Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
South Point 400 Qualifying
Saturday, October 11, 2025

Ford Qualifying Results:

9th – Joey Logano

11th – Chris Buescher

14th – Ryan Blaney

16th – Ryan Preece

21st – Cole Custer

23rd – Zane Smith

28th – Noah Gragson

29th – Josh Berry

30th – Todd Gilliland

31st – Austin Cindric

34th – Brad Keselowski

36th – Cody Ware

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I think our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang is OK in race trim. I was still a little bit too tight in qualifying, but we’re in the game. We’re alright.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Kroger/International Delight Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We should be a good spot for a good stall selection. We’ve got some speed in this International Delight Ford Mustang and that makes me happy. It was really good in practice and we had a lot of maneuverability. The wind is pretty wild. We were wide-open across the bumps, but it was sketchy. It’s like one of those where you’re coming into the garage afterwards and trying to be smooth on the throttle, but I’m still shaking. It just sounds a little rough, but it was a good lap. I’m really happy with the car, so I think that lends itself to a really good day tomorrow.”

ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “This is normal Vegas stuff. What’s weird is the wind randomly comes and goes here, so that’s really tough as a team to try to hit your balance with those things. I felt like in practice our Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang showed great long run speed, so that was encouraging because that was kind of an area where we struggled a little bit earlier in the year. I feel good about the speed we have and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.” WHAT IS IT LIKE COMING BACK HERE TO LAS VEGAS FOR YOU? “People often ask me where I want to win the most and Vegas always ranks at the top or, if not, right near the top just because my home track racing all the time was pretty much right here at the Bullring. I came really close in the truck here with FRM, but we ended up with a lot of seconds in the truck race here. All in all, I really want to win here. It’s a fun track.”

COLE CUSTER, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Qualifying here is definitely one of the most nerve racking moments you have as a driver going through those bumps about wide-open in one and two. We were able to stick just good enough to have a solid lap, so hopefully we can get our Ford Mustang a little bit better in race trim for tomorrow and keep ourselves up there and move our way forward.” WHAT IS MORE CHALLENGING, THE BUMPS OR THE WIND? “Both. The bumps are extremely edgy when it’s hot out like this and the wind definitely made three and four really difficult on hitting a good lap over there. We’ll see what it’s like tomorrow.”

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

LAS VEGAS (October 11, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 ampm Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

What do you need to know about the point situation and why is it important?

“Yeah, I mean, I haven’t heard what those guidelines are. Why it’s important is because ultimately, if, for instance, you know, someone is allowed to go into Martinsville, and we’ve seen this. This is not something – what happened last week is not new. We’ve primarily seen it mostly, at the lower levels at Martinsville, those cut off races were people wiping each other out. That’s, you know, I would like to know if I’m vulnerable spot, that the person behind me is emboldened to make a bold move and then put me broadside in the middle of the racetrack to get you, because there was no caution, by the way. I mean, we were just kind of sitting in the middle of the racetrack backwards. So, which I think it’s important to know that, and then I don’t see any reason why I can’t know what the point situation is. I’ve always asked what the point situation is. I didn’t in this third stage. I think the team gave me an update at the end of the second stage, simply because I was restarting, I believe, behind Chase Briscoe and someone else and they were saying at the time, Briscoe was close. So, at that point, I don’t want to put him in a bad spot. I know I’m basically in, and so I think that’s important information to know. So I don’t, I think that if you see through evidence, there’s clear manipulation going on, I don’t think what gets said on the radio should really matter is, I mean, everyone has, eyes and ears, and so you should be able to see when someone deliberately does something to manipulate the finish. It’s a weird one in my case because I had no dog in that fight. I had no allegiance to either party, and so at that point, my question would be is do I have a right to then choose my competitor? That’s an interesting one to ask, that I truthfully still don’t know the answer to.”

Do you see the other side?

