Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Darlington Media Availability
Monday, August 26, 2024

Wood Brothers Racing celebrated its 100th NASCAR Cup Series victory on Saturday night when Harrison Burton won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Team owners Eddie, Len and Jon Wood spoke to members of the media earlier today about that race and the reaction it has received.

EDDIE WOOD, CEO, Wood Brothers Racing – YOU HAD 315 TEXT MESSAGES JUST A FEW HOURS AFTER THE RACE. WHERE ARE YOU AT NOW AS FAR AS THAT GOES? “I think I’ve got about 177 yet to go. I’ve heard from people that I hadn’t heard from since I was in high school and I’m gonna answer every one of them even if it takes me a week. I’m catching up on it. I spent all day yesterday doing it. Most of the time when you send somebody a text after they send you one, or course, they may answer it and then you get into a conversation and it takes a little while, but it’s a really cool thing to be hearing from that many people.”

WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE HAVING HARRISON, WHOSE FAMILY HAS RACED, WITH A FAMILY-OWNED TEAM? “I think that’s one thing that makes it easy. He grew up around his dad and his uncle racing. His cousins race. You grow up in a racing family and it’s easier to just do things because you know they understand. If Len or I or Jon or somebody is talking to Harrison about something it’s like, ‘You know what I mean. Your family is the same as ours.’ You grew up with racing being the only topic that was ever talked about at lunch or dinner or in the car – wherever you were it was about racing and I’m sure that’s the way he grew up. I know when Kyle Petty drove for us we spent about the first day, we loaded up to go to Daytona and test in January and we just got to talking about, ‘What do they do at your dinner table? Do you all talk? What do you eat for lunch?’ There were so many things that were the same and it’s no different with Harrison.”

WHAT KIND OF INFLUENCE HAVE YOU SEEN JEFF HAVE ON HARRISON AS A YOUNG MAN TRYING TO FIND HIS WAY IN THIS SPORT? “Jeff, being on the TV side of it, a lot of times he’s not where he can come around the car early. He’s doing his day job, but he always comes by and Jeff always watches the races from up top, whether he’s doing TV or whatever. He’s never around the pit box during the race. He’s always on top of the spotter’s stand or somewhere like that, but I think he gives Harrison enough room. As a dad, my son raced too, you can’t get in too deep with it. You just have to kind of be there when they want something. If you see something that is good or bad or you need to talk about it, usually save that for later. Jeff as well as Kim have been big influences on his life. He’s probably the most polite young man I’ve ever been around in my life.”

JON WOOD, President, Wood Brothers Racing – HOW WILL YOU LOOK AT THE TIME HARRISON HAS BEEN WITH YOUR TEAM NOW VERSUS THREE DAYS AGO? “I’m not gonna go too far on this, but I saw a different Harrison Burton that last three miles or five miles, whatever it was. I don’t know if it was a confidence thing that maybe we’ve been missing because there are times where we’re pretty good and there are times when it’s almost like he hits another gear. That doesn’t mean we have to be running up front. I’ll give you an example. Last week at Michigan, he’s racing around some guy and we’re getting passed and getting passed. The next one in line is Hocevar to make the pass on us and it’s like he would have wrecked before he let Hocevar pass him (laughing). It was crazy, and I don’t know if he knows that or if it’s just like a subconscious thing that he’s not aware of. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that I’m hoping this has given him some kind of a confidence boost because I saw a different Harrison those last two laps. It was a very aggressive, a very willing to risk it all type of race that he ran those last few laps.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – WHAT DOES THE WIN MEAN WHEN YOU LOOK BACK ON THIS THREE YEARS WITH HARRISON? “You just remember what just happened. We just never could seem to really find the magic to make it all work and you never know when things are gonna start working. It obviously started Saturday night and, like Jon said, when that restart happened I felt like he was gonna win the race. There’s just so much at stake in these races anymore, but he was willing to risk it all and he did that. To outrun or beat Kyle Busch on a green-white-checker is hard to do. It’s almost unimaginable to some point, and I’d like to say that Kyle, I respect him a lot. He raced those last two laps like the two-time champion that he is. I think he raced with respect. I think Harrison raced with respect and the guys pushing both of them did as well. It was kind of an old school finish right there.”

A GUY CALLED THE RADIO THIS MORNING AND BROKE INTO TEARS BECAUSE OF HOW EMOTIONAL IT WAS TO SEE THE 21 WIN AGAIN. WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT YOUR LEGACY IN THIS SPORT TO SEE THAT KIND OF A REACTION? “I was crying as well. Just about everybody in Victory Lane was that way. Just thinking back about it and it’s still there. Sometimes I even get to thinking about Trevor’s win in 2011 and get kind of emotional. Racing is something that you just put everything you’ve got into it and everybody does. If you’re a real racer and probably the older you are the more it means, but I’m just proud of all the team that put it all together and all the people that helped us get here. All of the fans. We’re in Stuart (VA) today and there have been a lot of people in and out of the museum and they’re the same way. They know more about the finish than I do, which is really amazing now and a lot of them are my age. They watched it on TV. They didn’t see it on the phone. They watched every minute of it and it’s just really cool.”

JON WOOD CONTINUED – “I tried to touch on this the other night and I was looking at Lee and I got a little bit choked up, but the thing that stood out to me the most was sitting in that same exact seat in that same media center in Daytona and thinking back to where we were in 2016. We didn’t want to be there. We didn’t want to have to face the music and sit in front of everybody and really almost it wasn’t that we were lying, but when dad said that we’re gonna be OK and everything is gonna be alright, we didn’t know that. We were hoping, but we didn’t know that and it was a really, really, really difficult time, and so to have sat there then and went through that at the lowest of lows, and then to be able to go back and be on one of the highest of highs, it was just really a contrast for me. I got tangled up when I was trying to express that, but I think I can do it now and do a little bit better job.”

