Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Media Zoom Call
Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is fourth in the Chase standings and trails leader Kyle Larson by 67 points. Logano took part in a NASCAR media call this afternoon to talk about his situation while also looking ahead to this weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT THE FORMAT OF THE CHASE AND WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU ABOUT IT? “I think the thing that has probably stood out the most is the value of wins and stage points together. How you can quickly make up a fair amount of distance with the 70-point day. At the same time, if you have somebody like Larson last week that was already right there at the points lead and has a 70-plus point day and he’s checked out really quickly. He puts together a couple of those and he’s out there, but just as quickly if he has a couple bad ones and someone else has a couple big days like that, it closes right up. I think we’ve seen that all year. To me, look at Tyler Reddick at the beginning of the year. He was checked out. I already penciled him in as the regular season champion. I figured that was for sure, but as quickly as they get out there and take a big lead it can change just as quick if someone else gets hot at the right time. We’ve seen it. We’ve lived it. We went through and made up quick a few spots in points with that too, so I think that’s the thing that stands out the most to me.”

WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS WITH A SPORT THAT HAS ENGINEERS? “Maybe we’re not as smart as we think.”

WAS THE CAR WHERE YOU FELT LIKE IT NEEDED TO BE TO CONTEND LAST WEEK AND IT WAS JUST THE PIT ROAD ISSUE AND TIRE THAT DERAILED YOUR DAY? DO YOU HAVE THE SPEED ON THE INTERMEDIATES? “I think the potential is there when you look at what the 2 was able to do, and the 12’s last run was really strong too, so the potential in the company is there. It wasn’t one of our stronger races. We were an eighth-place car give or take from there a couple of spots. That’s about what we had in it, so we kind of scored those stage points. I think we finished eighth and fifth in the stages and then we had the tire come apart there at the end and we lost a bunch of spots. It was just an average to below average kind of day – nothing too much to be excited about, but, at the same time, a little bit more optimistic about our mile-and-a-half stuff, seeing that as a company there’s potential there.”

HOW HAS THE SHARK FIN AND SOME OF THE OTHER AERO TRINKETS AFFECTED THE WAY THESE CARS RACE AND YOU GO ABOUT SETTING UP PASSING AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE? “Not much at all. I don’t feel like the shark fin has really done much – small, minor little things that you’ve got to be searching for to notice. No, I haven’t noticed much. As long as the cars stay on the ground more it’s a win, but I don’t feel like whether it’s the A-post flaps or those type of things and other little wickers, no, it’s small.”

WERE YOU EXPECTING TO SEE TEAMS AND DRIVERS RAISE THEIR LEVEL IN THE CHASE? “Yeah. It’s a long season. When the season is this long there are ups and downs and things kind of change. It’s about getting hot at the right time. That’s what the Chase, playoffs, any postseason type situation it’s all about being hot at the right time. Not that the regular season doesn’t matter, it does, and it seeds you to be in the right spot and to help you along. Either format does that, but the performance this time of year is what matters the most. There’s no doubt that the players in the game have changed throughout the year a couple times on who has been the fastest car, the dominant car and right now, obviously, is the most important time of the year to do that.”

CAN YOU SPEAK ON HOW A TEAM IMPROVES OVER THE COURSE OF THE SEASON WHEN YOU’RE MORE LIMITED THAN YOU USED TO BE WITH THIS CAR? “Sure, there are not as many items that you can mess with. It’s not like you have a big rollout plan for all of these awesome, new, trinkety little things and like, ‘Oh, this is gonna be it.’ It doesn’t seem to be that way anymore, so it’s much harder to find an advantage on where that is. It’s gonna be a lot of little things. That’s kind of the answer and I know it’s maybe not what you’re looking for, but it’s just a bunch of little things that stack in and I think we all kind of talked a little bit about the splitter stuff. That’s been, I think, a big piece that brought all of the teams closer, and then it’s just small gains – small engine gains, small little aero gains, small little setup changes that you’ve figured out over the year, and then just how what NASCAR rules are going to be enforced and enforcing it the way they are and making the changes they did is a big piece to it, and I think that’s probably the biggest thing, but there’s been a bunch of little things that all kind of stack in there.”

