so to have your name be part of that, it’s something I take a lot of pride in and I don’t take that lightly. Those guys are the ones that built the company over 60 years, and then for us to have the opportunity to carry the flag and continue that, that’s really special.”

IT SEEMS LIKE PHOENIX IS SPECIAL PLACE FOR YOU. “Yeah, I mean it’s been special for the last few years because of the championship race and we’ve had some success out here racing for championships, so it’s been a special place for that reason. The cars have been fast here, but, to your point, Roger’s got some dealerships right up the road with the museum as well that’s really, really cool. So, yeah, I wouldn’t call it a home track, but it’s definitely one of our tracks that we consider close to home – maybe a vacation home if you will. It’s a place that everybody enjoys coming to because there are a lot of partners we have out here as well with Discount Tire and them as well, so it’s definitely a special place.”

HOW WILL YOUR MINDSET CHANGE FROM QUALIFYING TO THE RACE? “I think tomorrow the big thing that’s in our mind right now is that the track temp is going to be up significantly from what we just had in practice and what does that do to our race car. Obviously, we’re gonna go slower. The pace for the whole field will be down. The cars will be slipping and sliding. The track will rubber up. It will get wider, which is good. It was already getting wide in practice, so the track will be getting a little bit wider so we can have more options to pass. Fall off is gonna be a real thing. There’s a lot of thoughts right now and some things that we want to do to dial our car in a little bit better too as well.”

CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH HOW YOU MENTALLY PREPARE FOR A RACE AND HOW THAT CHANGES WHEN YOU GET IN THE CAR? “For me, I just want to be prepared to see everything that’s coming my way and that’s how I mentally prepare. I don’t have a psych you up music or something that tries to get you rolling or any superstitious stuff. That’s not who I am. I just want to know the facts and get as many of those in my mind as I can and that’s gonna mentally make me feel confident. If I can know as much about the race before it happens, that’s what’s gonna get me prepared and ready. That’s my job during the week and then you get your report card when it comes to Sunday.”

WHAT PERCENT OF THE SLIDING AROUND IS DUE TO THE 750, THE TIRE, AND JUST TEMPERATURE? “It’s hard to put a percent on it. I’d say the power is definitely in effect. It’s not huge, but it’s directionally that way. I think anytime you talk to a race car driver they’re gonna say to put more horsepower in it, but the fact that it seems like the fall off is pretty high, cars are searching around already. That has to go into the equation somehow. You’re on the brakes more. You’re on the gas a little bit less, but you’re spinning them more. It’s just easier to wear the tire out. That just promotes a wider track. That just promotes better racing, so whether it comes from tire wear or the engine, more power that creates tire wear. All of it kind of goes together. It’s all a package. It’s hard to say what is affecting it the most. There’s no doubt that Goodyear has done an incredible job of bringing a tire that actually falls off because for years here you’d run a whole run and it was like three-tenths, four-tenths slower than what you started. Now, you’re second off, so we’ve come a long, long way. Goodyear has done the biggest amount. If you were to say what’s what. Goodyear is the biggest component to that. The engine definitely is directionally better. I think we also have to be open for more. Just because we’re sitting up here saying this is good, it’s never good enough, but I think for what we’ve done at this racetrack, this is gonna be a great race tomorrow. One of our better races, in my opinion.”