LEN WOOD, COO, Wood Brothers Racing – “I think it was me that said we’ll be OK, and we were. I said if we perform like we’re supposed to, we’ll be fine, and I think that year we did, and then the following year with Blaney we did excellent. But we’ve overcome all that. To go back to our fans, winning is hard and it should be. We don’t win a lot, but I think when we do, then the built-up emotions come out when we do win. I’ve had people say that they were laying on their floor crying or jumping up and down crying. For me, I didn’t cry, but I was so happy to see the smile on Harrison’s face and his mom and his dad. That was what was the best part for me.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – “Yeah, I would agree with that. Harrison’s mom, Kim, and his girlfriend usually are on the pit box. Kim is always there. I would imaging that she has been to every race – go-kart, pedal car, whatever it is – she has always been there. Just the happiness with those two and Jeff, that was a big deal. I told Jeff. I said, ‘You know, winning fixes things.’ Things that seem to be such a big deal yesterday or this morning, when you win it just fixes everything. Running well fixes a lot, but winning just makes a wet road dry.”

LEN WOOD CONTINUED – WHAT WAS LEONARD’S REACTION? “He’s telling us everybody that’s called him, from Roger Penske to Ray Evernham to Chip Ganassi. He’s over the moon as well. Like I said, we’re in Virginia now, so he was very happy and actually Uncle Delano and Aunt Crystal – the last three of the original group – were at our shop today and we had a picture taken with a 100 win banner.”

JON WOOD CONTINUED – WHAT WERE YOU THINKING IN THE CLOSING LAPS WITH KYLE BUSCH AND HARRISON GOING AT IT? “I think the way that I look at these speedway races is I count the cars that are running and I look at it from where can we be worst case. That isn’t a direct attack on Harrison, that’s just how these races unfold. So as that race progressed I kept thinking, ‘OK, there are 30 left. The worst we can be is 30th.’ Then there’s 20. Then there’s 15. Then there’s whatever there was on the lead lap, but Harrison is on the front row. On that final restart I’m thinking, ‘As long as he doesn’t get just totally knocked out of the way, we should come out of here with something to not be ashamed of.’ It did not dawn on me until I saw his car on the frontstretch, like right before the start-finish line, that he had a chance to win it. It’s not something that you allow yourself to think about because it’s almost like you’ll jinx it.”

LEN WOOD CONTINUED – “We were watching on TV in the lounge. We went to the lounge because we could hear better the talk from pit road. It was one of those things where you had to almost had to watch the TV, watch him go by and like, ‘Wait a minute. Did we really do it?’ And once we did, then we’re jumping up and down. You didn’t think going down the backstretch, ‘Well, we’re gonna win this race.’ But, there again, we’ve been so close so many times that you’ve got to get to the start-finish line. It’s just like David Pearson and Richard Petty in ‘76. Well, Richard Petty is gonna win. Well, wait a minute, he stalled. No, he didn’t. Eddie was on the radio with Pearson and he asked where Richard was at and he said, ‘Well, he’s stalled,’ and he said, ‘Well, I’m coming.’ And so it wasn’t over until it was over. It was the same thing as this. It’s not over until the cross that start-finish line, so you never know.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU THAT LEONARD WOOD IS STILL HERE TO HELP CELEBRATE THIS 100TH WIN? “That’s a really big deal to us. I don’t know how many of you have been around Leonard lately, but he works everyday at the museum. Our museum, of course, is our old race shop, so it’s a full machine shop and all that. It’s like a race shop, but he works everyday. A lot of times he works on Saturdays and he’s got projects. He and Benny Belcher, which is another machinist that works there since the mid-eighties, they just work on projects. Right now, he’s building a half-size, half-scale BOSS 429 and it’s made out of aluminum – like pieces of aluminum. There’s nothing made on a CNC machine. It’s all hand done. This morning was the first time I saw him since the race and it was just like he was there. He knew as much about it as if he had been there. He’s just got such an understanding of racing and his mind is just as sharp. In fact, his workmanship now is probably better than it was when he was crew chief in the seventies or eighties. I’m really happy he’s able to enjoy it too. He may get to come to Darlington. He’s talking about coming to Darlington, so that will be cool.”

LEN WOOD CONTINUED – “He turns 90 in about a month and you wouldn’t know it. As Eddie said, he is at the peak of his craftsmanship right now in making things. It doesn’t matter what we ask. What’s broken that we hand to him, he hands it back fixed or exactly like we asked.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – WHAT DOES HE SAY WHEN YOU TELL HIM YOU’RE GOING TO JOSH BERRY NEXT YEAR? DOES HE HAVE ANY SAY IN THAT? “He was aware of it. He’s aware of everything that goes on, but he’s an old crew chief. Crew chiefs know just about everything about everything, and they know how to understand things and they see through things. They’re able to see things that the rest of us don’t sometimes, so he was aware that we were gonna probably make a change for ‘25 and Josh was one of them that he had recommended. He never even met him. He just watched him race, but he’s watched a lot of great drivers and crew chiefed for a lot of great drivers through the years and guys like him, they just know. But he’s over the moon happy for Harrison and Jeff and Kim. We’ve known that family since Jeff, in fact I think Len may remember this, but we were testing in Loudon, New Hampshire one summer and Jeff was up there with at that time was a Busch car, and then about the next year all of a sudden Jeff Burton starts for Jack and starts winning races, so we go back a long ways.”