“Yeah, I mean, maybe, but all situations are different. If you watch a college football game today, there’s just going to be a spread. Somebody will be leading with three seconds on the clock, and they’re going to run backwards into the end zone and get a safety. It could change what money’s changed hands. So, like, they chose what’s best strategy for them. They didn’t care about your bets or whatever it might be, right? I think there’s some of this sensitivity around this is obviously probably gambling focused because I know that you, NASCAR is very, very sensitive as they should be with that to make sure everyone’s getting a fair shape. But on the racetrack, I feel as though as long as you’re you don’t have a bias to one party or another, I don’t know why you can’t make the best decision for yourself. But, you know, because it’s the points are about to reset, you know what I mean? That was a cutoff race for me personally. Whether I finish 17th or 18th meant zero, nothing. At that point, then I actually gained the advantage by being able to choose if I so choose, if I wanted to. I don’t know whether that’s – I still don’t know whether that’s acceptable or not. It was very weird situation. It was a very unique one. It may or may not come up again at some point. I’m more wondering what is going to be allowed people going to be allowed to intentionally wreck? I said on my podcast that I what I did to (Ross) Chastain at Phoenix. I don’t know how it’s any different whatsoever. I’m not saying there should be a penalty for Ross or anything, but an intentional wreck is an intentional wreck. What’s the difference? I certainly would like that clarification sooner and more later, so we all know what to expect.”

What do you think about the depth of the drivers in the Round of 8?

“I mean, it says a lot about the depths of the teams, for sure. I mean, the top of each manufacturer have cars represented. The more you try to make it common, still the resources and the best drivers are going to find their way to the top. It certainly is very, very tight from top to bottom and again, we’ve got really two races to make it. Talladega is going to be a coin flip for all of us. So, we have two races to try to execute the best we can and hopefully speed wins out. Hopefully you don’t get unlucky. That’s going to be the difference. Someone’s going to get lucky and someone’s going to get unlucky to either make or not make the Final Four.”

So, looking back to last week, would you like NASCAR to also clarify if you are allowed not to pass Ross Chastain?

“Yeah, there’s the two questions. Am I allowed to make a decision, being that I have no allegiance to either, because I would argue that I earn the right to decide. They put themselves, unfortunately, in a vulnerable spot where I get to decide. But it’s no, how’s it any different than like superspeedway? If I know I can’t win, I’m picking which car I’m going to push to the finish. I’m probably going to push the one that I think is I don’t want to get five bonus points, so we always have those scenarios where we’re picking and choosing who were helping, but that and the wrecking for sure.”

How big is Talladega being in this round versus in a different round?

“I think it does for our standpoint and it will for everyone. I mean, if you leave here in a hole, then you’re now counting on a good Talladega race and you can’t really count on that. You might as well budget yourself to finish 25th in points with those stage points. That’s like a realistic, you know, how many points usually you’re going to get when you go to that race rack, unless you get fortunate. So this racetrack to me is certainly probably the most important.”

What are the tangible benefits if you were to win tomorrow?

“Obviously, you know, to shift most of your resources to Phoenix is certainly a benefit. You know, no one’s going to go do simulation for Talladega, but they are, if you don’t win here, you’re going to start working on Martinsville right away. All eight, well, if one of us wins, seven of us will be spending more time on Martinsville, where that one is now got an extra week on Phoenix. It’s not two weeks like to advertise sometimes in the media. You don’t really have a two-week advantage. It’s one week. You’re really just skipping Martinsville. So, I think it certainly is an advantage. It’s absolutely an advantage. Is it a substantial one? I don’t know. I’d have to see the numbers, but it seems like those that have locked in early to the final four and has run really well or won the championship. So, yeah, I think that I think that’s why this one is so big for all the teams. I mean, Martinsville is big. Don’t get us wrong, because none of us know until we get to that point, but it’s, yeah, this one is certainly one that either want to have a massive points today or you need to go out there and win it.”

Do you think that the Toyotas can recreate the magic that you had in Kansas?

“Yeah, I hope so. I mentioned to our team that, you know, if we can just bottle up what we had there and bring it here and certainly the tires were the same, but you know, we got radius of corners that are different, banking that is a little different, track surface is a little different. It’s hard to say that because it’s the same tire, it’s all going to work out here, you can’t, but I certainly made it very clear that whatever combination we had with that type of track, enter all your X’s and O’s of the differences of this track and then refigure it out to come to that same result, because obviously our Kansas car was extremely strong and Vegas has been hit or best. I mean, I remember going through a three-year period where I felt like I should have won every race and then over the last few, we’ve just been kind of mediocre, and mediocre for us is fifth to 10th. So hopefully this is one of those weeks where we we’ve got to figure it out but certainly I’ve been very encouraged by our speeds on these types of tracks in general. But, this track more than others – race history matters. Because it’s so unique, because of those bumps and this surface that it seems like teams that it didn’t matter if they ran well at Kansas or not, they come here, they’ve got a great baseline and they’re fast. So, I think race history means more here than the correspondence to Kansas results.”