WHEN AUSTIN RUNS AS WELL AS HE DID ALL DAY AND RYAN FINISHES STRONG, DOES THAT IMPACT ALL OF THE TEAM SETUPS AT TEAM PENSKE FOR VEGAS AND CHARLOTTE? “It impacts it pretty immediately, like Monday we’re talking about it. Today we’ve been talking about it like, ‘Hey, what do we want to try this weekend for setups in practice and how do we want to go about it?’ We don’t have practice that we can swing a bunch of things at it, so it’s like what do you want to commit to and are you really gonna have an answer when we leave here or not. Those type of things that we are very open with each other. We all know what we have in the cars, so on one hand it’s easy to say, ‘we’ll just put that in there,’ but which item maybe makes it better? And it’s hard to say what that is sometimes if there are 10-15 things that are different.”

THREE OF THE FIRST FOUR CHASE RACES HAD QUALIFYING RAINED OUT. WHAT ROLE HAS RESULTS FROM THE PRIOR WEEK HAD ON THIS CHASE WITH THE METRIC BEING USED A LOT? “It’s played a fair amount because it’s been a few races where it’s been good or has been obviously an effect. Obviously, last week we were on the right side of it. Darlington, we weren’t, so it just kind of comes out in the wash most of the time. It still rewards performance and it rewards for running well. It rewards the points and those type of things. I personally don’t have a huge issue with it. Tell me a better way and maybe I’ll change my opinion, but it seems to be OK. Maybe we can tweak it some, sure. But it’s definitely played some effect, for sure.”

HOW MUCH ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO ADJUST OR IS THAT THE WRONG WAY TO LOOK AT IT AND THE TEAM STILL HAS TO FIND WAYS TO MAKE YOU COMFORTABLE BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT IS GOING TO BE GETTING 100 PERCENT OUT OF THE CAR? “Both. These aren’t things that we haven’t talked about yet. These are things that all season long, all race long, every lap you’ve got to be comfortable pushing yourself outside your comfort zone and trying to figure out what parts that you need to as a driver be working on and be open-minded too and what parts that you know are the things that make you successful, and that experience that I have, how can we leverage that and help guide a team that way, too. It’s both. There’s no one-sided answer to that.”

WHAT WILL BE PART OF THE PROCESS IN PRACTICE THAT YOU WILL LOOK AT AND CONSIDER TO SEE HOW FAR YOU CAN GO AND HOW FAR THE CAR CAN GO? “Without letting out all of our secrets out on what we look for and what we think is important. I don’t think I need to say all those things, but I do think there’s obviously the speed knob. That’s the obvious. The balance and where the car goes as far as the long run versus the short run and those type of things. You’re always looking at that. Just obviously more details that go into that. The things that we think matter at Vegas that’s important, but the obvious answer is what speed do you have, where does your balance go with your car and can you move around the racetrack? Those are probably the first things you look to key off of.”

IS THERE A WAY TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST WHAT CARSON HOCEVAR IS DOING COMPARED TO OTHER DRIVERS WHO HAVE COME BEFORE HIM THAT HAVE RUBBED PEOPLE THE WRONG WAY? “He’s definitely done it a different way. I don’t think there’s much comparison to me. In some ways I think there is, but not really on the things that I went through. It’s definitely different. It’s unique. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. There’s a lot of things where I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s just a whole different way of doing it.’ And good, bad, any different, who am I to judge? It’s definitely different.”

IS HE JUST THIS DECADE’S GUY WHO DOES THINGS DIFFERENTLY OR IS THERE SOME OTHER REASON HE’S GOTTEN SO MUCH ATTENTION FOR HOW HE’S DOING? “I think anytime he’s on the racetrack he’s kind of a highlight reel of some sort, whether it’s restarts or the incidents that he’s in. You kind of know like something is gonna happen. There’s not many times after a race we’re not talking about him, that he made a move or did something. Good or bad, it’s always a storyline. He’s a walking highlight reel and there’s a lot of good to be said about that. There’s a lot of great things about that for the sport, for him, for his team. I will say there is balance to that like ‘what are we trying to accomplish here? Are we trying to accomplish highlights or are we trying to win championships?’ You have to look at that and say what’s right and what’s wrong, but everyone has their own way of going about things, and I think he’s a polarizing character on the racetrack. If I take the driver hat off and look at that, I go it’s probably good for the sport. Whether I root for him or not is not really the point of it, it’s ‘hey, people are talking about it,’ and that’s probably okay.”

WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON BRAD LEAVING RFK? “Surprised. I think that was the first thing probably like most everybody. I didn’t see that one coming. Usually, you hear rumors of things and things kind of rumbling and things like that, but I didn’t hear much before that, so it was quite a surprise. That’s probably where I’m at with it. I’m surprised. I don’t know anything else and what’s gonna happen, obviously, but it was quite the surprise. I don’t think anyone saw that coming at this point. I think we all probably are quick to assume that when the name is on the door that you wouldn’t have seen something like this. It’s just interesting to see that happen.”

