Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Quaker State 400 Qualifying — EchoPark Speedway
Saturday, July 11, 2026

BLANEY EXTENDS FORD POLE-WINNING STREAK AT ECHOPARK SPEEDWAY

Ford Racing ran its streak of NASCAR Cup Series poles at EchoPark Speedway to seven after Ryan Blaney took the top spot this evening. It also continues a streak that has seen the Blue Oval sweep the front row in each of those qualifying sessions. Team Penske has led the way during this stretch as all three drivers – Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric – have qualified in the top 10 for each race. The organization has also had at least one driver start on the front row in each of the last seven events. Here’s a list of Ford’s qualifying success since 2023.

FORD POLE STREAK AT ECHOPARK

• Ford has won the last seven NASCAR Cup Series poles at AMS (Joey Logano twice, Aric Almirola, Michael McDowell twice, and Ryan Blaney twice).
• Ford has swept the front row in seven straight AMS qualifying sessions: Blaney/Logano (2026-2), Logano/Berry (2025-2), Blaney/Cindric (2025-1), McDowell/Blaney (2024-2), McDowell/Logano (2024-1), Almirola/Blaney (2023-2), Logano/Cindric (2023-1).
• Team Penske has had at least one driver start on the front row in each of the last six races (Blaney and Logano, 2026-2; Logano, 2025-2; Blaney and Cindric, 2025-1; Blaney, 2024-2; Logano, 2024-1; Blaney, 2023-2; Logano and Cindric, 2023-1)

Ford Qualifying Results:

1st – Ryan Blaney
2nd – Joey Logano
8th – Austin Cindric
10th – Brad Keselowski
13th – Chris Buescher
17th – Josh Berry
19th – Ryan Preece
21st – Todd Gilliland
34th – Zane Smith
36th – Noah Gragson
38th – Chad Finchum

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 BodyArmor Flash I.V. Ford Mustang Dark Horse – POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN TAKE AWAY FROM TODAY THAT WE CAN PULL INTO TOMORROW TO PAINT THE PICTURE? “I’ve got nothing for you. It changes a lot in the draft and stuff like that tomorrow. Whether you’re leading or not it changes a ton – the bumps and just how your car handles. It’s just nice to have a good day. Honestly, every single other person on this 12 group other than me should be sitting up here because they’re the reason we won the pole today. They did a good job of building a fast car, but there’s not much you can take away from today to apply to tomorrow.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERS DIDN’T QUALIFY WELL. IS IT A CASE WHERE ONCE THE RACE STARTS IT DOESN’T MATTER THAT MUCH? “I feel like we’ve seen that. I feel like they normally don’t qualify great at these speedways with just the build of their race car. Usually, that means they can probably be aggressive in the draft and get in the middle and get to the top and things like that, so I’m sure we’re gonna see them up there. You look at the spring race here and the Toyotas were really fast when it came race time. They handled really, really good, so it’s all about how you balance it out and hopefully our balance in the race is good enough to be able to either maintain the lead or, if we do get shuffled back, to be able to go forward. You don’t really know that until the race starts and you just hope you’ve planned to build your setup around handling pretty decent. Hopefully, we’ve done that as well. Hopefully, we have the best of both worlds.”

WHAT IS YOUR SECRET SAUCE FOR BEING THE ONLY FORD WITH ALL THE TOYOTAS AND CHEVYS? “We already have another one starting outside of me, so that part is good to have a Penske front row. I think the Fords always do a pretty good job of working together trying to find each other. I know we try to do the best job that we can and between myself, Austin and Joey and Josh Berry trying to find each other and trying to work well with each other. And then we work good with the other Fords as well, so hopefully we’ll be able to get organized at some point, but it’s nice that Joey and I are starting up there in the front. We’ll try to organize the start of the race the best we can to figure out what’s the best way to get together quick, but it’s nice to have some friends around.”

DID YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS OF GETTING BACK TO THE FRONT ROW AFTER CINDRIC’S RUN? “No, I didn’t see his lap. I knew what I ran the first round. I didn’t even know what Joey ran the second round. They didn’t tell me. I was just hoping we would run about the same. Sometimes you see that. It’s kind of weird. Sometimes you see you’re a little bit off from your first run and some of that has to do with does the wind kind of do some funky stuff? Did you get your water temp cooled down enough? All of that stuff I don’t really have a good answer of why you sometimes see a shift with what happened with the 2 in speed, but I was just hoping we ran the same time and I actually think we picked up a little bit, so we were fortunate there.”

