FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE REMAINS PERFECT WITH THIRD STRAIGHT NASCAR CUP SERIES POLE TO START 2024

Joey Logano extended the Ford Mustang Dark Horse pole streak to three after putting his car on the pole for the second time this season.
This marks the first time since 2022 that Ford has won three straight series poles, dating back to when Ryan Blaney won three in a row at Phoenix, Circuit of the Americas and Richmond.

Ford Performance Top-10 Qualifying Results:
1st – Joey Logano
3rd – Austin Cindric
6th – Chase Briscoe
9th – Chris Buescher
12th – Michael McDowell
15th – Ryan Blaney
25th – Brad Keselowski
26th – Josh Berry
29th – Harrison Burton
30th – Noah Gragson
31st – Todd Gilliland
32nd – Kaz Grala
35th – Justin Haley
36th – Ryan Preece

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

NASCAR SHOWED US YOUR GLOVE TODAY. ROGER SAID HE SPOKE TO YOU AND WAS DISAPPOINTED IN THAT. WHEN THE TEAM COMES TO YOU AND SAYS WEAR THIS GLOVE, YOU JUST SAY OK? “Yeah. That’s how a lot of things work. As a driver, you work with the team and, hey, I’m gonna take a portion of responsibility of that too, obviously. I should. I put the glove on. I didn’t build the glove or make it on my own. I can’t sew, but that’s what it was. We had conversations about it. What I’m proud about with this team is, yeah, that was a tough situation for us. It was hard to go through and embarrassing for sure, but the fact we got through it and just move on and focus on the next week. We showed that we have some speed in our race car and to be able to put it on the pole here, to me, is a statement type lap so I’m proud of that.”

DO YOU WANT TO SAY IF YOU WORE THE GLOVE AT DAYTONA? “No.”

DOES THAT MAKE THIS POLE MEAN ANYMORE BECAUSE YOU HAD SPEED? “I’ve got plenty of motivation, really ever since you said I wasn’t gonna make the playoffs this year. I’ve had plenty of motivation, so I’m in a good place.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU PUT YOURSELF IN ANY KIND OF UNSAFE POSITION? “No. I personally did not. I would never have put myself in a situation where I feel unsafe. I have kids. I have a wife. I have a family that I care way more about than race cars, so, no, I didn’t feel concerned about what we did. I didn’t race with it. Qualifying on speedways is pretty simple.”

ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THIS POLE? “I didn’t expect it when I saw our short run speed in practice. I was like, ‘This might not be where we need to be.’ We showed that we had great long run speed. Our second run we made an adjustment and went back out and was like, ‘Oh, wow. We’re really competitive. The car is driving pretty good.’ So I felt good about that, but our short run, like fire off, we weren’t real fast and we weren’t far up the board. And then we barely made it through the first round just by the skin of our teeth. And then being able to make some adjustments. I was proud of what Paul and the guys were able to do to make an adjustment with the car driving closer to perfect and for the second round and being able to put it up here. I really didn’t think after the first round we had a chance of putting it on the pole, so I’m proud of the adjustments that we made there. We’ve got some work to do tonight, for sure, but the first pit stall is nice. Obviously, starting up front for the Pennzoil 400 in the Pennzoil Mustang is huge for our race team, so that makes dinner tonight a little bit easier for me, so that part is good and then we’ll fire off tomorrow and hopefully get a little bit more short run speed and we can make our long runs really good.”

DINNER WITH PENNZOIL? “Yeah.”

WE SAW YOU DO THIS LAST YEAR AND WE ALL KNOW HOW THE RACE WENT. HOW OPTIMISTIC ARE YOU ABOUT THE NEW BODY STYLE THAT YOU’LL HAVE THE LONG RUN SPEED? “We’re still uncertain of what the new Mustang Dark Horse will be like. It’s really challenging to unload at a track like Vegas with limited practice, where you can’t change many things. We can’t go throwing springs and stuff at this car and you’re going off of really not much physical notes with this car – some of what we had last year, but the aero numbers are different with this car and you’re putting a lot of trust into what the wind tunnel numbers spit out, and how much of it is real and how much of it is fabricated or different. There’s a lot of what ifs between sim world wind tunnel world to reality. There are a lot of things that can be different, so it’s really hard to make those changes to your car and getting that balance right. It took us a couple runs, obviously, to do that. We still have a lot to learn with the car, but it’s a good start for sure.”

DID THE WIND PICK UP IN ROUND TWO AND WAS ONE AND TWO THE DIFFERENCE? “I’ve got to think it’s wind that made the difference because the first run I was pretty slow through one and two all the way through the corner, so the only thing I could think of that changed for straightaway speed wasn’t our change by no means. It had to have been by the wind. Maybe I had a big gust that first run or something that held me back a little bit because it doesn’t seem to make sense. If we were really good through one and two on the second time. The first time we were horrible through there, you’re wide-open either way, so the only variable there is really the wind.”