WERE YOU SLIDING AROUND MORE? “I felt like it. I felt like I was sliding around a little bit more and the tire is the same, so I’ve got to assume that it’s the temperature a little bit, but also the power.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Our Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang Dark Horse had really good speed in practice and qualifying, so starting third puts us in a solid position. If we can keep tires on it and stay in the mix, I think we’ll have a shot. It’s been a tough start to the year with some of the damage we’ve dealt with, but today showed what this team is capable of.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s a really good day for us. It looks like we’re gonna be really good in qualifying. I thought our race speed was pretty good and the qualifying lap was OK. I kind of missed it a little bit. I didn’t have the cleanest one, but we’re starting fifth. I’m proud of the effort. All three of our Ford Mustangs are in the top five, 1-3-5. It’s awesome and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fry’s/Artesano/Kraft Ford Mustang Dark Horse – IS THERE CONCERN ABOUT TIRES? “Yeah. There’s some concern. It’s something we’ve got to figure out and dive into, knowing the issues we had here the last race I thought we took steps to correct. We’ll dive into that a little bit further. I would say that where we fired off and balance and long run speed, if you call 15 laps long run, I was fairly happy with our car, but at the end of it we need it to last a little longer. We’re gonna certainly dive into it. We’ve got our post-practice meetings coming up here, so we’ll try and figure out if we can diagnose if it’s something specific to us or another Phoenix.” DID YOU NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE WITH HORSEPOWER? “I would say I was not quite to the point of the run where it’s really gonna show up big. I unfortunately did get to watch a lot of SMT and it sure looks like it’s gonna be a handful as we get late in the run. I would say the amount of fall off that we’ve seen, that’s where you’re gonna feel it is that point where you’re not able to use it. When we fire off in qualifying and you can get wide-open, whether it’s 670 or 750, you don’t get that big seat-of-the-pants feel, but when you’re unable to use all you’ve got, that’s when you start noticing. I’d say it’s got potential to change this race a little bit.” YOUR TIRE PROBLEM WAS AT 15 LAPS, SO COULD IT BE AN ISSUE WITH INDYCAR OR NOAPS RUBBER? “Maybe. We were group one, so is there something to that? Maybe. It was a right side. I know the 35 had a left side. The 6 had a right side, so it’s strange to be both sides. I feel like that’s not very typical, so I don’t have the answers yet.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAPPENED? “I guess I blew a right-front tire going into turn three. It’s surprising. We had put a bunch of air in it after our teammate had issues and we still had an issue.” YOU’VE HAD A CHANCE TO ASSESS. WILL YOU GO TO A BACKUP? “Most likely. The front clip appears bent, but I’ll let these guys figure it out.”

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Media Availability — Phoenix Raceway
Saturday, March 7, 2026

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse, stopped by the Phoenix Raceway infield media center to answer questions about his season to date and this weekend’s race. Keselowski is currently 12th in the series point standings.

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse – THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT COOL SHIRTS SINCE AUSTIN. WHAT DO YOU TELL YOUR TEAMS AS FAR AS THE BALANCE OF KEEPING A DRIVER COOL VERSUS POTENTIAL MODIFICATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE? “Our group, we let the teams have that autonomy of what they want to run, so if the driver wants to run a cool shirt, he runs a cool shirt and we try to provide the necessary engineering support to make sure that there isn’t an issue. I had one last year where we probably didn’t do a good enough job with that and we came back in and buttoned it up. Cool suits are a tough thing because they’re not designed in our environment to fail to safe, so when they fail, it’s fairly devastating and occasionally those things are gonna happen. It’s unfortunate when it happens to anyone, not just our team. There’s a solve that’s being worked on for all the different teams, but nothing seems to have been bulletproof yet. It’s one of the nuances of currently racing in the Cup Series.”

YOU HAD JOEY HAND ON STAND BY LAST WEEK, BUT YOU OPTED TO STAY IN THE CAR. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT WHEN YOU ALMOST HAD A FAIL SAFE PLAN TO HAVE A GOOD POINTS DAY? “Well, Joey was a fail safe in case I wasn’t able to run the race, where if I felt I couldn’t be competitive. In the car, I felt competitive. I felt like I could drive it to its limits and any change was just gonna put us further back, not because Joey isn’t a good driver, but by the time you execute a change and go to the back of the pack and do all those things and he can re-acclimate in a car that’s not made for him, not fitted for him, etc, that’s a lot to ask of somebody. If I felt like I was holding the team back, I would have made a change, but I didn’t feel that way.”

DID YOU ENJOY PARTICIPATING IN THE FULL SPEED SHOW? “I watched a few clips. I can’t say I’ve seen the entire thing. I think it just came out a day or two ago and I’ve been pretty jammed up, but that said, it’s great that this sport has that level of coverage. I think when I started in the Cup Series the teams and the sponsors were really, really protective around doing things like that, but the industry has found a way to get the teams in a better place and the different producers have over the years been more accommodating as well to making sure we don’t put things in there that embarrass ourselves or the sport, so I think that we’ve found a nice balance. I’m really proud of the sport for being able to put those types of things together, and I think Amazon as a whole, what they’ve brought to our sport, in my eyes at least, is underappreciated. They’ve put a big investment in the sport. They’re promoting really hard with not just the races that they cover, but the things they do outside of covering the races to cover the sport, so it’s refreshing to see that level of engagement.”