HOW WORRIED ARE YOU ABOUT A GREEN FLAG PIT STOP TOMORROW? “We practiced it after qualifying, like after my lap the second round I did a pit road, I did a hot pit road entry and then you run your lights through the corner and then you back it down. That’s really our one shot at it and then it changes in the draft. As you’re going way faster you kind of have to adjust your brake markers, so I’d rather have it this way than the other way. If the pit entry was off of four, it would be really sketchy. That’s why it’s there, and we’ve seen a couple incidents getting on to pit road, but I hope everyone has had enough reps with it now to where it’s a little bit more less chaotic I guess you could say. More or less chaotic is probably not a phrase, but a little bit less chaotic I think than past.”

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE CHRIS BUESCHER BILLBOARD? “No. They’ve got billboards? That’s cool.”

IT’S A CONTINUING PRANK BETWEEN PREECE AND BUESCHER. THAT USED TO HAPPEN A LOT YEARS AGO WITH JOKES ON EACH OTHER BUT WE DON’T HEAR A LOT ABOUT THAT ANYMORE. IS IT STILL AROUND? “I think it’s just everyone is a little different in their ways. That’s a pretty good one with the billboard stuff. That’s funny. Taking ads out for his teammate. That’s good. I don’t know. It’s more kind of just if I prank someone I don’t really put it on social media or anything like that. I’m just not that way, but I don’t know. I haven’t really done much pranking here. You may have sparked a fire in me now. I might have to start doing it to Darrell or Chase or someone I’m good friend with – or maybe someone I don’t like. That would be fun.”

BULLPEN QUESTION: WHAT LEVEL OF TIRE WEAR IS TO BE EXPECTED AS THIS SURFACE CONTINUES TO EVOLVE? “It gets slicker and slicker every time we come back. Which is good because I think that what makes this place [EchoPark] have a lot of character. The first year we came here in 2022 when [EchoPark] was brand new pavement it was really gripped up, now you’re actually having to think about handling in the racecar. Which has become a huge emphasis in meeting through the week is ‘ok how trimmed out do we want to be, do we want to go the trimmed route or the downforce route, what’s the weather going to be like that day’ that adds this factor so you got your hands full and someone just spun out in qualifying which you see every now and then and you just never know. I think it puts on a great race, I know the fans really enjoy this place, gosh it’s exhausting as a driver mentally to run around this place during the race, but it puts on a heck of a race”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang Dark Horse – IS THERE ANYTHING DIFFERENT IN YOUR APPROACH TO ECHOPARK THIS TIME AROUND? “Yes and no, I think for us we’ve obviously had fast cars in races past. This track continually changes and evolves with age but also as people understand the unique style this track provides. I think there is a constant evolution in the drivers and a constant evolution in the conditions of your racing. So I think the first two stages is a warning phase for a lot of folks, but the track goes through a big transition as well. It’s [EchoPark] a pretty dynamic racetrack and that’ll be exciting.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN TAKE AWAY FROM TODAY VERSUS LAST YEAR AT THIS RACE OR FEBRUARY? “Yeah, it’s a lot hotter than February. Outside of that, it’s really windy with a whole bunch of fronts blowing in and out. Those dynamics make a difference in how the cars race and what you see. I don’t know if you can necessarily see them on camera if you’re watching the race on TV, but they do matter. So I expect the race to be more difficult than the spring race with respect to side-by-side and so forth with the car sliding around.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s a good starting spot, but I always say it’s just a starting spot. We’ve got a lot of racing to do between now and the end of this thing. The good news is the Hunt Brothers Pizza Mustang is fast and that speed you usually see in qualifying will show up in the race, so it’s nice to have a fast car. You can manipulate the field a little bit and make some moves work that you typically can’t. I’m proud to see the speed that is there. The handling seemed to be fine in qualifying, but obviously in the pack you’re going faster tomorrow, so it might be a little bit different. Hopefully, we’ve got some handling built in it. I assume we will and we’ll go racing and see if we can win one.” DO YOU FEEL THIS IS A PLACE YOU CAN GET BACK ON THE LOGANO TRACK? “Yes and no. I mean, yes from a speed perspective and execution I feel like our team can handle these speedway really well, but with that said it’s a speedway. I think everyone remembers what happened here last fall, so there’s no guarantee you’ll see the end of it. Hopefully, if you’re up towards the front you have a good enough car that even if you were to take points and set yourself back – if one of those scenarios happens – you still can get your way back up there, hopefully, with a good handling car, too. Like I said the speed is there and that’s half the battle. We know we have that.”