If you could choose one of the next race to be number 60, which one would you chose?

“Probably this one. Simply because t would be the advantage we talked about for Phoenix. I would be sleeping well for two weeks, being well rested and you know, stress free, going into Phoenix, and it’s a great city to win it. I like to stay an extra night.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

LAS VEGAS (October 11, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Could you talk about how important this race is?

“Yeah, certainly, this this is the one that we have circled. We know that is a great opportunity for us to have a good day score some points. Our intermediate package has been really good from Kansas a couple of weeks ago. Even in Bristol, we’d run the same rules package. So, it seems like the everything’s going right for us that Joe Gibbs Racing. Our teammates have been really good. We know that this is a big opportunity hopefully we can capitalize on it.”

What are the tangible benefits to winning this weekend?

“Yeah, I mean, this is the big one. Like, this is the race that we’ve had circled since, you know, since the schedule came out, really. I mean, you make it into the round of 8 and the mentality changes at this point in in the season, in the Playoffs. The Round of 16, Round of 12 is kind of you know, you’re just looking for points. It’s survival mode, and then whenever you end the round of 8, it’s about wins. Ultimately, you need to win in order to make that Final Four, and if you don’t win, then you, you have to be in that top-five, you know, big stage points competing for wins. So, it’s a lot different. The Round of 16, Round of 12 are pretty similar, and then the Round of 8 is a different mentality, and it takes a lot more to make the next cut.”

Last week, Denny (Hamlin) had the possibility to say, “Okay, I’m not gonna pass Ross (Chastain) to help myself in the sense of I knock Joey (Logano) out. I think he’s a bigger challenge to my championship.” Is that manipulation of a race or not?

“I mean, it is, you know, but it’s a product of the format that we’re racing under right now. So, it’s been happening a lot longer than, I think most people realized and people are just, you know, finally starting to talk about it. But, yeah, I think everything that happens is a product of the format that we’re racing under.”

Do you study what happened to you last year or are you so over it?

“I, honestly, I haven’t really paid too much of it too much attention to what’s going on. I saw the brief highlights that essentially, you know, Ross (Chastain) was, all on the cutline or needed a point, and Denny (Hamlin) wasn’t aware, and Denny was frustrated that he didn’t know the points at the end of the race and so, I’ve seen the highlights of it, but you know, ultimately, I haven’t dug deep into everything about it or any of the situations that have come up here, you know, the last, whatever year since my deal, what I’ve learned is, you know, winning cures all, and no matter what the format is, winning races is the best thing to do. So, you know, like last year I came into this round, with a lot of bonus points, kind of separated from the field and felt like we were not in a must win position. I didn’t win, and I didn’t make the final four. This year, my mentality is a lot different in the aspect that we need to win in race, and this is probably my best opportunity to win in this round. So, we’re going to try and make that happen this week.”

What mindset do you come to Vegas with?

“Yeah, I mean, no, I definitely feel confidence and positivity, thinking every time you think of Vegas, even though I haven’t won here and I’ve had a lot of races get away between the two Cup races the last two and through the Xfinity years and the truck years, I have zero wins at Las Vegas, but it’s always been a really, really strong track for me. We performed really well. So, yeah, I would say I’m excited about coming here every time and, you know, I think that one of these days, we’re going to get rewarded. I don’t think the track owes us one, but certainly driving from Joe Gibbs Racing, I have great cars whenever we come here and hopefully, I can continue to drive well, I’ll pick up a win.”

What is different with your process coming into this race?

“I mean, honestly, I haven’t done anything different. I would say that the stakes are just a little bit higher, and, you know, that’s going to be the same regardless of, I guess if I win this week, the stakes are significantly lower the next two, but if I don’t win this week, then the states are going to continue to rise at Talladega and at Martinsville. But, yeah, I would say that our process, our prep process, and gearing up the weekend has been the same as it was, at Las Vegas 1 or Iowa or any of the racetracks. I mean, I talk about this being my best opportunity, but I know that, I mean, I have won at Martinsville before, so we’ll hopefully take it week by week and I would love to love to get one that’s gotten away the last couple years here.”