HOW DO YOU LIKE SHARING THE WEEKEND WITH INDYCAR AND WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO RACE IN AN INDYCAR? “I tested an IndyCar at Road America about 10 years ago and I loved it. I had a lot of fun. What’s really, really difficult is that all of my time in Cup I’ve never been with a manufacturer in the Cup Series that competes in the IndyCar Series and to go back and forth between the two is considerable pain for the OEMs that is tough to justify. I think that window for me has probably come and gone. There was a time where I was very, very interested, but life takes us in other places and I’m not complaining.”

HAS THE PREPARATION FOR PHOENIX THIS TIME AROUND CHANGED SINCE IT’S NOT HOSTING THE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT ANYMORE? “One of the things that I really like about the format that we have switched to for 2026 is every race is kind of a championship race. The way the points stack up, significantly with a bonus to the winner. That has large ramifications to how the championship is gonna play out. Tyler Reddick winning the first three races is not just huge in the sense of how hard that is to achieve, it’s huge in the sense of the ramifications it has for him for being a real contender for the championship because of the extra bonus points that are offered. The structure of last year’s points, honestly, him winning the first three races was not super meaningful to the playoffs or to the championship. It was just a nice stat to have, so I look at this format and what it’s intended to do. It’s intended to make every race a big race and, for us specifically, this is what I think most of the teams would tell you is the start of the regular season. It’s more of a traditional racetrack and more of what we’re going to see. It values the things that most of the races from here on out are going to value, whether that’s speed in the race car, tactics by the driver, execution by the pit crew, or strategy by the crew chiefs. Those four elements are more represented here than they are the first three weeks of the season and more representative of the challenges we’re gonna have throughout the rest of the year.”

HOW ARE YOU FEELING AFTER THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE FIRST THREE RACES? HOW ARE YOU HEALING? “Really well. This is supposed to be a six to 12 month recovery and I’m on track to do it in three to four, which is great. I was just saying to my team when I was coming here that I got out of the motorhome and took my first three or four steps without a cane. I’m like, ‘I’m almost ready to be rid of this thing.’ Mentally, I’m ready to be rid of it, but physically I’m not. It feels good. Yes, driving the car is not the best thing for me in some ways, whether it be the vibration or the loads or just the movements to get in and out, but once I’m in the car I feel reasonable. I can’t say it’s the best I’ve ever felt, but I feel reasonable. There are little setbacks that come from driving the car with dehydration or just the workload in general, but with a day or two of recovery I’ve been able to come back even stronger each of the three races we’ve had so far. I’m really happy just staying the course and putting the work in and dealing with the pain. In some ways, it’s good for me because it provides the motivation to put the work in to do the rehab at a really high level and I think that’s been really good for me.”

THERE IS SOME IRONY THAT YOU’RE HIGHER IN POINTS THIS YEAR THAN A YEAR AGO WHEN YOU WERE HEALTHY. IS THAT A REFLECTION OF THIS ADDED WHATEVER YOU’RE HAVING TO DEAL WITH? “Certainly from the outside-in it could appear that way, but I would say that the start of last year was not very good for the 6 team and there was a lot of reasons for that. Some of it was poor luck and some of it was just poor execution. We turned over pretty much the entire team from ‘24 to ‘25 and that was a big transition. Now, the team has got its legs underneath it and I think it can position itself to be a contender.”

MICHAEL JORDAN HAS A TEAM THAT HAS WON THREE IN A ROW. DO YOU FIND THAT HIS PROFILE HAS BEEN GOOD FOR EVERYBODY IN THE SPORT? “Yeah. It’s hard to argue against Michael having a positive influence on the sport. I love the fact that he’s so engaged and at the races. I just can’t emphasize enough how important that is, not just for Michael, but for any of the key stakeholders to just have a physical presence at the racetrack, and that’s at all levels, not just the team level. So, for him to have a physical presence, I think it’s a testament to his fortitude for being a part of this sport because, let’s face it, even though he’s won the first three races, he’s lost a lot more as every car owner will. It’s not a dig on him. If I’m a guy like him, personally, and I wake up and say, ‘Where do I want to be today,’ and I know that I have less than a 10 percent chance of winning, flying my butt all across the country when I have all the things that Michael has is probably something that takes me a minute to emotionally justify, but he does. I’ll give him a lot of respect and credit for that because this sport is a grind, not just for the people that work in it, but also for the key stakeholders, whether it be team owners, executives, etc. He’s made the decision and choice to participate at a high level to be engaged. The fringe benefit for the sport is the brand that he has outside of it, which naturally comes with him, which I think is a great thing. I’m happy for him. I’m happy for the sport. It’s hard for me to see any negatives. I’m sure there are probably some out there, but I don’t see them and I”m genuinely happy that he’s a part of our sport.”

