Category: NASCAR Cup PR

Homestead-Miami Event Info:
Date: Sunday, Oct. 27
Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Homestead, Florida
Format: 267 Laps, 400.5 Miles, Stages: 80-85-102
TV: NBC
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 9:05 a.m. ET, Practice (NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 9:50 a.m. ET, Qualifying (NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 2:30 p.m. ET, Race (NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Pace Laps:

• Homestead-Miami Speedway hosts its lone race date of the season this weekend with just three races remaining in the 2024 NASCAR season.
• RFK has led laps in two of the last three Homestead events between Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski. The two has three top-10 starting efforts in the last two races alone.
• Jack Roush has 11 wins all-time at HMS including seven in the Cup Series.

6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: Consumer Cellular

17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fastenal

Keselowski at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Starts: 16
Wins: —
Top-10s: 7
Poles: —

• Keselowski makes his 17th Cup start at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend where he has a 14.5 average finish and seven top-10 finishes. His best career finish is third (2014-15), as he’s coming off a 28th-place finish last season.
• He’s finished 10th or better in four of the last seven races at Homestead. In total he’s led in seven races at Homestead (totaling 171 laps), including 16 laps a season ago before being caught in an incident.
• Keselowski has an 8.9 average starting position in Miami – his best among active tracks – with 13-straight starts inside the top-10 and nine starts inside the top five overall. Last season he qualified fourth.
• Keselowski has two Xfinity wins at Homestead (2011, 2013) in eight starts, and an additional two starts in the Truck Series.

Buescher at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Starts: 8
Wins: —
Top-10s: —
Poles: —

• Buescher makes his ninth Cup start at Homestead-Miami where he has a 19.9 average finish.
• He finished 21st a season ago, and 13th the year prior, his best Cup finish there to date.
• Buescher carries a 19.1 average qualifying position with his best effort (P8) two years ago.
• Buescher made two Xfinity Series starts at HMS in 2014-15 with a best finish of fifth in the No. 60 machine.

RFK Historically at Homestead-Miami
Cup Wins: 7 (Kurt Busch, 2002; Greg Biffle, 2004, 2005, 2006; Matt Kenseth, 2007; Carl Edwards, 2008, 2010)

• Welcome to Miami: RFK has 177 combined starts at HMS, totaling 11 wins (7 NCS, 3 NXS, 1 NCWTS), 51 top-fives, 75 top-10s and eight poles. RFK drivers have led 1,900 laps at the 1.5-mile track over the years, logging more than 57,000 miles.
• Tale of the Tape: RFK has started 91 NCS races at Homestead, recording a total of seven victories, 23 top five finishes, 32 top-10 finishes, four poles and has led 1,183 laps. Former driver Carl Edwards earned the organization’s most recent win at the 1.5-mile oval in 2010.
• Five Straight: RFK earned five consecutive victories in the NCS at Homestead from 2004-2008 with drivers Matt Kenseth (2007), Edwards (2008) and Greg Biffle, who won three consecutive races from 2004-2006.
• Miami Nights: In 57 starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Homestead, RFK earned three wins, 22 top-fives, 32 top-10s and two pole positions. Edwards recorded the most recent victory at Homestead in the 2008 season final.

RFK Homestead Wins

1998 Burton NXS

2002 Busch Cup

2004 Biffle Cup

2005 Biffle Cup

2006 Biffle Cup

2006 Kenseth NXS

2006 Martin Truck

2007 Kenseth Cup

2008 Edwards Cup

2008 Edwards NXS

2010 Edwards Cup

Last Time Out
Las Vegas: Buescher led RFK with a P10 finish, but RFK had top five speed in both of its Mustangs as Keselowski was collected in an early stage two crash.

LAS VEGAS, NV – October 21, 2024 – Joey Logano won Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, advancing to the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4. The victory marks Ford’s 738th all-time in Cup Series competition along with Team Penske’s 99th series win with Ford. Currently, Logano has the most Championship 4 appearances of any driver with six and will compete for his third title this year at Phoenix.

“Congratulations to Roger, Tim, Paul, Joey and everyone at Team Penske on the race win at Las Vegas,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “The No. 22 team was fast throughout the day, executed their fuel mileage strategy, and now will be racing for the NASCAR Cup Championship in Phoenix.”