DID YOU HEAR ALL OF THE THINGS PEOPLE SAID ABOUT YOU IN YOUR YOUNGER DAYS WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED IN THE CUP SERIES? “I never changed. I naturally changed as I got older and I learned things the hard way. No one ever told me to change, but I do look at some of the things that happened on the racetrack and I think, ‘Golly, man, I could be sitting here with four championships right now looking to get a fifth.’ Instead, I’m sitting here with three looking to get four. I do look at those type of things and say, ‘Gosh, maybe I could have handled that better and differently.’ For the most part, to your point, it worked out really well. I think in general I’m a bit of a, I know I compete as a hard competitor and I push the limits on some things, but most of the time I’m a pretty conservative person and I think there’s probably some balance. There’s some sponsors out there that are looking for the edgy person that’s going out there and being crazy, and there are some Fortune 500 companies that are looking for somebody that understands their business and understands what they’re trying to accomplish, too. There’s a place for everybody. No one says you have to do it a certain way to be successful. Be you. That’s the biggest thing. Don’t be fake. Be who you are and own that, but I think just depending on what you’re trying to do and what you want your brand to be and the partners around you.”

HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO STAY WITH THAT DRIVE THAT YOU HAVE BECAUSE YOU’VE MADE IT IN THIS SPORT? “Multiple things. For one, I hate losing personally, but, two, you’ve got to kind of change your reasoning on why you want to win. Is it to win, to your point, to keep your job for you, for your pride? For me, it’s changed because now with kids I really am motivated for my kids to see us be successful, and I work really hard because I want them to know what that is. I am a firm believer in leading by example as a parent or as a leader in any way, shape, or form, so that motivates me to win. And I have relationships now in this business. I look here at Team Penske and there’s not a face that walks through the door I don’t know anymore, and I know what those wins and how it matters to them. I wouldn’t ever do that. I wouldn’t ever just, I don’t know, coast it in to the end. It’s just not me. I’ve always said it. If I’m out here and I’m not fast and I’m holding this place back, I’m gonna raise my hand and say I’m out of here before someone tells me I’m going to be because I just want to make sure that I am somebody that is bringing something to the table and not a drag that’s just collecting a paycheck to the end. That’s just not who I’m built to be.”

THIS IS THE FIRST LAS VEGAS RACE SINCE KYLE’S PASSING. HAVE YOU GIVEN ANY THOUGHT TO THE SENTIMENT MIGHT BE LIKE THIS WEEKEND? “I think there’s been some of those races that stand out. We just went through one at Bristol and seeing what Ty Gibbs did and having Brexton there and Samantha and everybody. That was definitely a different feel. Some tracks where unfortunately it just seems like we move on a little too quickly, but it is special that we have races like this one coming up. Charlotte it seems like is gonna be another one as well that we can be able to spend a little bit of time thinking about one of the legends in our sport, the impact that he made on our sport, and having his family there. I think that’s probably the coolest part and the most important part to me seeing that. When Brexton is at a track like Bristol. All of the kids, you don’t understand, it’s not just that Kyle is not on the racetrack, it’s that his family is not in the bus lot anymore and that’s like a hole that hasn’t really been filled. We noticed that at Bristol. I see my kids playing with their kids. Amelia and Lennix, it’s kind of crazy to see Lennix go walking into MRO and they just went up and hugged each other and they were so glad to see each other. They hadn’t seen each other since Kyle’s passing, so that sense of community is far more important than what we think sometimes and to see the kids play together. Hudson and Brexton are racing dirt bikes through the bus lot and down through the rocks down there. It just was fun to see them be kids through those moments and I think those are the things, to me, that stand out even more than to me personally the legacy stuff is special and it’s probably great for the fans, but if you see the inside – kind of the inside baseball a little bit – of what those relationships are inside the bus lot it’s pretty special.”

WHAT CHALLENGES WILL BE PRESENT FOR CHARLOTTE IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS? “You’re getting me a little early on this one. Those are kind of the last-minute details that we go over the week of. Setup stuff we talk about, but that’s not gonna be much different from day to night. But just balance trends if it stays day all the time and the rubbering up and that piece of it. Charlotte is a pretty heat-sensitive racetrack, but without knowing what the weather is gonna be next week yet, and I’ve got a race ahead of me that I’m fully focused on, I’m hard to be someone that looks more than one week ahead. I’ve got to get through this race at Vegas first.”

Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Sunday, Oct. 4
1.5-Mile Tri-Oval
5:30 p.m. ET
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 31 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 34 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Race: 1st (Kansas)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 1st

No. 5 HendrickCars.com Kyle Busch Tribute Chevrolet  

• Last week at Kansas Speedway, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team led 235 of 267 laps, winning both stages and recording the fastest lap of the race en route to their second win of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase and a maximum-points day.
• Larson’s average finish of 2.25 through the first four races of The Chase is the best of any driver through the first four races of any postseason since The Chase was introduced in 2004.
• The Elk Grove, California, native is the only driver to finish in the top five in all four Chase races. No other driver has finished in the top 10 in all four races.
• So far in 2026, the No. 5 pit crew ranks first by Racing Insights’ metric.
• The 34-year-old leads all drivers at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with 881 laps led and eight stage wins. His average finish of 8.9 is best among all drivers with more than four starts at the track.
• At the six tracks remaining on the schedule, Larson has tallied eight combined wins, including victories at every stop except Talladega Superspeedway.
• Larson has finished in the top two in six of his 11 Las Vegas starts with the No. 5 car, including three victories.
• When Larson takes the wheel at Las Vegas, his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet will pay tribute to the late Kyle Busch with a special throwback paint scheme. The design honors Busch’s 2007 Bristol Motor Speedway win with Hendrick Motorsports by recreating the blue, red and neon-yellow color palette from one of his most iconic No. 5 paint schemes. Name rails will add a personal touch to the tribute, with Busch’s signature prominently displayed above the passenger-side window and “Tiny Kyle,” a playful nickname Busch gave Larson, on the opposite side.  

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 30 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last Race: 8th (Kansas)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 13th

No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet

• With his eighth-place result at Kansas Speedway last weekend, Chase Elliott earned his 200th top-10 finish in the NASCAR Cup Series. He also surpassed Terry Labonte to become the driver with the third-most premier series starts for Hendrick Motorsports (388).
• Of the six remaining tracks the Cup Series will visit this season, Elliott has won on four of them a combined six times.
• On 1.5-mile tracks this season, the 30-year-old has the fourth-best average finish (11.2). He’s earned four top-10 finishes on that track type this season, including a victory at Texas Motor Speedway in May.
• In the Next Gen era at 1.5-mile facilities, Elliott is tied for the fourth-most victories (three).
• In the spring of this year, Elliott earned a runner-up finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, matching his previous best Cup Series finish at the track (fall 2021).  

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 28 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Race: 7th (Kansas)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 12th

 No. 24 HP Chevrolet  

• With a seventh-place finish at Kansas Speedway, William Byron continued a streak of three consecutive top-10 finishes, moving him up to 12th in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase standings.
• In the Next Gen era on 1.5-mile tracks, Byron has an average finish of 9.2. best of all drivers. He has also led the third-most laps (1,006).
• In the last nine races on mile-and-a-half tracks, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has eight top-10 finishes including being one of only two drivers who have finished top 10 in all six such races this season.
• On 1.5-milers so far in 2026, Byron has the second-most stage wins (three) and the second-best average finish (6.3)
• In 17 starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Byron has one win (spring 2023), five top-five finishes and nine top 10s with 363 laps led.
• In the last four races at Las Vegas, Byron has three finishes of fourth or better. He’s also led laps in the last seven races and 11 of the last 12 at the Nevada track. His current streak is tied with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson for the third-longest consecutive streak of races with a lap led at Vegas.  

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 33 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Race: 18th (Kansas)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 28th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• In his last three NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Alex Bowman has finished in the top 10 with one fifth-place and two seventh-place finishes.
• Bowman has also earned a win at the 1.5-mile tri-oval (spring 2022) and is one of three active Hendrick Motorsports drivers with wins at Las Vegas (Kyle Larson, William Byron).
• The 33-year-old has finished in the top 10 in 11 of his last 17 starts on 1.5 mile tracks.  

17 COREY DAY
Age: 20 (November 28, 2005)
Hometown: Clovis, California
Last Race: 5th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Adam Wall
Standings: 6th

• The NASCAR O’Reilly Series returns from a one-week break this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Corey Day remains in contention for the NOAPS championship, currently sitting sixth in The Chase standings, 92 points behind the leader after moving up two positions following his fifth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• In five starts on 1.5-mile tracks during the 2026 season, Day has recorded an average starting position of 5.8, his best on any track type.
• Day returns to Las Vegas for his third NOAPS start. He earned an eighth-place finish at the facility this spring and recorded his best series finish at the time with a fourth-place result last October.
• In his March start at the track, the Clovis, California, native led his first nine NOAPS laps. Since then, he has added 187 laps led, bringing his total to 196 in his first full-time season on pavement.  