What do you need from your seat about the points situation?

I mean, once again, it’s race by race, and the way that this format works, you, race one, you’re not really talking about points, and then race two, the chatter maybe comes up a little bit, but certainly race three that that’s what it’s all about. I go back to Martinsville, my predicament last year, I think at one point I got told late in the race that I needed a point, but the communication certainly wasn’t as clear as I would have liked to have been, and I remember crossing the finish line, not knowing what my one situation was and then, you know, how I have said, well, I think we’re in because we tied and so forth. So, I would have liked a little bit more communication last year at Martinsville. But, yeah, I mean, I don’t know, most of the drivers are out there, you know, are blind to what’s going on unless someone speaks up and I know that’s very sensitive right now with people talking on the radio about it, it’s just, I don’t know, it kind of feels a little bit gross. I would love to just, you know, be able to race and, you know, not have to worry about this, manipulation stuff.”

What do you mean ‘gross’?

“Just feeling like you can’t talk about something on the radio, like you just rather not have to worry about doing that. You just want to go out there and race and not think that. That’s what all of us want. We just want to go out there and lay it all in line all the time.”

How challenging is it to shift to a must win mindset?

“I don’t know. You know, you shift the mindset to focusing on wins, but in reality, last week at the road course, I obviously wanted to win. It’s not like I didn’t want to win. I guess the biggest change is the risk versus reward meter and you know, the Round of 8, you’re probably a lot more willing to take risks to go for wins than you would be in the Round of 12 or Round of 16, because you know that you know, the wins mean more now than they what they did in the previous rounds. I think the last year of Vegas proved that, I left here, and I didn’t win the race, but by all means, whenever I looked at the points, I thought we were in a really good spot and it didn’t pan out. So yeah, the wins mean more in the Round of 8 than any other round.

Is qualifying really important in Las Vegas?

“Vegas, I would say, is a place that qualifying doesn’t really have an impact on who wins the race, but it certainly has an impact on, you know, stage one points and especially if it goes green. I would say, if there’s yellow flags in the first stage, then qualifying becomes a lot less important, but the moment that there are no yellow flags, then, you know, you have to qualify well in order to get to a stage one points. So, it’s something that we definitely focus on.”

Any thoughts on the 750-horsepower change?

“Yeah, I mean, I’m super excited about it, and I’m glad that NASCAR and the teams, the engine builders have taken a step in the right direction. I think it will – it’s definitely going to play a role in the races. Especially with the tires, Goodyear has been bringing, you know a couple of years ago, we were talking about the road courses. The cars were just locked down, and I can promise you, last week at Charlotte Road Course, those things were anything but lockdown, and you give us more horsepower as what we had last week. It’s going to be a big deal. So, I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

How are you staying out of your own head with the pressure of winning this race?

“Yeah, I mean, it’s tough. I would say it’s easier once or it’s easy once you get into the race car and, you know, all eight of us are going to be super nervous tomorrow whenever we walk out to pre-race and, you, do driver intros and do the national anthem and all that stuff. But at least for me, speaking for myself, you know, once you get into that race car, it all goes away, and the only thing that matters is, you know, trying to do your job. So, yeah, certainly, you know, the pressure’s on and you feel it. But I love it. I live for it, and I certainly rather be in this position than not be in it. So yeah, it all goes away whenever you in the race car, but, you know, outside of the race car, you feel it.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
South Point 400 Media Availability
Saturday, October 11, 2025

NOAH GRAGSON, No. 4 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse – CHASE ELLIOTT HAS WON THE MOST POPULAR DRIVER AWARD MULTIPLE TIMES, BUT DO YOU THINK THIS COULD BE YOUR YEAR? “I’d hope so, but I doubt it. I don’t know what the numbers look like as far as how much he wins by every year, but he’s got a pretty strong fan base that, at least a fan base that votes a lot. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a fan base that votes for me in the Truck Series and winning the most popular driver there, and then Xfinity Series, but I can’t accurately answer that question. I hope so, but if we’re going off the track record, he’s got everybody covered.”