TODD GILLILAND, No. 34 Ruedebusch Development & Construction Ford Mustang Dark Horse – THOUGHTS ABOUT ADVANCING TO THE NEXT ROUND OF THE “IN-SEASON CHALLENGE? “Now that we’re at this point with only eight drivers we’re starting to look at it and starting to pay attention to it. It’s definitely cool to see my team paying attention to it. You know it gives us a little bit of a battle to go after, it’s not like we’re competing for wins week in and week out – it’s where we want to be, but we’re not there yet – so, yeah, I think it’s really cool to see my team push that little bit harder — that they got in there to give it their all, and it’s working out so far.” WHAT LEVEL OF TIRE WEAR IS TO BE EXPECTED AS THIS SURFACE CONTINUES TO EVOLVE? I think it’s going to be very interesting over the next couple years, even the next five or 10 years. I do think there is still a little bit of handling that the teams can put into the car, and right now it’s just an extreme balance of ‘you know how much drag to take off versus obviously you want to race really well’, that when the big money comes out. So, I think you’ll continue to see cars drive better as the track ages, and you’ll almost see racing like this for the next five years, but we saw the old surface here at Atlanta it will probably eventually get back to that you would assume. It’s just going to wear out little by little to where there is going to be a point where it’s always going to see super fast and super high-banked, but you might even see a little more gaping in the cars which I don’t think will be a bad thing, I think it’ll be really cool when it gets to that point.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES
ECHOPARK SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
JULY 11, 2026

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at EchoPark Speedway. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native returns to his home track as the defending winner of the track’s summer race.

Media Availability Quotes:

Elliott on this weekend’s In-Season Challenge Match-Up Against Chase Briscoe:

“Collectively as a team, if we go do our jobs, you’re going to take care of the In-Season Challenge, as well. That’s where my mind is at, which is trying to survive the carnage that I’m sure is inbound for all of us tomorrow night. Hopefully we’ll be rolling there at the end and have a shot.”

Reflecting back on last summer’s race here at EchoPark Speedway, how different is the day versus the night race here? Also, how big was that win for you last year, in terms of changing the direction of how your team’s season move forward into the playoffs?

“Yeah, it was definitely a big win. Anytime you can win at your home track, it’s just always a really big deal. It just feels a little different. It’s not like I’m trying any harder… I try hard every week. It’s not like I’m necessarily doing anything different, but I do think to cross that bridge and to kind of check that box, it had a little different feel to it. I have a lot of pride being from here and sharing a home state with a lot of the people that are going to be sitting up in the crowd tomorrow night, which I think is really cool. The home wins are really neat. I don’t know how much it really changed the course or direction of our season with how different this race is and it kind of being a speedway-style race, but it was a great night and one I’ll never forget, for sure. It was special for a lot of reasons, so hopefully we can run that back.”

With six races remaining in the regular season, it seems like your team is hitting your stride at the right time. Is that the sense that you have, and if so, what is it that’s led your team to that point?

“Yeah, I think for us, it’s just staying straight in the direction that the race is meant to be going. I think I crashed or was spun out for about two months, from Charlotte on, it seemed like. So, I think for us, it’s just about putting together solid races; executing good days and trying to minimize mistakes. I feel like there’s been a lot of mistakes from me personally throughout that timespan. So, yeah, just piecing that all together and trying to get back to doing what we do well. For us, there’s been pace at different points in time, so it’s just about putting that together at the right time.”

Last year, you won with the ‘Desi9n to Drive’ car and know that was extra special at your home track. This year, you have two people here – Max and Noelle – who designed your car for this weekend. Are they going to be here at the track, and how excited are they to see the car out there on the track?

“Yeah, they’re super pumped. What a great way to celebrate nine years last year. I know I talk about it a lot, but really couldn’t have had that story end any better, honestly. There were enough bad races for our ‘Desi9n to Drive’ car that we hopefully earned one or two more good ones.