WOOD BROTHERS RACING HAS NEVER BEEN A TWO-CAR OPERATION. “They raced two cars a couple times, but we never ran all of the races or the full schedule until Kyle Petty came to race for us in ‘85. So, in the mid-sixties one time they took three cars to Riverside, California and one of them was Dan Gurney, who won the race, and Marvin Panch, I think, finished second and Curtis Turner was in the third car and I think he was in the top six. But it was always us as a family team. We didn’t have enough people to do that, but we always had enough support and things from Ford Motor Company. During the eighties, Citgo petroleum was our sponsor and we had Purolator to assist with the Ford stuff in the seventies, but it just never was something that we really pursued. These guys that have four cars now and Jack used to have five. I don’t know how they keep up with it, but he told me one time you just got one car and you multiply by four or five or whatever it is, you just do it that way. But single car stuff has always worked for us.”

JON WOOD CONTINUED – WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR 2025? “I would hope that Josh Berry at least performs as well as he is each week now. There’s not gonna be the distraction that is probably taking place inside that shop right now, and I don’t know what level of influence that’s having on their performance, but it’s got to have some. So, I would hope that he at least performs as well as he is each week next year for us and that’s really about all I can say. That’s what I hope.”

LEN WOOD CONTINUED – DO YOU SEE A POINT WHERE HARRISON COULD POSSIBLY GET TOGETHER AGAIN AT SOME POINT? “I told Harrison several weeks ago, ‘Never say never.’ We had Neil Bonnet twice – two different sessions back in the eighties. It was almost eight or nine years apart, so never say never.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – “This is the only business in the world where I think it’s unpredictable. People that you never thought would work for you or drive for you or whatever. I mean, look at Richard Childress and Kyle Busch. They had a fistfight and now Kyle races for Richard. You can be mad today and you’re over it tomorrow. That’s one thing in racing that you get over being upset or whatever you want to be really quickly because nobody cares. Everybody moves on and racing just kind of overshadows any emotional parts. You’ve got to because the race cars won’t wait and you have to go.”

LEN WOOD CONTINUED – “There’s no driver that’s driven for us before that doesn’t come around to our hauler or come by to speak. No matter where we see them, all of our relationships are like once you’re part of the family, you’re part of the family.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – IS IT DIFFERENT GOING THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE WITH A FIRST TIME WINNER? WAS THAT PART OF THE EMOTION AS WELL? “I think so. I was thinking about it the other day of the first time winners that we’ve had. It was Trevor, Elliott Sadler, Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty, Harrison now, Blaney, Tiny Lund in 1963 he won the Daytona 500 the first time out. Winning a first race with someone, a young man like that, that’s just a double win. That’s why it was so important. When I said winning kind of fixes everything, whatever bad races you’ve had or whatever, you forget all that stuff. Winning fixes everything.”

JON WOOD CONTINUED – “And Harrison really is one of those guys that you just want him to do good so bad. He’s just got that personality, that respect, self-respect. He’s just one of those people that you can’t not like, and so for us it’s been double hard with making this change for next year because you just want him to do good so bad, and that applies to whatever ride or whatever car he ends up in next year. You still just want it so bad for him because you can see it in him and you can see it in his eyes and he’s just a good kid.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – “You just want to hug him. I said that the other night. When he walks in a room, you want to walk on over there and hug him. That’s just the way it is.”

LEN WOOD CONTINUED – WHAT WILL THE FEELING BE LIKE AT DARLINGTON BECAUSE YOU’RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST RACE? “I think the first race last year we finished sixth. There was an accident near the end and we were hoping to restart third and they lined us up sixth, so you never know until they cross that start-finish line at the end.”

EDDIE WOOD CONTINUED – “The way I look at it is we were fortunate enough to win a race Saturday night and you get to enjoy that until you get to Darlington. When they start unloading the cars, ‘OK, that race is over.’ You’re back like everybody else. Everybody is looking to win the next week and you get to enjoy it that long, though.”

LEN WOOD CONTINUED – “And we actually had a Sunday extra there. We had one more day.”

Global sports collectibles company announces first-ever NASCAR memorabilia collection with stars Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing.   

CARLSBAD, CA (August 26, 2024) – Upper Deck, the worldwide leader in sports and entertainment collectibles, today announced the launch of its new agreement with NASCAR Cup Series team 23XI Racing. The collection will feature authenticated memorabilia and trading cards of NASCAR stars Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace.

The collaboration will debut with the season’s current no. 1 ranked driver, Tyler Reddick, racing in the No. 45 Upper Deck Toyota Camry XSE on Sunday, Sept. 1, in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The paint scheme features 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan alongside Tiger Woods and Wayne Gretzky, who are exclusive Spokespeople for Upper Deck Authenticated memorabilia and collectibles. To start their collection, race fans can download a free promotional digital trading card featuring Tyler Reddick’s Upper Deck race car today on e-Pack.

“This collection is monumental for Upper Deck as it reintroduces racing into our diverse lineup of premium authenticated memorabilia,” said Upper Deck President Jason Masherah. “Just as 23XI burst onto the NASCAR scene with speed and determination, we’re bringing racing to our portfolio with the same energy. We’re thrilled to celebrate iconic moments from this fan-centric sport.”

Wallace, 23XI’s first driver and one of the most recognizable names in NASCAR, and Reddick, a two-time winner this season and two-time Xfinity Series champion, will be the first racing additions to Upper Deck’s roster in over 20 years. Among the memorabilia collection, fans can find race-worn suits, autographed artwork, and more.