WHAT IS YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY? “We try out best to keep things, like there’s different areas that we focus on with our social team. Instagram and Twitter, it’s more personal between myself and the fans and trying to keep the Instagram and the Twitter posts more raw, not so staged or choreographed. I feel like everybody just wants raw on Instagram. We’ve hired a full-time guy to do some You Tube videos. The fans have been excited over it, but definitely each platform is kind of its unique vibe in a sense, so we’ve been spending a little bit of time just thinking of different strategies to keep growing on those platforms, but at the end of the day, like if I had advice to anybody doing it, you’ve got to stay true to yourself and just be yourself. I’ll take a picture right now and put it into a collage from the weekend and we’ll do that. Everyone smile. I’ll put that in there and then you’ll be in there, but you just have to keep true to yourself and keep it natural, in my opinion. Everything is overproduced right now on Instagram. We need to bring it back to the old ways.”

WHAT IS A WEEKEND IN LAS VEGAS LIKE FOR YOU? “It’s busy, for sure. I came out on Monday and landed mid-afternoon. I caught up with some buddies and family and friends. It’s been kind of a different week for me out here. My grandpa had a brain bleed, so he went into the hospital. That kind of sucked, but just spend time with buddies and do competition meeting over the phone, prepare like I would normally, work out. All of that stuff is kind of the same, but I get to go to really good restaurants here in Las Vegas, see my family and friends, and then play a little golf. I did Brendan Gaughan’s celebrity blackjack tournament last night at the South Point, which I want to pat myself on the back because it was my first win in three years. I won last night, so that was pretty cool. I beat Chase Briscoe. It’s fun to be able to come out here and just a change of pace throughout the week. Thirty eight weeks of the same process throughout Monday-Friday, it’s good to change it up. Then we get to the racetrack and I practice and qualify today, and then I have to go to a wedding at four o’clock, so I’m gonna miss the post-practice debrief to go to a wedding. It’s a lot when I come out here. My texts are through the roof because everybody is wanting passes and stuff, but it’s a good problem to have.”

WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE PERSONALLY AND THIS 4 TEAM OVERALL RIGHT NOW? “It’s been a challenging year, just because we had some really good speed to start the year off for the first 12-15 races. I think we were running seventh here with 70-100 to go on a restart in the spring and Bubba and Blaney got into it and we got collected in a wreck on a restart, so we’ve had really good runs. That’s kind of been the story of the first half of the year and that’s put us in a hole to you go out early in qualifying and you’re low on points and it just compounds your weekends negatively and going into the next week, so that’s been a challenge trying to build a buffer and go out later in qualifying. I’d say in 2023 I wrecked a lot on my own and was probably driving over my head. The results have sucked, but we’ve been collected in a lot of wrecks that are out of our own hands, which has been tough, but the speed was really good for the first half of the year and then we’ve kind of been hit or miss the second half. A little bit of that is when we go out to qualify and that just makes the weekend harder. We haven’t lost faith. We have good confidence. I’m confident to go out here this weekend. This is one of my favorite tracks and try to hold it wide-open in qualifying and have a good starting position for the race tomorrow. We’re just trying to take it week by week is what we’ve been doing. We’ll see. We’ll try today in a couple of hours.”

YOU SIGN AUTOGRAPHS FOREVER AND INTERACT WITH YOUR FANS A LOT. DID YOU MODEL THAT AFTER SOMEONE? “I don’t want this to get taken out of context, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a really, really, really good race car driver, but might not have the resume of Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon. He still won a lot of races in the Cup Series, which I’m nowhere near, but I told myself when I was younger when I came out to my first race out here and thought, ‘Man, how can I stay in this sport one day if I ever get to that level?’ I want to be the guy who sells the most t-shirts. That’s what Dale Jr. did. Danica stayed in the sport for a long time and was one of the most popular, so I always told myself that if I could be the guy that could sell the most t-shirts and have the biggest fan base, you’re able to attract partners that way. That’s why I really put out a strong effort and a lot of energy into the fans, just because I am a fan and I’ve always told myself that if I want to make it in this sport, I may not be the best driver, but hopefully I could be a fan favorite too and that could help point me in the right direction. It’s been a crazy ride. It’s been a wild ride, but definitely very grateful for the fan support.”