“Holy cow. What an incredible turn of events the last week. What a very fast Pennzoil Mustang. We’ve got the old kids crew here today and a lot of kids rooting us on, so it was really special to win in front of them again. My kids at home, I wish you guys were out here, but we’re going to the Championship 4 again. I don’t know what the deal is with the even year thing, but maybe it’s real. Thanks to the fans out here. Thanks to Roush Yates Engines for making great fuel mileage, great calls by Paul and Nick Hensley, our gas man, making sure she’s full, giving me the good info I need to save fuel and keep the lead that we needed to. Boy, we’re going racing again. What an incredible situation. I’m so blessed,” commented Logano.

In Sunday’s 267-lap race, six of the eight playoff drivers started in the top 10, including Team Penske’s Joey Logano in P10. With 16 laps to go in Stage 1, an accident in Turn 3 brought out the first caution of the race, creating multiple pit strategies throughout the field. While some teams opted for track position, others opted for new tires. An accident on lap 89 involving multiple playoff drivers brought out the caution again, putting several drivers in a must-win situation to advance to the Round of 4. At the end of Stage 2, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher finished in P4 with Team Penske’s Joey Logano right behind in P5. While most of the front-runners pitted for fuel under green, several drivers decided to stretch their fuel to the finish, led by Daniel Suarez and Joey Logano. Logano began closing the gap on Suarez with 10 laps remaining and took the lead with six laps to go. Logano held off Christopher Bell to win the race by 0.662 seconds, automatically advancing to the Championship 4, something he has done every other year since the format’s debut in 2014.

RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher finished in P10.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series also raced at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday. RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg finished in P2 and Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Riley Herbst and Cole Custer finished in P7 and P8.

The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series both compete this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.
39 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 472 WINS – 436 POLES

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

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

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

South Point 400: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nev. – October 20, 2024

AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 AUTOTRADER FORD MUSTANG

START: 11TH STAGE ONE: 9TH STAGE TWO: 33RD FINISH: 34TH POINTS: 11TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric’s strong start to Sunday’s South Point 400 came to an abrupt end early in Stage 2 after the No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang sustained serious damage, hindering its ability to continue in the event. Cindric started 11th after narrowly missing out on advancing to the final round of qualifying in Saturday’s time trials. He reported early on that the car was a touch on the snug side and had slight left-front chatter, but it eventually dissipated. The Autotrader Ford Mustang made its first trip to pit road under green on Lap 33, receiving four tires and fuel. Cindric cycled back to ninth and climbed to seventh by Lap 52. The No. 3 car brought out the caution on Lap 64 and Cindric returned to pit road for service, lining up 15th for the dash to the end of Stage 1. When the flags flew to close out the opening segment, Cindric was scored ninth. Following the restart to fire off Stage 2, a chaotic, multi-car incident ensued that ultimately left the No. 2 Ford Mustang with significant damage, forcing it to retire from the race under NASCAR’s Damaged Vehicle Policy.

CINDRIC’S THOUGHTS: “It’s an unfortunate ending to the day for the No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang. It’s frustrating because we’ve had really fast cars, especially today. I felt like we had one of the best cars on the long run and the way those cautions and the strategy and all that, it’s a shame. The last three weeks we’ve had cars that easily could have finished in the top five and some of those we got wrecked. It’s racing. It’s tough, but I definitely want to finish strong.”

RYAN BLANEY No. 12 MENARDS/GREAT STUFF FORD MUSTANG

START: 37TH STAGE ONE: 17TH STAGE TWO: 32ND FINISH: 32ND POINTS: 7TH

RACE RUNDOWN: It was one of those weekends to put in the rearview mirror for Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Great Stuff Ford Mustang team at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After beginning his practice session on Saturday afternoon, the defending Cup Series champion would cut a tire sending him into the outside turn 1 wall. The Menards crew worked well into the night and early morning to prepare a backup car for Sunday’s South Point 400. Rolling off 37th on the grid, Blaney would quickly show the strong preparation of the No. 12 team by driving his way into the top 20 when the first round of green flag pit stops began around lap 30. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler opted to keep Blaney out until lap 40 when he made his first pit stop of the day. He would use slightly fresher Goodyear tires to bring home a 17th place finish in Stage 1, a net gain of 20 positions from the event’s start. Blaney would restart 19th when Stage 2 began. Unfortunately, he would suffer damage in a multi-car crash on the frontstretch on lap 90. The Menards crew would make extensive repairs and Blaney would soldier home for a 32nd place finish.