Steve Lauletta, President of 23XI Racing, shared, “This partnership is great for our team and our fans. By entering the exciting world of collectibles, our supporters now have another unique opportunity to celebrate and commemorate 23XI’s successes. Through this collaboration, we’re able to seamlessly integrate two fandoms into one remarkable experience to be cherished.”

Upper Deck’s 23XI Racing memorabilia collection will be available later through the Upper Deck Store and Upper Deck Certified Diamond Dealer hobby shops.

About Upper Deck

Upper Deck is a global entertainment company creating trading cards, memorabilia, collectibles, games, and online platforms that deliver the experiences collectors crave. Upper Deck has set the unmatched industry standard for quality, authenticity, and innovation and continues to bring generations of fans closer to their favorite athletes and characters with unique and authentic sports and entertainment product offerings, as well as its digital trading ecosystem. The company prides itself on creating collectibles that produce invaluable experiences for sports and entertainment’s most dedicated and loyal fans, with a goal to deliver excellence to the community across the most coveted properties as a means to develop memorable moments for collectors of all kinds.

Find more information at http://www.upperdeck.com, www.UpperDeckBlog.com or follow us on Facebook (/UpperDeck), Instagram (UpperDeckSports), Twitter (UpperDeckSports), and YouTube (UDvids). 

About 23XI Racing

23XI Racing – pronounced twenty-three eleven – was founded by NBA legend Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin in 2020. With rising NASCAR star Bubba Wallace selected to drive the No. 23 Toyota Camry, the team made its NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 2021 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Wallace made history on October 4, 2021, when he captured his first career Cup Series win, becoming just the second African American to win in the Cup Series, and earning 23XI its first-ever victory. 23XI expanded to a two-car organization in 2022 with Cup Series Champion Kurt Busch driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry. With a win at Kansas Speedway in May of 2022, Busch earned 23XI the team’s first-ever playoff berth. 23XI currently features the lineup of Bubba Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota Camry and Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota Camry. In 2023, both Wallace and Reddick earned spots in the NASCAR Playoffs. The team operates out of Airspeed, a state-of-the-art facility in Huntersville, N.C. that opened in January of 2024.

NOAH GRAGSON
Darlington Advance
No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 26 of 36)
● Time/Date: 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 1
● Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
● Layout: 1.366-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 367 laps/501.32 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 115 laps / Stage 2: 115 laps / Final Stage: 137 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● The Cook Out Southern 500 will mark Noah Gragson’s third career NASCAR Cup Series start at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, but his first in the Southern 500. Both of Gragson’s previous Cup Series starts at the 1.366-mile oval have come in May during the Goodyear 400. Gragson finished 26th in last year’s Goodyear 400 and improved on that number this year when he finished 14th.

● Gragson’s lack of NASCAR Cup Series experience at Darlington does not mean he’s lacking experience at the egg-shaped oval. In fact, Gragson has seven NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the “Track Too Tough To Tame,” and he seemed to tame Darlington by scoring an average finish of fourth. His worst finish was eighth, and in his last three Xfinity Series starts at Darlington, Gragson scored two wins and earned one second-place finish. The Las Vegas native has a 100 percent lap-completion rate at Darlington and he led a total of 253 laps, nearly 25 percent of the 1,035 laps available.

● Gragson’s first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Darlington came on Sept. 4, 2021, when he started eighth and led five times for 40 laps, including the final 10, to take the win by .219 of a second over runner-up Harrison Burton.

● Gragson’s second NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Darlington came in his final Xfinity Series start at the track on Sept. 3, 2022. He started second and took the lead on the fourth lap of the 147-lap race. He wound up leading four times for a race-high 82 laps, winning with a .794-of-a-second advantage over his nearest pursuer, Sheldon Creed.

● Gragson will make his eighth career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Darlington on Saturday. The 25-year-old will pull double duty this Labor Day weekend by driving the No. 30 Ford Mustang for Rette-Jones Racing in the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 before piloting his signature No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Ford Mustang Dark Horse in Sunday’s Southern 500. It will be Gragson’s fourth Xfinity Series start of the year and he will be going for a fourth straight top-10. Gragson wheeled a Rette-Jones Racing-prepared Mustang to a 10th-place finish May 25 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, a fifth-place result June 29 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, and a sixth-place effort Aug. 17 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Ford Mustang Dark Horse

How do you feel about Darlington serving as the regular-season finale and the last chance for drivers to earn a playoff berth?

“It’s a fun, challenging racetrack, especially with the Southern 500. It’s a long race. It wears you out emotionally and mentally, and you’ve got to stay focused for 500 miles around that track. It’s a tough place. I personally enjoy that track a ton. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m super excited for it.”

You’ve said that you feel like Darlington is one of your better tracks. Why?

“I just feel like I know every bump and crack around that track. If my car’s driving one way, I can move around the track and help my car’s balance just by switching up my line. I just have a really good understanding of, if I position my car one way or another, how it’s going to affect the balance of it.”

You finished a respectable 14th in your first visit to Darlington earlier this year. How did that race unfold for you and are there any takeaways from it that you can apply to your return trip to Darlington this Labor Day weekend?

“We just kind of struggled the whole weekend getting the car where we wanted, and then I hit the wall in qualifying in turn one trying something that I normally wouldn’t do. Going back there, I’m taking the approach that I’m just going to drive that track the way I want to drive it. It was earlier in the season and we were still trying to figure each other out between me and my crew chief. I think we’ve gotten to a good place now where I feel like we can have some more success there.”