TALLADEGA IS NEXT WEEK AND YOU WERE FOURTH IN THE SPRING THERE. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? “I like Talladega a lot. We’ve had some good runs there and have put ourselves at least in position and contention the last four or five times I’ve run there. We got caught up in the fall race wreck on the backstretch last year when everybody got taken out, but you look at the spring of ‘23 at Talladega, we were up there. We got in a wreck with Chastain. We were leading on the green-white-checker restart next to Blaney, which was pretty cool, and then finished third there last year in the spring, was running good in the fall and then had another solid run this year. We hope to go there and rebound and have a good race and just trying to stack top 10 finishes, top five finishes. I mean, for a majority of the year we just wanted to finish races, but a solid day for us right now is about a top 15. A good day is a top 10 and a great day is a top five, so anything is possible. We’ve put ourselves in the top five or six cars coming into the late-race stages of the Talladega races in recent years, so I’m definitely looking forward to that.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR THE NASCAR COMMUNITY TO HAVE A VIDEO GAME AND THAT THE DRIVERS AND TEAM PROMOTE IT? “I think the first thing is it’s important that we have a good game because we haven’t in the last 10 years, which sucks because I think all of us drivers currently in the series have grown up playing NASCAR video games when they’re really, really good. I know I would race a legend car right over here at the bullring and we’d get done with practice and have down time and set up a little TV and Zane Smith, Riley Herbst and myself would play NASCAR Inside Line together and have fun. We’re definitely gonna play this new NASCAR ‘25, the iRacing game because I got a little sneak peak and played it for a couple minutes and thought I was pretty good. I think it’s important that the product is good. I think the fan base will realize that and support it if the product is good. We haven’t really had that in the last 10 years, unfortunately, but I truly do believe that this year we have a good console game and everybody will enjoy it. It’ll be fun.”

WHEN YOU SEE THE RATINGS FOR A VIDEO GAME LIKE THAT WHAT IS THE FEELING? DO YOU THINK THEY’RE WRONG? IS IT INSULTING? “I don’t really care about that, it’s just you look at who is the best driver in our sport right now? Then why isn’t he 100 overall? It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, but whoever the guy or girl was that did it, they did a bad job, in my opinion, but I personally don’t care if I’m a 71. I made a joke about it saying, ‘Oh, dang. I’m kind of trash. Is that me?’ I just don’t think the facts were really real on anybody’s stats, not even saying mine were low or high or anybody else’s was low or high, it just didn’t really make sense when we were doing it, but the rest of the game is really, really good.”

DO YOU WISH MORE DRIVERS SHOWED MORE OF THEIR PERSONAL LIVES ON SOCIAL MEDIA LIKE YOU DO? “I do. I think there’s a lot of good personalities that not a lot of people get to see because in the sense that drivers are handcuffed a little bit maybe with partners or with the sport and Ricky got fined $75,000 grand for probably one of the biggest highlights last year with Kyle Busch and he gets fined for it. It’s tough to really, I’m not saying we need to go fight and stuff, but I think everybody is just kind of scared that they just don’t want to say anything or do anything at all just so they don’t get in trouble. I don’t know. There’s obviously a limit to everything, but you get these guys away from the racetrack and they’re pretty funny guys. You would never think that. I’ve shared a lot of laughs with a lot of guys that I probably thought, ‘Hey, man. There’s no way this guy could be that fun to be around.’ There are some guys that are really, really fun. Everyone is kind of in their unique boat on how much they want to show the general public and what-not, but if it were up to me, everybody would just be outgoing and show them their true colors.”

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO THOSE FELLOW DRIVERS THAT MIGHT BE IN THEIR SHELL AND HAVEN’T SHOWED OFF THEIR PERSONALITY? “Maybe they’re smarter than me. I don’t know. If it works for them, it works for them. I just try to be myself at the end of the day. I’m kind of loud, proud and drawing crowd and just trying to have as much fun as possible. I prepare and I work hard behind the scenes that not a lot of people see my work behind closed doors, but I think there’s a time and a place for everything. I feel like if you’re prepared throughout the week and you do your job throughout the week, when I get to the racetrack it’s like a test. If I’m going into a test and I didn’t study, I’m gonna be nervous, but if I studied for the test, I’m gonna be confident and it’s gonna be good. I feel like I take that same thing to the racetrack. I know where I need to run in practice. I know where I need to run in qualifying. I kind of adjust on the fly depending on how the car is handling, but when I get here to the racetrack I truly try to enjoy the moment.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT IS IT LIKE COMING BACK HERE WITH ALL OF YOUR SUCCESS YOU’VE HAD? “It’s always fun coming back here, anywhere where you win and obviously get your first Cup win and have a couple really good Xfinity wins, so it’s always fun to come back here and race. I’m excited for the weekend and hopefully we can build off of what we did in the spring and have another solid run.”