Hendrick Motorsports  

*Most
**Tied for most

• The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend for the fifth race of The Chase. Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time leader in wins (10), top fives (39), stage wins (16) and laps led (2,770) at the 1.5-mile tri-oval and its 67 top 10s are tied for the most.
• Hendrick Motorsports drivers have combined to win five of the last 11 races at Las Vegas with Kyle Larson winning three times and William Byron and Alex Bowman once each. Its 16 combined stage wins are the most by any team at any track.
• Among the 10 tracks in The Chase, Hendrick Motorsports has piled up 136 victories including 21 in the Next Gen era. The organization leads the field in postseason wins (64) and has won at least one race in The Chase/Playoffs in 23 of 24 seasons. That includes multiple victories in each of the last seven years.
• With Larson now atop The Chase standings, a Hendrick Motorsports driver has led the series in points in each of the last seven seasons.
• The Hendrick Motorsports engine department enters the weekend with 582 victories across all three national NASCAR touring series including 21 of 27 events in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series this season.
• Hendrick Motorsports remains the Cup Series’ all-time standard bearer in wins (324), poles (259), top-five finishes (1,350), top 10s (2,308), laps led (86,979) and championships (15).  

QUOTABLE
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on his Kyle Busch tribute paint scheme and momentum heading to Las Vegas: “I’m super excited to get to honor Kyle Busch this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a scheme that he ran at Hendrick Motorsports. It’s a beautiful paint scheme, too. Hopefully, we can have a good day. Vegas has been a good track for us in the past, and after the run we had at Kansas [Speedway], we’ve been building our intermediate program to be better and better. Hopefully, we can go there, execute another good weekend, qualify well and score a lot of points.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on this weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: “Really, for us right now, we just need to start stringing together some consistent solid finishes. We made some progress at Kansas [Speedway] last week and it was nice to get back up inside the top 10. At Las Vegas [Motor Speedway] in the spring, we had a really solid day, and it felt good to be in contention for the win at a track that hadn’t really been a strong one for us. Hopefully we can go there and put together another strong run and just keep building some momentum through this final stretch.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on two more 1.5-mile tracks ahead: “[Last week at] Kansas [Speedway] was OK. We struggled to find that last little bit for handling, and with no practice again, it took most of the race to try things. It was a solid day, but we need to do more if we really want to make a jump up in points. We have two more mile-and-a-half tracks coming up that we’re good at, so this is our chance.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway: “Las Vegas [Motor Speedway] is one of my favorite racetracks. Selfishly, I like that we typically run well there, but I feel like it puts on a good show; it’s exciting and has a lot of chaotic restarts. We’ve had a tough couple weeks. We need to get back to finishing where we know our team is capable of finishing and [Las] Vegas is a good place for our Ally 48 team to do that.”

Corey Day, driver of the No. 17 Chevrolet, on Las Vegas Motor Speedway: “[Las] Vegas [Motor Speedway] is probably my favorite track we go to all year. I run pretty well at the 1.5-mile tracks, so I’m really looking forward to getting back there. It was nice to have a weekend off to reset, but I’m ready to get back with my No. 17 HendrickCars.com team and keep fighting through The Chase.”

“Faith Over Fear” design will debut during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 on October 4

LAS VEGAS — Patriot Mobile today unveiled a pink Breast Cancer Awareness Month paint scheme for Ty Dillon’s No. 10 Kaulig Racing car. The scheme will debut at the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 4, 2026. The NASCAR Cup Series race is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

The design replaces the car’s familiar red, white, and blue with pink to honor people affected by breast cancer. Across the hood, Patriot Mobile’s “Faith Over Fear” message offers encouragement to those facing the disease and the families supporting them.

“Breast cancer has touched so many families across our country, and for many of us, this cause is deeply personal,” said Jenny Story, Chief Operating Officer of Patriot Mobile. “We hope this car honors the women who have faced breast cancer with courage and encourages those currently fighting this disease to choose faith over fear.”

“It’s an honor to drive a car that carries a message bigger than what happens on the racetrack,” said Ty Dillon, driver of the No. 10 car. “I’m proud to join Patriot Mobile in bringing attention to all the families that have been affected by breast cancer. I hope when fans see this pink No. 10 in Las Vegas, it reminds them of the courage of those fighting the disease and the importance of standing alongside their families.”

Patriot Mobile announced its partnership with Dillon and Kaulig Racing earlier this year. Its sponsorship of the No. 10 car began at Circuit of the Americas in Austin and has continued at multiple NASCAR Cup Series races throughout the 2026 season, sharing Patriot Mobile’s message of faith, family, and freedom with fans across the country.