The Southern 500 is 100 miles longer (74 additional laps) than your first race at Darlington was back in May. Is a race at Darlington akin to the Coca-Cola 600, where it’s a test of stamina as much of a test of skill?

“The Southern 500 will definitely mentally drain you and you have to stay focused. It’s a long one, so you’ve got to focus in, and you’re thinking and using your full potential, from the green flag to the checkered. It’s a tough track to get around by yourself in practice, and then when you get out there with other racecars trying to pass them and stuff, you’re definitely draining your mental capacity battery pretty quick.”

Darlington is known as the track “Too Tough To Tame.” When you went there for your first and only NASCAR Cup Series start last year, did it live up to its billing?

“I feel like I really had a good handle on Darlington when I raced in Xfinity – I’ve won a couple of Xfinity races there. We didn’t really have great speed in the Cup car there last year, which was disappointing because I had higher hopes. It’s a track that gives you different options. You can run the bottom, you can run the top, and the (two ends of the track) are shaped differently. I think the biggest part is just not overdoing it and getting into the wall, but I like running right up against that wall, so it comes a little bit more naturally to me.”

In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, you got along with the “Lady in Black.” Seven career starts and seven top-10 finishes, with two wins, including your last Xfinity Series start there. You had command of Darlington in the Xfinity Series. How?

“I just loved running the top at Darlington. There are only a handful of guys who can really run the top efficiently, building up that precision and accuracy, and it takes a lot of focus to run up there. Just getting comfortable doing it at all the tracks – Vegas, Homestead, Kansas, Darlington – those are all places where you run the wall. So all those tracks are really good practice on how to get comfortable and how to run it, and I feel like I’m one of the better guys at running the wall. We had really good runs there, and if we didn’t finish first, we were always second, third, fourth – we always had a shot to win, and we led a lot of laps there. It’s one of my favorite tracks, for sure.”

How much can you rip the wall at Darlington before you rip your car into pieces?

“You don’t want to hit the wall. You want to be as close as you can get, but you don’t want to hit the wall. I actually don’t even go up to the top lane in (turns) one and two. You see a lot of guys drive the bottom of the racetrack on entry, slide up in the center and then turn back down. I kind of just run the middle of the corner through there. I’ve just never gotten a good handle on doing that diamond in (turns) one and two. But (turns) three and four, I’m pretty committed to the fence. Just being smart and not overdoing it. Obviously, the tires wear out and that’s where you see guys bite themselves. They start to get comfortable up there and they gain their confidence by running the wall, but their tires are also wearing out. You think, ‘Man, I could push it just a little more because I have a little more confidence, I’ve worked up to it,’ but you also have less grip, so that’s where you see that place bite you.”

You’re in a NextGen car. You wear a full-face, state-of-the-art helmet, combined with a state-of-the-art firesuit and shoes, and a six-way seatbelt system keeps you secure in a custom-molded seat. Do you ever wonder how a guy like Richard Petty ran 500 miles at Darlington in overalls and whatever helmet he could find, in a car not far removed from what was on the dealership floor?

“That’s all they knew back then. It sounds crazy for us now, but back in the day they still ran it how they ran it because that’s all they knew, right? You know, 20 years from now, we’re going to be looking at today and saying, ‘I can’t believe those guys in 2024 were doing stuff like this. It’s nuts.’ Stuff evolves and you grow and you learn more.”

No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Noah Gragson

Hometown: Las Vegas

Crew Chief: Drew Blickensderfer

Hometown: Decatur, Illinois

Car Chief: Jerry Cook

Hometown: Toledo, Ohio

Engineer: James Kimbrough

Hometown: Pensacola, Florida

Spotter: Andy Houston

Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Ryan Mulder

Hometown: Sioux Center, Iowa

Rear Tire Changer: Trevor White

Hometown: Arlington, Texas

Tire Carrier: Tyler Bullard

Hometown: King, North Carolina

Jack Man: Sean Cotten

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Fuel Man: James “Ace” Keener

Hometown: Fortuna, California

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Chris Trickett

Hometown: Grafton, West Virginia

Mechanic: Beau Whitley

Hometown: Carmel, Indiana

Tire Specialist: Jacob Cooksey

Hometown: Westbrookville, New York

Engine Tuner: Matt Moeller

Hometown: Monroe, New York

Transporter Co-Driver: Steve Casper

Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Matt Murphy

Hometown: Augusta, Georgia

DAYTONA, FL – August 26, 2024 – Harrison Burton won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, marking his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series and 100th win for Wood Brothers Racing.

“Congratulations to Leonard, Len, Eddie, Jon, Jeremy, Harrison, and everyone at Wood Brothers Racing on the race win at Daytona,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Reaching 100 wins in the Cup Series is a monumental achievement for the Wood Brothers and a reflection of the passion, dedication, and talent this family has brought to our sport. It’s an honor to be a part of their journey and to see them reach such a significant milestone.”

“I cried for the whole cool down lap. It’s just been the hardest three years of my life. There’s no denying. It’s just been rough and these guys have rallied behind me when it matters the most. Going to every single race with the same mentality of trying to win because we could get number 100. We kept saying that in our meetings that we had a chance to get No. 100 for the Wood Brothers and that’s something that you can’t take lightly. We as a group have that place in history now forever for the 100th win for the Wood Brothers and, to me, that just means the world,” commented Burton.

“This is beyond words,” remarked Eddie Wood, CEO and co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing. “This has been such a long time coming, the hundredth win. We’ve been with Motorcraft Quick Lane and Ford Performance for over twenty years and you just can’t put that into words. Edsel Ford, all his family, Jim Farley – there’s just so many people in our world to make this happen. It’s just unbelievable.”