But yeah, they’re super pumped. Both Max and Noelle have a lot of energy. We had an event last night and they were pumped up. It will be cool to see them here tomorrow. Max has a little bit of racing experience. Noelle, not so much. But I think it will be fun to see them both in this environment; under the lights and with all the things that this race brings now with just the energy and the excitement around it. Currently in Atlanta, the energy is pretty high for people around here, so I’m excited for them to experience that first-hand and see their ideas and imagination out there on the track.”

What does the ‘Desi9n to Drive’ program mean to you personally and for the foundation to be able to this for these kids?

“At the end of the day, it’s really all about Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Everything is for them and just trying to make a difference for the folks that work there, the patients there and the families that go through different challenging times that they would never imagine having to deal with. At the end of the day, you’re trying to make a difference in that collectively and their network of hospitals, but then more directly, just trying to have a positive impact. If it’s just one more positive day for those kids or gives them an experience they might not otherwise have at a race or event like this, in my view, it’s a win, as well. Really proud of where it’s come and the journey it’s been on, and for NAPA bringing it to the next level to make it what it is today. It’s been an honor for me to be a part of it.”

Looking ahead to next weekend, you’re going to be running all four races at North Wilkesboro. Overall, what do you like about North Wilkesboro? For the Truck race in particular, does that carry any more extra weight or is it extra special because you’re filling in for Kyle Busch?

“I’m super excited about it for a lot of different reasons. I don’t get to run late model races a lot. There’s just really not a lot of mid-week shows that work out for us with how our schedule is. It’s not like the dirt world where they race a lot of mid-week shows, so I’m excited about that. I appreciate Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) asking me to drive his late model stock, as well. That’s not a car that I’ve really had a lot of experience racing, in general. But both that race and the Truck race, as well, they were meant to be for Kyle (Busch). I think Dale was going to get him to drive that late model stock, as well, so it will definitely be special for that reason. I would love to go and get a win in honor of him, his career and the friend he was to me over the years. I don’t know how my name got drawn, asked or what it was, but I appreciate them thinking of me and letting me have that honor to go run those races.”

Do you feel more comfortable heading to the Brickyard in the O’Reilly car after running last weekend at Chicagoland?

“Not really, honestly. I think Indianapolis is so different. My understanding is with the high downforce, draggy, drafting vibe that they had going there last year (in the O’Reilly race), I think it’s totally different than what we had last weekend at Chicagoland. I don’t really know what to expect for that. I would look at Chicagoland as being more normal to those races, compared to what I see on TV a lot. I had a lot of fun with it. I thought Mardy (Lindley) and the entire No. 88 team did a great job. They were well-prepared and had me up to speed the best they could outside of the car. They gave me the time to get up to speed once we got out there on the track and showed me a lot of respect in that regard, so I really appreciate them and look forward to working with that group again. It’s a really good group of people and they’re well-buttoned up. You can’t ask for much more, so hopefully we can try to better it by a spot in Indy.”

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Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Quaker State 400 Media Availability — EchoPark Speedway
Saturday, July 11, 2026

Christopher Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Kroger/Heinz Ketchup/Artesano Brioche Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is currently seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings. He stopped by the EchoPark Speedway infield media center before qualifying to talk about this weekend’s race.

CHRISTOPHER BUESCHER, No. 17 Kroger/Heinz Ketchup/Artesano Brioche Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE ON YOUR VERY OWN BILLBOARD? “I am realizing there was some reality to Ryan’s post and I’m not gonna lie, that guy uses a lot of ChatGTP and I just knew that he was faking this one, and a lot of people online pointed out that the trees didn’t have leaves on them, or it was the same photo for both, and I realized those were just renderings as to what they would really look like because we have seen time and time again that this actually happened. Scott Graves was driving down this morning and confirmed it in our group chat that there are billboards, so I guess I’ve made it at this point. My face is on a billboard. Either we’ve done something really well or if you’ve been hurt in a motorcycle accident, I’ve got you. I don’t know (laughing). It’s something. Ryan is back to shenanigans, which is fine because I’m currently in the process as well and I look forward to unveiling that before too terribly long. We’re gonna keep having fun with it. I do realize that everybody here at EchoPark Speedway had a role in this, so we will have to figure out how to return that favor somewhere along the way, but that was something.”