About Patriot Mobile

Patriot Mobile is America’s only Christian conservative wireless provider, offering higher priority premium nationwide coverage on dependable 4G and 5G networks with exceptional U.S.-based customer support. Since 2013, Patriot Mobile has provided a values-driven alternative by supporting organizations that defend our God-given rights and freedoms. Learn more at patriotmobile.com or call 972-PATRIOT.

About Kaulig Racing™

Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time, multi-car NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team owned by award-winning entrepreneur Matt Kaulig. The organization fields two Cup cars and serves as the anchor factory team for Ram’s highly anticipated return to NASCAR in 2026, when Kaulig Racing™ will field five full-time Ram 1500 trucks. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ competed in over 700 NASCAR Xfinity Series (2016-2025) races, earning two regular-season championships and posting 27 victories. In 2021, the team began competing part-time in the Cup Series races before expanding to a two-car, full-time team in 2022 and adding a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. Since its first Cup Series start in 2021, the team has earned two wins.

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Racing Media Zoom Call
Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is coming off a second place finish last weekend at Kansas Speedway, moving up to ninth in the Chase standings. Cindric answered questions as part of this week’s Ford Racing media call, including his expectations for Sunday’s race in Las Vegas.

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DOES SUNDAY’S RUN HELP GOING INTO VEGAS AND THEN CHARLOTTE? “I’m certainly hoping it translates. Obviously, there are plenty of similarities between the tracks, but also there are some pretty key differences, and I think the mile-and-a-halves coming up are just that much more different with Charlotte and Homestead. I think being able to kind of verify our notebook, but have some validity from the weekend prior is really important for not just us on the 2 car, but everyone at Team Penske was definitely a step up in performance from the spring.”

DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING NEW ON YOUR CAR IN KANSAS AND WILL THAT TRANSLATE TO ANYTHING NEW FOR VEGAS, CHARLOTTE AND HOMESTEAD? “As far as things learned throughout the year, I think, for us, it’s so long ago since we were at Vegas and in Kansas early in the season. Other than a year’s worth of work, nothing further to report, but, obviously, it was a strong effort and a strong performance that we’re hoping to be able to continue to replicate and understand further what we need to continue to add to our cars.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE A REALISTIC SHOT TO STILL WIN THIS CHAMPIONSHIP? “I haven’t asked for the math, but if the math says I can do it, then I can do it. That’s really the only mentality I can have. I think for us to go from one of the lowest seeds to the top 10 in the standings is great, but, for me, the mentality since the Chase has started is to have fun and be loose and not really having anything to lose and all to gain. I think that’s how I’m gonna continue to race from here until the end of the season.”

FORD HAS TAKEN OFF SINCE THE MIDDLE OF AUGUST. WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT TO? “I think a few weeks ago or the last month or so you could probably attribute it to the track type, but we’ve kind of checked the box at least with one mile-and-a-half. Like you said, it’s the team. It’s a whole group effort. As I said in the prior question, it’s a year’s worth of work to get us to this point. I’m proud to have that work pay off and hopefully we’ll be able to use that notebook to continue to excel for the remainder of the season.”

ALMOST HALFWAY THROUGH THE CHASE. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT HAS STOOD OUT TO YOU ABOUT HOW THIS NEW FORMAT HAS PLAYED OUT? “I think the importance of a race win, even just in the new points format, not necessarily from just the 10-race Chase, but just in general. That 25 difference, for example, I’d say on average, I don’t know what my average points per race is something like 20-25 points or something like that. That’s a 15th or 16th place finish, something like that. It’s in the teens. It’s like if you win a race, you also have like a 13th place finish that nobody else has. You know what I mean? You think about it that way and you almost have another decent race worth of points for winning a race and that’s a huge advantage when you start stacking it on top. You see that with Larson right now, but as quickly as that comes that can quickly go as well. It’s been very interesting to watch. It’s been very interesting to watch how my competition goes and races and the mentality for 10 full races, instead of just three at a time. I think that’s been a pretty clear difference for me, so I think those two things are pretty obvious as far as how it’s changed the game, but, otherwise, obviously the racing is still all the same.”

WHY DO YOU THINK IT SEEMS SO STARK WITH THE POINT SWINGS WHERE IF BRISCOE HAD WON INSTEAD OF LARSON LAST WEEKEND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH DIFFERENT? “That makes it exciting to watch.”