“Ford and Motorcraft Quick Lane have stuck behind us for over twenty years now,” said Len Wood, COO and co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing. “To get our 100th win is so special, and we couldn’t do it without those people. It’s great to get a win here at Daytona. This is the place you want to be, right here.”

“The Wood Brothers are family to us at Ford and to see them get their 100th win means so much to all of us who have followed them through the years,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “When you think of Ford and its NASCAR program, you think of the Wood Brothers. Their loyalty to us for the last 74 years is unmatched and we couldn’t be prouder.”

Seven Ford Performance drivers started Saturday night’s race from the top-10 with Front Row Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland sweeping the front row, Team Penske’s Joey Logano in 3rd, Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Ryan Preece in 4th, Josh Berry in 5th, and Chase Briscoe in 6th, along with Team Penske’s Austin Cindric in 8th. The field remained 3-wide for the entire first stage with several drivers swapping the lead back and forth. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry won Stage 1, earning his first stage win of the season. After pit stops during the stage break, Team Penske’s Joey Logano took the lead and didn’t look back, winning Stage 2. After several late-race cautions, the race went into overtime. Harrison Burton started on the outside of the front row alongside Kyle Busch. Burton was able to make the race-winning pass on the last lap, finishing 0.047 seconds ahead of second place Kyle Busch.

Four Ford Performance drivers finished in the top 10: Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware in P4, Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing’s Brad Keselowski in P8, and teammate Chris Buescher in P10.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series also raced at Daytona on Friday. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst finished in P4 and RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg finished in P5.

The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series both compete this weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC.

About Roush Yates Engines
Roush Yates Engines is a leading-edge engine development company based in Mooresville, NC consisting of two state-of-the-art facilities – Roush Yates Engines and Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions, a world class AS9100 Rev D/ISO 13485 certified CNC manufacturing facility. The company’s core business includes designing, building and testing purpose-built race engines.

Ford Performance in partnership with Roush Yates Engines is the exclusive engine builder of the NASCAR FR9 Ford V8 engine.

With an unparalleled culture of winning and steeped in rich racing history, Roush Yates Engines continues to follow the company’s vision to lead performance engine innovation and staying true to the company’s mission, provide race winning engines through demonstrated power and performance.

CHASE BRISCOE
Darlington Advance
No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 26 of 36)
● Time/Date: 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 1
● Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
● Layout: 1.366-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 367 laps/501.32 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 115 laps / Stage 2: 115 laps / Final Stage: 137 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● The Cook Out Southern 500 will mark Chase Briscoe’s eighth career NASCAR Cup Series start at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. In his last visit to the 1.366-mile oval in May for the Goodyear 400, the Mitchell, Indiana, native scored his first top-10 at the track via a strong fifth-place finish. Briscoe had seemingly been building up to that result, with five top-20 finishes in his six prior Darlington starts to earn an average result of 18.2. His best Cup Series result at Darlington prior to this year was 11th, earned in the 2021 Goodyear 400. Briscoe finished 15th in last year’s Southern 500.

● Darlington is known as “The Track Too Tough To Tame,” but Briscoe has tamed the venerable, egg-shaped oval in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He scored a dramatic victory at Darlington on May 21, 2020, beating Kyle Busch in a fender-scraping, tire-rubbing duel where the margin of victory was just .086 of a second. Both Briscoe and Busch led 45 laps that day, but Briscoe led the lap that mattered most as he took the lead from Busch on the final lap. It was the fourth victory in Briscoe’s tally of 11 career Xfinity Series wins. In Briscoe’s two other Xfinity Series starts at Darlington, he finished sixth (August 2019) and 11th (September 2020).

● The 2024 season marks Darlington’s 74th anniversary, with the track having hosted 126 NASCAR Cup Series races. The first came on Sept. 4, 1950 and it was the first 500-mile race in NASCAR history and the first on asphalt. Johnny Mantz drove his Plymouth to the win with an average speed of 75.250 mph and the race took 6 hours, 38 minutes and 40 seconds to complete. Juxtapose that with Kyle Larson’s win in last year’s Southern 500, where he had an average speed of 120.906 mph and the race finished in 4 hours, 8 minutes and 47 seconds.

● In addition to Darlington being known as “The Track Too Tough To Tame,” the venerable facility has another nickname, “Lady in Black.” This moniker was bestowed upon Darlington by the late sportswriter and 2016 Squier-Hall Award recipient Benny Phillips. In homage to the “Lady in Black,” Briscoe is driving a black-and-white HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the Southern 500 in place of HighPoint.com’s traditional blue-and-white colors.

● HighPoint.com is a leading provider of technology infrastructure solutions that is headquartered in Sparta, New Jersey. HighPoint has been a partner of Briscoe and Stewart-Haas Racing since 2020 when the company supported Briscoe’s NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign, a collaboration that netted a season-best nine victories and earned Briscoe a promotion to the NASCAR Cup Series. HighPoint has climbed the NASCAR ladder with Briscoe and has helped Stewart-Haas maximize its IT investments. Said Briscoe about the partnership: “Even though we race stock cars, there’s nothing stock about what we do. The science of our cars is impressive, but the technology that goes into building our Ford Mustangs and then making them perform is even more advanced. Our IT needs are pretty complex, and we demand a lot from our technology every day, whether it’s at the shop or at the track. HighPoint provides efficiency and security. They’re more than just a sponsor – HighPoint is a partner that helps us perform.” As an IT Solutions Integrator focused on all things that connect, HighPoint helps its customers with the selection and supply of network infrastructure, mobility, collaboration, data center, security solutions and the risk-mitigated implementation and management of their technology. The company, founded in 1996, is a minority-owned business that serves markets in its nearby Tri-State Region (New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware) and the southeastern United States via its presence in Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as globally with offices in Amsterdam and London. To learn more about HighPoint’s solutions, please visit HighPoint.com.