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Media Availability – Phoenix Raceway
Saturday, March 7, 2026

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse, stopped by the Phoenix Raceway infield media center to answer questions about his season to date and this weekend’s race. Keselowski is currently 12th in the series point standings.

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse – THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT COOL SHIRTS SINCE AUSTIN. WHAT DO YOU TELL YOUR TEAMS AS FAR AS THE BALANCE OF KEEPING A DRIVER COOL VERSUS POTENTIAL MODIFICATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE? “Our group, we let the teams have that autonomy of what they want to run, so if the driver wants to run a cool shirt, he runs a cool shirt and we try to provide the necessary engineering support to make sure that there isn’t an issue. I had one last year where we probably didn’t do a good enough job with that and we came back in and buttoned it up. Cool suits are a tough thing because they’re not designed in our environment to fail to safe, so when they fail, it’s fairly devastating and occasionally those things are gonna happen. It’s unfortunate when it happens to anyone, not just our team. There’s a solve that’s being worked on for all the different teams, but nothing seems to have been bulletproof yet. It’s one of the nuances of currently racing in the Cup Series.”

YOU HAD JOEY HAND ON STAND BY LAST WEEK, BUT YOU OPTED TO STAY IN THE CAR. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT WHEN YOU ALMOST HAD A FAIL SAFE PLAN TO HAVE A GOOD POINTS DAY? “Well, Joey was a fail safe in case I wasn’t able to run the race, where if I felt I couldn’t be competitive. In the car, I felt competitive. I felt like I could drive it to its limits and any change was just gonna put us further back, not because Joey isn’t a good driver, but by the time you execute a change and go to the back of the pack and do all those things and he can re-acclimate in a car that’s not made for him, not fitted for him, etc, that’s a lot to ask of somebody. If I felt like I was holding the team back, I would have made a change, but I didn’t feel that way.”

DID YOU ENJOY PARTICIPATING IN THE FULL SPEED SHOW? “I watched a few clips. I can’t say I’ve seen the entire thing. I think it just came out a day or two ago and I’ve been pretty jammed up, but that said, it’s great that this sport has that level of coverage. I think when I started in the Cup Series the teams and the sponsors were really, really protective around doing things like that, but the industry has found a way to get the teams in a better place and the different producers have over the years been more accommodating as well to making sure we don’t put things in there that embarrass ourselves or the sport, so I think that we’ve found a nice balance. I’m really proud of the sport for being able to put those types of things together, and I think Amazon as a whole, what they’ve brought to our sport, in my eyes at least, is underappreciated. They’ve put a big investment in the sport. They’re promoting really hard with not just the races that they cover, but the things they do outside of covering the races to cover the sport, so it’s refreshing to see that level of engagement.”

HOW DO YOU LIKE SHARING THE WEEKEND WITH INDYCAR AND WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO RACE IN AN INDYCAR? “I tested an IndyCar at Road America about 10 years ago and I loved it. I had a lot of fun. What’s really, really difficult is that all of my time in Cup I’ve never been with a manufacturer in the Cup Series that competes in the IndyCar Series and to go back and forth between the two is considerable pain for the OEMs that is tough to justify. I think that window for me has probably come and gone. There was a time where I was very, very interested, but life takes us in other places and I’m not complaining.”

HAS THE PREPARATION FOR PHOENIX THIS TIME AROUND CHANGED SINCE IT’S NOT HOSTING THE CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT ANYMORE? “One of the things that I really like about the format that we have switched to for 2026 is every race is kind of a championship race. The way the points stack up, significantly with a bonus to the winner. That has large ramifications to how the championship is gonna play out. Tyler Reddick winning the first three races is not just huge in the sense of how hard that is to achieve, it’s huge in the sense of the ramifications it has for him for being a real contender for the championship because of the extra bonus points that are offered. The structure of last year’s points, honestly, him winning the first three races was not super meaningful to the playoffs or to the championship. It was just a nice stat to have, so I look at this format and what it’s intended to do. It’s intended to make every race a big race and, for us specifically, this is what I think most of the teams would tell you is the start of the regular season. It’s more of a traditional racetrack and more of what we’re going to see. It values the things that most of the races from here on out are going to value, whether that’s speed in the race car, tactics by the driver, execution by the pit crew, or strategy by the crew chiefs. Those four elements are more represented here than they are the first three weeks of the season and more representative of the challenges we’re gonna have throughout the rest of the year.”