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CHRISTOPHER BUESCHER THIS WEEKEND AFTER LOSING THE BRACKET BATTLE WITH CHRISTOPHER BELL, RIGHT? “So your question was why am I holding 64 ounces of ketchup in my hand? Obviously, we’ve got the Heinz Ketchup Ford Mustang this week. It’s a pretty awesome-looking ride and we figure we’re just gonna pour everybody a little shot on the way out of here, so I hope you all are ready. The other question you kind of skated over there. We were sitting on the stage last week and I was sitting next to C Bell, I’m just gonna shorten his all the way, and he’s sitting there and we’re talking like, ‘What are we gonna do? What’s it gonna be?’ And I’m like, ‘You know what? We’ll just make it to where whoever wins this thing, just tell the other one where they need to shut their first name off at.’ He said, ‘Yeah. I like that. We’ll do it.’ And I’m sitting here thinking, ‘There’s one stopping point that’s not acceptable for either of us’ and that was after the t and we agreed on that. But he was nice to me. He let me have my full legal birth name back, so we’re Christopher for the weekend on that side, but I was gonna be way more mean than that. I was thinking just Ch, or Chri. I didn’t know exactly where I was gonna end. Christoph seemed pretty good. There were so many ways he could have gotten at me, so, yeah, I’m appreciative of the full name.”

DOES THE PAYBACK FOR THE SHENANIGANS GET INCREASED WITH HIM USING THAT PHOTO? “I guess that’s kind of leading into something that honestly had nothing to do with him pranking me, but I’m equally embarrassed about, so that was just straight up due to our friends at Kroger and Minute Rice, but to be seen on that front. Ironically, I did have that same haircut when I was a kid, but it just wasn’t that red. From that side of it, it’s OK, but I think he’s just jealous I got the Minute Rice ride this year and he didn’t, so that’s why he used that photo. I don’t know where that one came from. Apparently, he was asking around trying to get baby photos of me and things of that nature, but I’ve got enough friends around here that they didn’t release those. It’s not too out of hand yet. I did not see him spending this much currency to get this accomplished and it makes me realize I may have cheaped out on my next project a little bit, so I’ll have a couple weeks to do a little spending, but I promise it’s going to be equally as much fun if not just a little bit more rewarding on a psychological level.”

THIS WILL BE THE FIRST SUMMER RACE WITH THAT NEW TIRE SETUP FROM FEBRUARY. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT YET WITH HOW THAT’S GOING TO REACT TO DIFFERENCES IN TRACK AND AMBIENT TEMPERATURE? “To be honest with you, I never really have figured out what to expect when we come to Atlanta yet. It seems like it changes so much in between our races by itself. Weather conditions are so significantly different this go around. I don’t have a good answer for you. Qualifying is not a good read on it because it’s a single lap and everybody is locked down and nothing drives great in qualifying, but you can deal with it for a lap by yourself. Really, we get into the race and it remains to be seen. Obviously, going into the night we’ve had some good night races here that it seems like the handling kind of comes to you for the entire field. The track seems to widen out as we get into our race, whether it is day or night, it takes a little bit longer to work in that third groove here. I don’t know if it’s just dirty at first or needs to get rubber in it. There’s enough handling here that it’s not like a Daytona or Talladega where you can just find a clean way forward. It has to come in, so, no, I don’t have the answers for sure. There’s a lot to figure out as we go into tomorrow and, really, the O’Reilly race isn’t a great read for our race either here. The cars are just too different at this point, I believe, to get that feel. So, there are more questions than answers.’

YOU WERE AT NORTH WILKESBORO SEVEN YEARS AGO AS PART OF THE CLEAN UP. DID YOU EVER FATHOM THAT IT WOULD BE BACK IN ITS CURRENT STATE AND HOST A POINTS RACE? “No. I remember we went up there, me and Bailey Currey rode up there together. It started out as like a question of who is willing to help. I was like, ‘I’ve got a skid steer and a trailer and I’ll come up there and move some dirt around and clear the track.’ I’d seen some pictures. I’d driven by it on my way to Bristol every year and I knew how bad a shape it was in from the road. We got there and I remember Dale riding around on the street sweeper just making laps and smiling ear to ear covered in mud basically. It was nasty. It was cold. I was like, ‘He did the bulk of the work already.’ So we got there and I remember just going around and having the understanding that it was to try and get it scanned and preserved in the digital world knowing that it probably wasn’t gonna make it beyond that. It’s pretty remarkable to see where it’s gotten to now. It’s been such a fun racetrack to be on, whether it was the old surface or the new. It’s gonna be a fun night race, a long race as well. There are a lot of cool things coming there, but it’s really neat to see where it’s gotten to, but I had no clue that was even a possibility while we were there.”