● The story of how HighPoint.com came together with Briscoe and Stewart-Haas is one that could’ve been scripted in Hollywood. In November 2019, while walking to dinner after attending the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Kevin Briscoe was stopped by a stranger who noticed his No. 98 Stewart-Haas hat. The man was Mike Mendiburu, founder and CEO of HighPoint.com, and he said he was a big fan of Chase Briscoe, then a young NASCAR Xfinity Series driver from Mitchell, Indiana, who was driving the No. 98 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas. Kevin informed Mendiburu that Chase was his son and the two carried on a conversation like they were old friends. The two walked away with Kevin accepting Mendiburu’s business card, just in case the Briscoes ever needed anything. Months passed and Chase Briscoe was told that he may not have a ride in the No. 98 for the 2020 season if funding couldn’t be found. So, Stewart-Haas was given Mendiburu’s information and an agreement was reached for HighPoint.com to sponsor Briscoe. That chance encounter in Las Vegas led to a nine-win season in 2020. In October of that year, midway through the playoffs, Briscoe arrived at Tony Stewart’s house in Indiana for what he thought was a discussion with his team owner about whether HighPoint.com would be returning as his sponsor for the next season. The group sat down for dinner and Briscoe, joined by his parents, was informed a decision had already been made – he would be leaving the No. 98 Xfinity Series program to become the next driver of the team’s No. 14 Cup Series entry, the car Stewart himself wheeled during his driving tenure at Stewart-Haas. “I wouldn’t have a career if it wasn’t for Mike and everyone at HighPoint.com,” Briscoe said. “Going into 2020, I was going to be done. They literally came in the fourth quarter with 30 seconds left on the clock and kept things going. Without them, I think my career would’ve been over.”

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang

How do you feel about Darlington serving as the regular-season finale and the last chance for drivers to earn a playoff berth?

“I like it. I love going to Darlington. It’s easily in the top-three of my favorite racetracks. I’m all for it. It’s a cool race to have for the opener of the playoffs because the Southern 500 can have so many things happen and it’s just a real challenge for the drivers, the cars, everything. I liked it as the playoff opener and as the regular-season closer. We finished fifth there earlier this year and I feel like it’s a really good opportunity for us to go there and be in the mix and maybe get a win. The Southern 500 is one of the crown jewels and it’s going to be a cool race, no matter if it’s in the playoffs or not.”

Do you feel like a race at Darlington is more in your hands, as opposed last week at Daytona where you had to rely on others to push you in the draft?

“As a racecar driver, you definitely have more control over your own destiny at Darlington than you do at a place like Daytona. You know at Daytona you can do everything right and just get caught up in someone else’s mistake. Not that that can’t happen at Darlington, but the odds and the chances of it aren’t as great. There still are a lot of variables there, too. At Darlington, your car has to be driving good. At Daytona, your car doesn’t have to be driving as good to be up in the mix. There’s give and take at both of them, but certainly at Darlington, I feel like when we go there I kind of hold the keys a little bit more as far as what happens and how we run. I’m looking forward to going there, but like I said, the car has to be good, too. That’s kind of the fine balance. At Daytona, you can take whatever car and, if you put yourself in the right position and make the right moves, you can be there at the end, where at Darlington, a driver probably makes a little bit more of a difference, but you also have to have a really good car to be up front.”

You finished a strong fifth in your first visit to Darlington earlier this year. How did that race unfold for you and are there any takeaways from it that you can apply to your return trip to Darlington this Labor Day weekend?

“Darlington was a track where we just ran solid all day. We were never the fastest car on the racetrack, and we probably finished about where we should’ve. We were about a fifth-place car and I thought we did a really good job of maximizing our day and doing everything right to put ourselves into that position. If we could’ve qualified better, it would’ve made our job a little bit easier. Coming off a fifth-place finish the last time we were there is obviously encouraging because we knew we had a pretty good car. I think Josh (Berry) ran third there, too. He was up in the mix. We had two really good cars that day and we knew we had a good balance and speed, but we also need to get our cars a little bit better. We have a good foundation, we have a good baseline, and that allows us to kind of fine-tune that and just make our car a little better and not have to reinvent the wheel, which is always nice.”

The Southern 500 is 100 miles longer (74 additional laps) than your first race at Darlington was back in May. Is a race at Darlington akin to the Coca-Cola 600, where it’s a test of stamina as much of a test of skill?

“I would say the Southern 500 is harder than the Coke 600 because at the Coke 600, you run the top, but you don’t run a quarter of an inch off the fence like you do at Darlington. At Darlington, you just can’t take a single break. We’re downshifting, riding the wall, and the car’s slipping and sliding all over the place. It’s just a different style than what you have at Charlotte. I definitely think it’s very similar to the Coke 600 from a stamina standpoint and just how you have to get your car to the end. That’s the thing I would say is a little bit more challenging at a place like Darlington than it is at the Coke 600. At the Coke 600, you don’t put your car in as bad of a spot running the wall, where at Darlington, to make speed, you’re going to have to run the fence, so you’re going to get into it at some point. It’s a challenge, for sure, but honestly it’s one of my favorite races of the year. I love going there and know I’m going to be running 500 miles on the fence and slipping and sliding around. It’s just a ton of fun from the driver side of things.”