BLANEY’S THOUGHTS: “We’re still alive. It’s definitely not the best of days. It was just a rough weekend overall. I don’t know what to do about it, to be honest with you, running over something and having a hole in (the tire) in practice. And then just getting clipped out there. I thought I could get around him and didn’t know if he’d come up the racetrack and then by the time he was kind of on the track it was too late. I got clipped and bent everything, so it was just a rough weekend. We still have two more weeks, so we’re definitely not out of it.”

JOEY LOGANO No. 22 PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG

START: 10TH STAGE ONE: 8TH STAGE TWO: 5TH FINISH: 1ST POINTS: 1ST (ADV)

RACE RUNDOWN: In what was a full week of emotions for the No. 22 team and driver Joey Logano, the two-time Cup Series champion punched his ticket to the Championship 4 by winning Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This was Logano’s fourth Cup Series victory in Las Vegas and 35th overall. The triumph solidified the Middletown, Conn. native’s streak of qualifying for the Championship 4 in even number years dating back to the format’s inception in 2014.

Logano rolled the Pennzoil Ford Mustang from the 10th starting position. He would quickly begin moving his way forward early by driving to sixth position prior to his first pit stop on lap 34. A caution on lap 64 would see mixed strategies for the short sprint to the Stage 1 conclusion on lap 80. Crew chief Paul Wolfe would opt for four Goodyear tires and an air pressure adjustment and Logano would restart 12th with nine laps remaining. He would pick off a handful of spots to finish eighth in Stage 1. The No. 22 team would flip the script during the stage break and take right side tires to restart fourth. Logano would make strong moves on the green flag restart to move up to second place. He would remain around the top five to finish fifth when Stage 2 was completed on lap 165. The final stage began, and the balance of the Pennzoil Ford Mustang was on the tight side in traffic. The final round of pit stops began with about 40 laps to go and the Pennzoil crew opted to stretch the fuel mileage and calculate as they go. With instruction from Wolfe and spotter Coleman Pressley, Logano would pass Daniel Suarez for the lead on lap 262 and hold off a hard charging Christopher Bell to score the victory.

LOGANO’S THOUGHTS: “So proud of our race team all the way through. This group of guys, they’re truly incredible. They’re good people, which is one of the things I’m most proud of, but they’re really smart. In the playoffs, they’re able to really be able to keep a level head and maximize the races no matter what’s dealt with them. Today we had a solid car. We were not as good as the No. 20 team, but we were a top five car. In the long run we were probably the best car. When there’s an opportunity like that at the end of the race, where there’s a long run, you’re able to make good mileage, that’s one of our strengths that we have with the Ford, so there’s an opportunity there to run it long. When you put that together with Paul Wolfe, an incredible crew chief, he really makes that happen there. Engineers calculating everything. Then communication, right? To Coleman (Pressley), my spotter, back down to me as a driver, how much can I save, what’s going on around me. Obviously, we don’t want to win by too much, make sure you save enough gas to get to the end. Yeah, able to make it happen.”

The NASCAR Cup Series continues the Round of 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, October 27. Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

RICK WARE RACING
South Point 400

Date: Oct. 20, 2024
Event: South Point 400 (Round 33 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps)

Race Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

RWR Race Finish:

● Corey LaJoie (Started 35th, Finished 14th/ Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
● Cody Ware (Started 36th, Finished 21st/Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)

RWR Points:

● Corey LaJoie (31st with 480 points)
● Cody Ware (36th with 146 points)

RWR Notes:

● LaJoie earned his 14th top-20 of the season and second top-15 in 14 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas.
● Ware’s 21st-place finish better his previous best result at Las Vegas. His previous best was 26th, earned in March 2022.
● Both LaJoie and Ware surpassed the previous best finish for RWR at Las Vegas, a 25th-place result earned in March 2018 by Cole Custer.

Race Notes:

● Joey Logano won the South Point 400 to score his 35th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his fourth at Las Vegas. His margin of victory over second-place Christopher Bell was .662 of a second.
● This was Ford’s 738th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory and its 10th of the season.
● This was Ford’s 15th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Las Vegas. Ford won its first race at Las Vegas on March 1, 1998 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin.
● There were five caution periods for a total of 32 laps.
● Only 21 of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● This was the first race in the penultimate Round of 8 of the NASCAR Playoffs. Logano secured his spot in the Championship 4 via his win while Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott are currently below the top-four cutline with two races remaining before the final, winner-take-all Championship 4 Nov. 10 at Phoenix Raceway.