HOW ARE YOU FEELING AFTER THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE FIRST THREE RACES? HOW ARE YOU HEALING? “Really well. This is supposed to be a six to 12 month recovery and I’m on track to do it in three to four, which is great. I was just saying to my team when I was coming here that I got out of the motorhome and took my first three or four steps without a cane. I’m like, ‘I’m almost ready to be rid of this thing.’ Mentally, I’m ready to be rid of it, but physically I’m not. It feels good. Yes, driving the car is not the best thing for me in some ways, whether it be the vibration or the loads or just the movements to get in and out, but once I’m in the car I feel reasonable. I can’t say it’s the best I’ve ever felt, but I feel reasonable. There are little setbacks that come from driving the car with dehydration or just the workload in general, but with a day or two of recovery I’ve been able to come back even stronger each of the three races we’ve had so far. I’m really happy just staying the course and putting the work in and dealing with the pain. In some ways, it’s good for me because it provides the motivation to put the work in to do the rehab at a really high level and I think that’s been really good for me.”

THERE IS SOME IRONY THAT YOU’RE HIGHER IN POINTS THIS YEAR THAN A YEAR AGO WHEN YOU WERE HEALTHY. IS THAT A REFLECTION OF THIS ADDED WHATEVER YOU’RE HAVING TO DEAL WITH? “Certainly from the outside-in it could appear that way, but I would say that the start of last year was not very good for the 6 team and there was a lot of reasons for that. Some of it was poor luck and some of it was just poor execution. We turned over pretty much the entire team from ‘24 to ‘25 and that was a big transition. Now, the team has got its legs underneath it and I think it can position itself to be a contender.”

MICHAEL JORDAN HAS A TEAM THAT HAS WON THREE IN A ROW. DO YOU FIND THAT HIS PROFILE HAS BEEN GOOD FOR EVERYBODY IN THE SPORT? “Yeah. It’s hard to argue against Michael having a positive influence on the sport. I love the fact that he’s so engaged and at the races. I just can’t emphasize enough how important that is, not just for Michael, but for any of the key stakeholders to just have a physical presence at the racetrack, and that’s at all levels, not just the team level. So, for him to have a physical presence, I think it’s a testament to his fortitude for being a part of this sport because, let’s face it, even though he’s won the first three races, he’s lost a lot more as every car owner will. It’s not a dig on him. If I’m a guy like him, personally, and I wake up and say, ‘Where do I want to be today,’ and I know that I have less than a 10 percent chance of winning, flying my butt all across the country when I have all the things that Michael has is probably something that takes me a minute to emotionally justify, but he does. I’ll give him a lot of respect and credit for that because this sport is a grind, not just for the people that work in it, but also for the key stakeholders, whether it be team owners, executives, etc. He’s made the decision and choice to participate at a high level to be engaged. The fringe benefit for the sport is the brand that he has outside of it, which naturally comes with him, which I think is a great thing. I’m happy for him. I’m happy for the sport. It’s hard for me to see any negatives. I’m sure there are probably some out there, but I don’t see them and I”m genuinely happy that he’s a part of our sport.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
PHOENIX RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MARCH 7, 2026

Connor Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Phoenix Raceway.

Media Availability Quotes:

You’ve raced a lot of other stuff outside of NASCAR. Is there any realistic possibility or chance we see you one day racing in endurance in Europe?

“Not anytime soon. No, I’m pretty committed to NASCAR and what I’ve got going here. I’ve always dreamed of racing at Le Mans and stuff like that. But yeah, it’s going to have to wait.”

Did you enjoy participating in the latest edition of Full Speed? What was the most satisfying aspect of that for you?

“Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I’m very new to NASCAR, obviously, and although I feel like I’ve made it to the Cup Series quickly, not a lot of people really know me, how I got here or much about me at all. So yeah, it’s cool to share my story a little bit through that docuseries. I haven’t watched it yet, but I saw clips from it before they posted. I thought they did a really good job piecing everything together. I was going to watch it on the flight here, but I ended up playing Mario Kart the whole flight. But I’ll end up watching it sometime here in the next few days.”

With some of the drivers having issues with cool shirts last week, do you relook at what you do, or do you just have confidence in what your team’s doing with it?

“Yeah, I mean, it’s always a risk when you wear that thing is that it could always fail. But you know, you have t to have airflow to it. That’s a big part of it. If you cut off the airflow to the cool shirt box, it gets hot and fails. I’ve always made sure to tell my team that I’ll give up a count or two of downforce to make sure that I’m not going to burn up inside the race car, and if that means flowing a little extra air to it, then so be it.