How much can you rip the wall at Darlington before you rip your car into pieces?

“You can do it all day if you’re good. It’s definitely easy to get caught up there and get into the wall because it just invites you. The closer and closer you get to the wall, the more and more speed you make. And you hear about it, right? It’s the Lady in Black, she invites you to keep running in there harder, and then you drive harder and flirt with her and dance with her a little bit more, and then she slaps you. It’s always a challenge there because it is 100-percent faster the closer you run to the wall, and then you try to get that little bit extra and then you’re into the wall. It’s different than any other racetrack. At every other racetrack, you kind of lift at the same spot, you use the same amount of brake, whereas at Darlington the tires are falling off so much, literally every single lap you run, nothing is the same, so you’re constantly changing, and that’s what makes it so challenging.”

When you finish a race at Darlington, regardless of where you finish, is there a sense of accomplishment?

“I felt like early in my career when I ran the whole day and I finished and I didn’t crash, that was good, but I feel like now you don’t necessarily have that same level of accomplishment. It’s almost one of those things where if you come in and the right side’s not torn up, you’re like, ‘Man, I probably wasn’t driving hard enough.’ You kind of want the whole right side destroyed by the end of it because if you come in at the end of the day with a clean car, you’re probably not driving hard enough.”

What makes Darlington challenging for you?

“Darlington’s been a place where I’ve had success in the past, and it’s always been a place where I feel like I understand what I need. And I’ve always been good there. I’ve never been necessarily great at Darlington, but I’ve always been kind of OK from a speed standpoint. That first time I went there in the Cup Series was still in the old car and it drove a lot like what I grew up racing there as far as the Xfinity stuff goes. The NextGen car has been a little bit more of a struggle, just because how I drove Darlington didn’t necessarily fit the current generation of car. I’ve had to change my style there over the last year. I feel like every time we’ve gone there we’ve gotten better and better.”

When you won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington in May 2020, you had to beat Kyle Busch. How big of a deal was that victory, and do you consider it one of your greatest victories?

“I would say that win certainly put me on the map as far as having conversations about going Cup racing. Before that, I don’t think anybody thought I was necessarily Cup-caliber, and I felt like after winning there, beating Kyle Busch and doing it the way we did it, being literally just heads-up and being able to outrun him there changed a lot of people’s perspectives. I know for me it was huge just from a confidence standpoint. I mean, I beat Kyle Busch in an Xfinity car and I did it at, of all places, Darlington. So just from a confidence level, that was big for me, and every time I’ve gone back there, I feel like that’s kind of just carried over, just knowing that you beat one of the best to ever run around this place. I know that I’m capable of doing it, it’s just a matter of putting all of those pieces back together. But certainly I would say that was one of the biggest wins of my career. Still, literally every single weekend, somebody brings that race up to me, like a fan does, and they don’t do that about other races. So, certainly it was one of the biggest wins of my career.”

Do you feel like you go back in time when you go to Darlington?

“Every time you go to Darlington, it’s like you’re stepping into a time machine. Just the racetrack, it doesn’t matter what era of racecar you put on it, whether it’s a NextGen, a Gen 4, 5, 6, it’s like none of them are going to drive that good, they’re all going to be slipping and sliding around, the tires are going to get worn out, you’re going to have more power than you need, and that’s unlike a lot of racetracks we go to. And then even the facility, it’s not the fanciest facility we go to, it doesn’t have the nicest things for fans, realistically. But when you go there, you know you’re not going for that, you’re going for that authentic, early NASCAR experience, and that’s what it feels like when you drive through the tunnel at Darlington. Whether you’re in the garage area or you’re on the racetrack, it doesn’t matter where you’re at on those grounds, it just feels very sacred and just feels like you’re in a time machine.”

You’re in a NextGen car. You wear a full-face, state-of-the-art helmet, combined with a state-of-the-art firesuit and shoes, and a six-way seatbelt system keeps you secure in a custom-molded seat. Do you ever wonder how a guy like Richard Petty ran 500 miles at Darlington in overalls and whatever helmet he could find, in a car not far removed from what was on the dealership floor?

“It is crazy just to think about the roots of NASCAR, and just the roots of racing, in general, like how far we’ve come in not a long period of time. You think about how they were literally taking cars pretty much from the showroom, guys were out there racing in their street clothes and pretty much anything they could get on their head that would work – it could be a bucket and they would run with it. It’s pretty crazy just how far we’ve come. Even talking with my dad about his early days in sprint cars, it literally had four Dzus buttons that you would take out with a flathead screwdriver, it was a quarter turn, that’s all that would lock their seat in, and that was it. You just wouldn’t even think about doing that these days. It’s definitely wild to think about how far we’ve come as just a culture with motorsports, and certainly glad that we’ve come that far, but yeah, those guys were certainly stallions in a world of ponies.”

No. 14 HighPoint.com Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Chase Briscoe

Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana

Crew Chief: Richard Boswell

Hometown: Friendship, Maryland

Car Chief: J.D. Frey

Hometown: Ferndale, California

Engineer: Mike Cook

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Spotter: Joey Campbell

Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala

Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois

Rear Tire Changer: Dakota Ratcliff

Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Tire Carrier: Jon Bernal

Hometown: Holland, Michigan

Jack Man: Kapil Fletcher

Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Fuel Man: Corey Coppola

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams

Hometown: Plymouth, Wisconsin

Tire Specialist: Keith Eads

Hometown: Arlington, Virginia

Shock Specialist: Brian Holshouser

Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips

Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri

Transporter Co-Driver: Todd Cable

Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Dale Lackey

Hometown: Taylorsville, North Carolina