WERE YOU SURPRISED TO HEAR THE NEWS ABOUT BRAD KESELOWSKI LEAVING RFK AT THE END OF THE YEAR? “It’s a situation that I certainly don’t know a lot about from the internals, but I would say my reaction is probably along with most of you all as far as learning that information. Obviously, I have a relationship with Brad. Brad gave me my start in the Truck Series and it was his idea to throw me in at Martinsville back in 2015, so I think it will be interesting for a guy like that. He said he’s not done racing and he’s obviously a super talented guy and a super smart guy, so I’m definitely interested to see how that all plays out and whether if that’s from the team side, there are other Ford teammates there, but also see where Brad lands and what happens there. I guess I’m kind of on the sidelines with you all as far as observing and we’ll see what happens there.”

YOU OBVIOUSLY FEEL HE STILL HAS THE TALENT, RIGHT, AND IS THIS CHASE FORMAT MORE OR LESS STRESSFUL? “Obviously, Brad has run up front and led races at several points throughout the year and you don’t do that without an extent of knowledge and talent to be able to do so. I’m not sure I have to be the one waving the flag, but I think it’s obvious to see. As far as the Chase format being demanding, I think it depends on what position you’re in. I just got done saying that I’m in a position where I can’t really fail as far as how we were seeding. You look at it and, okay, we’re in the top 10 do we want to protect? No, not really. I feel like you just go try and get the maximum every week. You can’t really give much more than that and if you and yourself and your team are used to putting yourselves in that environment, then the pressure seems to be a lot less. I think everybody internalizes it differently, but, as I said earlier, it’s kind of fun to watch and see how everybody has been reacting to it and trying to maximize their opportunities with what points position they are in.”

HAS THE RACING ON THE INTERMEDIATE TRACKS BEEN MORE TAMER THIS YEAR, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE SPLITTER WAS ADJUSTED? “You can make the argument that there have been more tamer races this year, no doubt, but I wouldn’t attribute it to any parts changes on the cars. I can’t say I’ve really made the correlation. If I’m reviewing Vegas from earlier this year, we had one caution and it was during a pit cycle and that was really it, so that’s not a whole lot than what we saw last weekend at Kansas. For me personally, I think the only correlation you can look at is from a points format standpoint, but even then at the early part of the year why wouldn’t everyone have reason to go for it no different than what they would with the old points format. I think it’s just an evolution. Expecting a bunch of cautions, in my book, doesn’t necessarily create for a worse or better racing. We had a battle for the lead for the last 40 laps of that race. Now, whether it’s a green flag cycle or restarts I guess it depends on what your favorite flavor is, but I would have guessed I considered last weekend a pretty entertaining race.”

WHAT HAS LED THE CONSISTENCY YOU’VE HAD ALL YEAR? “From a consistency standpoint, I would definitely attribute it to a few things. One, out of necessity from where we kind of landed from a points standpoint by just before the summertime, right on the fringe of being above the cut. We’ve been points racing for two-and-a-half months before the Chase even started, so I think some of the repetition of that definitely plays in. We feel like we’ve been in this position of really caring about points for a lot longer than I feel like the rest of the field. I’m not necessarily saying that attributes to performance. If anything, it probably does the opposite and makes you want to fall into a bucket of being somewhat conservative, which is very frustrating when you can see opportunity with maybe being more aggressive or changing your mentality. So, I think that’s why for us the Chase has been a breath of fresh air, just because you have the opportunity to do what we haven’t had the chance to do the last handful of months, but we’ve also been consistent since that started. I think it’s just a multitude of things, not just the mentality, but myself, Brian, two or three years ago we had a pretty young team and we’re getting more experience and racing at a higher level. We’re just raising the basement of what our performance capabilities are and I think that on average or what we’re talented as a group, I think that contributes to that because some of those 13th place days aren’t where I ran 13th all day. It’s we grinded and figured it out and finished 13th, and then some of those 13th place days we ran sixth or seventh all day and screwed it up and ended up 13th, so the numbers never tell the story, but it is somewhat funny to look back at some of those and almost look boring, but I don’t think there have been too many boring moments in our year. Obviously, it was a fun race, but from a nothing exciting or crazy or stupid happening was this past weekend where we ran better than we have all year, so I think the more calm races are the ones you have the pace.”

HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THE HAIR HAS HAD TO DO WITH THE 2? “I don’t think it’s contributed in the slightest, but I’m not gonna say I’m tired of people bringing up my hair. I guess I’m not wearing a hat, so it could be something else, but I’ll tell you one thing. The one thing that does, and it almost comes off as an insult and maybe I internalize it or maybe I should internalize it better is when people say, ‘I like your hair better.’ That means people didn’t like my hair before. How does that land? I don’t know. I have to deal with that daily, so maybe even worse the hair is mentally, so I’m rising above this mental challenge.”