But you know, I’ve never had one of those fail… knock on wood. But yeah, surely last week if mine failed, it would have been a really tough day. It was already hot and when those things fail, it gets hotter than just being in the car without anything.

Yeah, it’s always a risk. But thankfully, I haven’t had one fail on me yet.”

I don’t know how many times you’ve run for points, but is it startling to see yourself 32nd?

“It’s not what we want, obviously. Although it’s early, you still think about it. But it’s a very long season. We’re three races into 36, so although I’d rather be sitting inside the top-10 and say ‘yeah, it’s good’, a lot of it’s out of our control. I feel like we’ve ran better than 32nd in points so far this year, and the results just haven’t really shown it. So yeah, we just got to keep doing our thing and it’ll turn around.”

I’m curious if you’ve found that people are willing to run with you because you bring such a strong resume into the series? Have you not had that kind of a problem in terms of getting people to run with you? What would you say has been the biggest lesson that you’ve learned as a full-time Cup Series driver?

“Yes and no. I mean, I think if Joey Logano’s lined up behind me and he has the option to push Brad Keselowksi who’s got 25 years of experience, or me, he’s probably going to push Brad.

But I think it definitely helps not having a bad reputation, so I think there’s a lot of guys that are willing to work with me. But, you know, not a lot of people have seen me on track to trust me or whatever it is. But yeah, it’s definitely something that you build over time and it’ll continue to grow.

I would say after each race, you can’t let it get to you. Obviously I’ve had a couple rough weeks so far, but you just have to keep doing the same thing and know that it’s going to turn back your way eventually and that things are going to start to go well. After the first two weeks, I was sitting dead last in points. I went to COTA last week and felt like I had a chance to win the race and finish 14th. It sucks, but you got to know that there’s a lot left in front of you and you can’t stress on the things that are out of your control.”

You said you played a little bit of Mario Kart on the flight down here. Who’s your main character and what’s your favorite track?

“Yeah, a couple of my crew guys on my team, we all have Nintendo Switches and we hop on Mario Kart on the flights to make them a little quicker. When you don’t have Wi-Fi, I guess that’s the stuff you do (laughs). I switch around. I was running Donkey Kong for a little bit. You know, he’s my go-to, but my favorite track would probably be rainbow road. I like rainbow road. But it’s fun. It passes time. The flights out here on the charter planes can get long, so it’s good to have something to keep your mind busy.”

With this being a combination weekend with INDYCAR here today, I know that one of your bucket list races is the Indianapolis 500. Have you had any interaction with those drivers so far, or are you going to have some today?

“No, I haven’t. I’ll probably walk out to the grid before the race. I’ve got a couple of friends out there that I’ll go say hello to and wish luck, but I’ve been pretty focused on what we’ve got at stake this weekend in the Cup Series. I’ll watch their race. I’ll hang out for the race. You know, I’m curious to see what it’s like, but I haven’t been doing anything around the paddock.”

Coming to Phoenix for the first time in a Cup car, you had good runs here in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. What’s your expectation? What have you heard about the shortcut there in these next generation race cars? How do you prepare to get ready for this new challenge you have this weekend?

“Yeah, I’m excited. Phoenix is a really cool racetrack. There’s a lot of ways to go about it. I think the dog leg is rough no matter what race car you’re in. You’ve always got to readjust your helmet after you get done with rolling through there. I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like in a Cup car. I know it’s a little bit quicker. You know, you’re shifting. It’s my first time ever shifting at an oval. I guess I shifted at like St. Louis last year, but in the Cup car, at least, it’s my first time.

So yeah, I’m excited to see what it’s like. It’s going to be cool to figure it out, and hopefully we can have a good weekend.”

You’re three starts into your first full-time Cup season and a handful more before that. Would you say your comfort level is with the Next Gen car compared to all the other cars you’ve driven?

“Yeah. I mean, we’re three races in, but really, the season starts this weekend in a way. Obviously, I can’t say that exactly, but the first three races, we had two speedways and a road course, so this is the first race where you kind of start to figure out where we are as a team and how fast our race cars are going to be. Phoenix is the first test to that. So yeah, it really all starts this weekend. I feel like I’ve done a good job at the speedways and last weekend at the road course, but this will really be the test of how comfortable I am. I think it’s just going to continue to get better as the year goes on.”

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