WOULD NORTH WILKESBORO BE AROUND WITHOUT DALE’S INVOLVEMENT AND PUSH BEHIND IT? “I don’t see a world that it would have been anything like it is, no. I felt like that was a push from him and a movement that he created and got a lot of people behind it in a lot of ways and it worked. The racing has been good there. The fan involvement there has been fantastic. The stories that you get from people that remember going there back in the day and those that didn’t understand it and had to see it for themselves. It’s pretty wild, but that was definitely something that I don’t believe would have come around without him really pushing.”

LAST WEEK BRAD ADDRESSED THAT HE FELT THE TEAMWORK AT TOYOTA MADE SOME OF THE RACES PREDETERMINED. DO YOU FEEL THAT WAY? “It’s probably gonna be more in Brad’s wheelhouse, for sure, from the driver and the ownership side. He is definitely more in the weeds with that. I think in trying to take bits and pieces of what I hear him saying there just from that interview and also what we see week to week I see where he’s coming from and how we work together and how we can be better to try and have that high tide raise all ships. That’s kind of the idea and the principle he was trying to get across there, so, right now, obviously we are in a place where we are not the dominant manufacturer and so we’re gonna figure out ways that we feel like we can get there and feel that could be part of it. No one is sitting still. I promise you that, whether it’s manufacturers, our engine shop, RFK, personally. We’re all trying to figure out how to find that little bit of extra speed that will get us to the point where we can say we’re contending to win races week in and week out. We’re just not quite there yet. We have plenty of ideas on what it could be. If 10 percent of everybody’s idea actually makes it better, then at the end of the day it would make it a lot better for all of us on the RFK side of things and the Ford camp, I guess, in principle. There’s no way to prove it out, but I understand some of the comments from it.”

NOW THAT WE HAVE THE CHASE SYSTEM AND YOU’RE SEVENTH IN POINTS. WHAT HAS THIS POINT IN THE YEAR BEEN LIKE FROM A MENTAL AND STRESS STANDPOINT KNOWING YOU’RE IN A GOOD POSITION TO QUALIFY? “Very similar as years past in a lot of ways because we haven’t won yet. The years that we’ve won races they’ve come deeper into the season than we would like them to every time. We’ve had a couple years where the wins came in the playoffs. In ‘23 it came right leading up to it and secured everything for us, but, yeah, if you think about the place we’ve been on a points standpoint, it’s been simply because we hadn’t won races yet the last couple of years and on a straight consistency side of things if you took this format, we would have easily made the Chase. We’re aware of that. It doesn’t change what the system was at the time. We’re aware of where we’re at now and we’re gonna be a Chase contender. We know that. I’ve told everybody that from the beginning of the year because that’s how we’ve been able to race year in and year out, it’s just we still don’t have a win right now. So from most aspects of it, it’s very much the same, it’s just the result or the perks from the win are not a guarantee, but realistically we feel like we’ve already got that part covered. We’re just trying to figure out how to win races and that’s the stressful side or the driving side or however you want to put it. It’s figuring out how to get into Victory Lane.”

DO YOU FEEL SAFE ENOUGH WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS AND WHAT TRACKS ARE AHEAD? “The drafting tracks has been one of the places that have produced the knockout from the top row. That was tough to go through and we knew it was a possibility and it happened to us. That won’t be the situation exactly this go, but it doesn’t change the fact that there’s no way we can afford to give anything. You can’t be reckless. You can’t give anybody an inch. We still have to perform at a high level. We still have to do our work ahead of time and come into these weekends and be prepared to put in our max effort. With that, we’ll be fine on making the Chase, but that’s ultimately not the goal. It’s realizing and I think seeing it more and more out there that if you can start the Chase in fifth or sixth spot, or better, then you have a shot to win a title and we’re just outside of that, so we have to step up to be able to get to that point to where we’re not just a participant but a contender at the end. So where we’re at right now I’m not worried about making the Chase. I’m just not. That’s going to come to us with the kind of races we’re able to put together, but I want to win races. I don’t want to just be consistently right there around the fifth to eighth place. I want to win races and we’ve got a lot of good tracks coming up for us, but, yes, when you go to drafting racetracks there are those chances that things get wild. Take them for what they are. We know it can happen, but we’re in a really good spot and our team has worked really hard to get us here knowing that this was gonna be a stretch where you can have some big gains or big losses.”