IN THE SPRING VEGAS RACE MOST OF THE PIT ROAD SPEEDING PENALITIES CAME IN SECTION ONE. IS THERE A PARTICULAR CHALLENGE FOR A DRIVER GETTING ONTO PIT ROAD THERE AND A SHORT SECTION LIKE THAT? “As far as section one is concerned, if it’s under green flag conditions, it’s definitely challenging because if you don’t get slowed up in time by the speed line, like somewhere that would have a longer first section, you could kind of give the speed back because it’s timing line to timing line. It’s time-based over distance and then it calculates your speed. So if I’m too fast on my lights, I can just slow down and try to give it back. With a short section, you can’t really give it back. Under yellow, I guess there wouldn’t be any excuse to having an issue other than just not being consistent with your lights.”

IN THE LAST TWO VEGAS RACES WE’VE SEEN CAUTION BECAUSE OF CONTACT WITH ONE CAR TRYING TO GET ON PIT ROAD. IS THAT A COINCIDENCE OR IS THERE A PARTICULAR CHALLENGE AT THAT PLACE UNDER GREEN? “I think a little bit of both. It’s funny, I just got out of my pre-event meeting with Brian and we discussed this because that caution is what caught us out and we were on pit road and went a lap down. It ruined our race, the whole thing. That was the only caution of the whole race. What do I attribute that to? I do feel like the track definitely you have to be super committed to running the bottom in three and four, covering the paint, so like your line of sight is five feet in front of your nose, instead of looking ahead just because you’re so focused on being disciplined to the line. Other than that, the banking still stays up pretty high to where you’re braking on the racetrack for a long time, instead of like braking on the racetrack and then creeping down and pulling onto the apron, whereas at Vegas you stay on the racetrack for a long time. You’re definitely in the racing line for a longer period of time, but past that, I do think there’s some coincidence. We’ve been racing at Vegas for a very long time and for the last two races – the one was pretty spectacular – but the main cautions of the race were from those pit road entries, so does that make you not want to pit early to start the cycle? You want to pit later just to avoid that and hopefully having two issues as the field no different than you picking up on it is something we’ve picked up and hopefully that races the urgency for spotters and drivers to pay attention because that’s really what it all comes down to is communication.”

I FEEL THIS CHASE HAS RESEMBLED THE ORIGINAL VERSION WHERE TEAMS HAVE BEEN GETTING BETTER AND IMPROVING ON THE REGULAR SEASON. YOU SAID AT CHASE MEDIA DAY THAT IT WOULD BE HARDER TO DO BECAUSE OF DIFFERENT RULE SETS AND THE NEXT GEN CAR IS SO DIFFERENT. HOW DOES A TEAM RAISE IT’S GAME? HOW ARE WE SEEING TEAMS GETTING BETTER IN THIS CURRENT AREA WHERE THEY ARE RESTRICTED ON WHAT THEY CAN DO TO IMPROVE A CAR? “It’s definitely a cumulative answer for someone from my position. I could come up with a ton of reasons why you could get better as a race team or reasons why you could get worse as a race team. If I were to make an argument about last weekend is that we didn’t see the dominant force at Kansas that we saw from the Toyota contingent. Almost every Toyota was in the top 10 in the first Kansas race, so even if you have a decent race, like we were a ninth-place car or whatever, it doesn’t matter, you’re not gonna make an impact with that. I think the only other thing that I would add to that is no different than having practice versus not having practice. Practice is an opportunity, and the reason I bring up practice is that compared to last year’s playoffs, we are coming back to racetracks with the same tire and last year’s playoffs had a new tire at every single race. You throw out your notebook and you’ve got to start over and, unfortunately, you just have to guess what things are gonna be when you go to the race weekend and hope you get it right. Whereas, having some repetition – this will now be the third Vegas race that we have the same tire. I don’t know if we’ve even done that in the Next Gen era as far as having three races at the same track with the same tire. That’s kind of unheard of and having a notebook just as much of an opportunity to make it better as you have an opportunity to make it worse to try to solve problems that you had before. Instead of just having not a lottery reset, but having a reset that is somewhat uneducated and how that relates to Team Penske, I feel like we do a great job of working together with our teams and collaborating and having the infrastructure and the capability to make improvements and make strides and make gains. I’m not saying that other teams can’t, but I would say that’s definitely one of our strengths. The communication between our teams is I would say probably better than any other organization. When you have that and have the consistency, I see very little reason why we can’t improve.”