HOW MUCH OF WHAT YOU DO NOW IS PREPARING FOR 2026 VERSUS BEING A SPOILER THE REST OF THIS YEAR? “We’re just going each and every week and trying to perform the best we can. We obviously want to do what we can to learn about our cars and help Ryan and Joey as much as we can through these last few races, but, for us, we just want to string together some solid runs and finish the season strong. The guys have been doing a really good job and we’re just trying to build some momentum for next year.”

NO ONE HAS EVER REPEATED SINCE VEGAS GOT TWO RACES A YEAR. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN? “I think it’ll be similar to the spring. We just need to have a strong car and execute all day and have the right strategy and just find ourselves in position. It’s gonna be tough. Everybody is obviously bringing their best this weekend for sure to try to find their way to Phoenix. It’s gonna be a challenge but, like I said, if we just do what we did in the spring and have a solid car and good pit stops, hopefully we can give ourselves a shot.”

WHERE DO YOU LAND ON THE HORSEPOWER INCREASE? “I think it’s a step in the right direction. I’m sure everybody would like to have more, but you look last week with the amount of tire fall off we had that little bit more horsepower is probably, I think we’re finding our way with all of that. If we continue down the road of the tires wearing out, a little bit more horsepower, I think all of that stuff is directional. If we keep having the tire fall off and stuff like we’ve been seeing from time to time, then we probably aren’t gonna need 1000 horsepower to make better racing.”

IS THERE A POINT WHERE THERE COULD BE TOO MUCH TIRE FALL OFF? “I’m sure there is a point, for sure, but it still opens up the strategy so much. You saw last week watching the end of that race and all the different strategies – three stop, two stop. You take Darlington, for example, with how they split up the runs or have an even split, just having the fall off opens up all that stuff a lot more to where there’s not just one strategy. I think either way it’s still the right direction.”

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW INSIDE THE CAR IN TERMS OF WHERE GUYS ARE IN POINTS AND HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF NASCAR RESTRICTED THAT? “That’s a tough question to answer. It seems like there’s a line, although it’s a squiggly line I guess. I feel like we should know the point situation. I think there’s too much on the line. I guess everybody can have a different opinion of that. For someone like me, if you line up for a late-race restart or at a race like last week where there’s all this chaos. It’s nice to know what’s going on around you before you weigh the risk of the moves you make. Long story short, I feel like if we get to a point where we can’t talk about the points at all, then we might as well just punt and have a different system.”

WHY DO YOU SAY THAT BECAUSE THERE’S ANOTHER SIDE THAT SAYS IT COULD HAVE AN EFFECT ON THE RACE INTEGRITY? “I agree. It’s a hard question to answer because it could easily be interpreted as laying over or not in different situations, but, for me personally, I just like to know. It goes both ways. Obviously, people can think you lay over, but if you miss the corner and slide into Ross and knock him out of the playoffs, then everybody on the internet is gonna be the other way against you, so I just feel like it’s good to have an idea of what you’re going up against and how desperate someone is gonna be or not. I think, to me, that’s where you draw the line. If you just let the driver know what the situation is and let them decide what they want to do, I mean that’s what we get paid to do. I think just explaining the points, maybe, if you’re in that situation it’s a little different than being told to save your tires or whatever.”

HOW MUCH OF THE SETUP FOR THIS RACE IS SIMILAR FROM THE SPRING? “It’s similar, but there are some changes. We’re on a different tire that we ran at Kansas and a couple times before that, so it’s a little bit different tire, so we’re trying to take what we learned there and apply that to here the best we can. Obviously, the weather is different too, but I would say it’s fairly similar, but we’ve tried to adjust for the tire and the weather and hopefully we get it right.”