IN REGARDS TO THE GLOVE, IS IT MORE IMPORTANT TO FEEL BETTER THAN TO WORRY ABOUT THE GLOVE TYPE SITUATION? “I didn’t feel better after it, I can tell you that much. Directionally better, how much better? Probably nothing. That’s the part that hurts the most. It isn’t even worth it. It didn’t do anything to speak of. It’s directionally an area that everybody goes to try to block that hole. You see everyone put their hand there. We just tried to cover more space.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That’s a great start for us with our Fastenal Ford Mustang. I’m happy with the speed we showed there. I was happier the first round. I don’t know. I thought we hit our marks a little better the second round. I was wide-open in one and two and really thought that was gonna be a better lap, but it looks like our speed crossed the line into turn one was down. You can’t use it for everything right now, but there’s no part of me that says wind did not play some kind of factor in this qualifying today. I’m a little bummed by that part of it, to be on the bottom half of that top 10, but knowing what we have and the capability in our race car gives me a lot of hope going into this thing tomorrow.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was a solid day for us. Starting off in practice our car was really close. There’s definitely some things we could do better from a balance standpoint, but it had speed. We were able to be the quickest in practice over all the Hendrick cars, so that’s something to be proud of for us. Qualifying was really good that first round. The second round, truthfully, I felt like the wind was a big part of why I didn’t go any faster, and then I kind of messed up a little bit in three and four, but for us to slow down as much as we did I feel like that’s got to be wind related. But we’ve got a really good starting spot for tomorrow. That’s gonna be critical with how hard it is to pass, so I’m excited from that standpoint. Our car could be a little bit better, I think, but it’s definitely gonna be in the mix all day tomorrow. That’s exciting.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was a good step for us. I think Brian and the guys did a really great job with qualifying changeover. I think we made some smart adjustments from practice and even between round one and round two to even pick up, where I feel like it’s probably rare to pick up. I’m really proud of the effort there. The guys have done a really great job to start the year. It’s a good starting spot for the race, but it’s 400 miles with a lot different conditions. Hopefully, this wind calms down a little bit too.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 4 Mobil 1 Take 5 Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Honestly, it felt pretty good. I feel like he made some good adjustments there for qualifying. Really, I just wish I could do it again. I felt like I gave up a little bit of time coming to the green, just getting up to speed, but the lap itself felt good. I feel like our car is solid. I’m not saying that we can drive through the field and dominate the race, but I feel we can have a solid day tomorrow and learn a lot.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE IN A HOLE POINTS-WISE? “Yes and no. I want to win races, so points don’t really mean anything once you win. I’m not where I want to be in points, but in a position to win races and that’s gonna pay off eventually.”

WHEN IS THE POINT YOU NEED TO START TAKING CHANCES TO WIN RACES? “We’re way too early for that. Right now, we just need to do what we can do and go out there and win races and be competitive.”

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR OUT OF THE NEW FORD BODY HERE? “Last year, we had a really good race, solid execution, great pit stops, great strategy, good restarts, but we just didn’t have the raw speed to win the race. We did everything you need to do, but were just lacking the raw speed. We’re looking for the Ford body to give us the raw speed to go with the execution that we showed here last fall. If we can do that, we can win.”

HARRISON BURTON, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Not last weekend because we were able to at least keep going. When I first got clipped in the first wreck and spun, I was getting ready to ask that question, but I realized we didn’t have any damage so that was good. We ended up having a good day where we ran up front and got caught in the last wreck and were able to rebound again. In Daytona, I was asking that a little bit, but as long as we’re able to have a chance to overcome it, I’m happy still. Obviously, it was frustrating to maintain track position all day and lose it late, but that’s part of those races. If you can keep going, you’re normally pretty thankful.”

HOW DO THINGS FEEL GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND? “I think everyone in the garage is feeling like this is where the year starts and where we have to separate ourselves and see where we all are. The first two are wild cards and now we’re gonna really settle in. I’m excited to see how the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse drives.”

JUSTIN HALEY, No. 51 Ohanafy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW HAVE THESE FIRST TWO RACES GONE FROM YOUR STANDPOINT? “it’s good. Everyone at RWR and RFK and Ford Performance has been awesome. I feel like I’ve been on the Ford simulator more than I ever have been in a Cup simulator before, and that just leads to preparation for this weekend. The transition has been smooth. I feel like this weekend isn’t life or death on where our pace is because I still feel like there’s a lot of potential to be unlocked for us. I feel like we’re not really in a position quite yet to see where our speed is at, so I’m just continuing to build and try to extract that potential each week.”

THERE HAVE BEEN GLIMPSES OF YOU AT THE FRONT EACH WEEK, SO HOW DOES THAT FEEL? “There’s a lot on the communication side of things with a new spotter and new crew chief. We definitely have had speed. I don’t feel like we’ve lacked speed up to this point, especially in the race. We just have to work on executing. Cup races are long and there are a lot of pit stops and a lot of execution, so we’ll just keep working hard.”

KAZ GRALA, No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I think we got a taste of where the aero balance shift is on the new Ford body last week, so I’m glad that I did that race and was able to give the feedback. For the 15 team, I’m in it most of the season, but we’ll have a few different drivers through that car at various points, so for my crew chief the challenge that gives him is how can he keep up with feedback being different driver to driver. At least last week, the way I described the car feeling, we can use that for this week and have a direction for it. I think we figured out the differences in this new body. We’ve applied what we believe will balance that out for today.”

Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse, was involved in a practice accident during practice. Here are his comments after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. Preece will be going to a back-up Ford Mustang Dark Horse for tomorrow’s race.

RYAN PREECE, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – ‘I don’t know if it bottomed out or what, but we lost all the grip there in one and two. It was pretty unexpected.”