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Straight Talk Wireless 400 on Sunday, Oct. 27 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The eighth race in the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs starts at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Fuel Mileage Determines Final Outcome in 400 Miles in Vegas

LAS VEGAS (Oct. 20, 2024) – Both RFK cars proved to be fast in Sunday afternoon’s 400-mile race in Las Vegas as Chris Buescher finished 10th in an ending determined by fuel mileage, while Brad Keselowski had what was likely a top five snatched away after being collected in an accident in stage two.

Both RFK Ford Mustangs finished top six in the first stage, but Keselowski’s afternoon came to an abrupt end at lap 90.

“I was coming off of turn four and the guys in front of me got together, it’s a shame,” said Keselowski. “This is the best run we’ve had the whole playoffs. The car was really fast and we were fighting within the top five and top-10. It’s racing. You hang around long enough and you’ve got a shot at it if you hang around the top five or top-10. We just kind of got caught up in somebody else’s deal.”

6 Recap
Keselowski began the day from 17th following Saturday’s qualifying session. He powered the King’s Hawaiian machine into the top-10 by lap 64 – the first yellow flag of the day – proving early speed in the No. 6. He would pit for right side tires under caution, putting him third on the ensuing restart.

That track position paid off as Keselowski finished the first stage in fifth. He began stage two in 10th, but just a couple laps into the run, a host of cars collected in the high lane, ultimately sending the No. 45 into Keselowski. The front end damage was too severe to repair, ending his day early, finishing 36th.

17 Recap
Like Keselowski, Buescher wasted no time advancing towards the front of the field. He was just behind Keselowski in fourth at the time of the first caution at lap 64. He earned a P6 stage finish, setting up 11th for the stage two start.

Buescher put the Castrol Edge Ford P4 to end stage two as the No. 17 gained more speed as the long run went on. He began the final stage in third and had only the leaders to chase down from there. But, as the laps wound down, the pit cycle was split between cars that were stretching the finish on fuel, and those who pitted early.

Buescher was the first to pit road – kickstarting the final green flag cycle – at lap 225 from P5. He was eyeing a top five result from there, but a host of other cars made it to the end on the tank of fuel, putting Buescher 10th to end the day.

Up Next
Homestead-Miami Speedway hosts the NASCAR Cup Series next weekend with race coverage on Sunday set for 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

About RFK Racing
RFK Racing, in its 37th season in 2024, features an ownership lineup pairing one of the sport’s most iconic names, Jack Roush, along with NASCAR Champion, Brad Keselowski, and Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry. Roush initially founded the team in 1988 and it has since become one of the most successful racing operations in the world, propelling him to be the first NASCAR owner to amass three hundred wins and capturing eight championships, including back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles in 2003 and 2004. Keselowski, a former owner in the NASCAR Truck Series, is the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. In 2007, Roush partnered with Henry, who also owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, English Premier League’s Liverpool F.C., and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, to form Roush Fenway Racing. Off the track, RFK is a leader and proven winner in NASCAR marketing solutions, having produced multiple award-winning social media, digital content and experiential marketing campaigns. Visit rfkracing.com, and follow the team on all social platforms @rfkracing.

After a disappointing qualifying result on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging team bounced back with a 15th-place finish in Sunday’s South Point 400.

Burton started the 267-lap race from 31st place and made steady progress in the first Stage, ending that 80-lap segment in 26th place.

In the second Stage he had driven up to 22nd place when the caution flag flew on Lap 90 for a multi-car crash. After the restart he moved into the top 20 for the first time in the race and pitted from 14th place at Lap 121 during a round of green-flag pit stops. He had worked his way back to 17th when the second Stage ended at Lap 165.

After a pit stop during the Stage break, he began moving up in the field again and was running in 18th place when he made another stop during a caution period at Lap 194. When racing resumed Burton and the DEX Imaging Mustang Dark Horse had their best run of the race, driving up to eighth place before making their final pit stop, under the green flag, at Lap 228.

Several driver elected to stay on the track and stretch their fuel, so Burton was scored in 19th place when he returned to the track. He moved up four spots over the final laps to score his sixth top-15 finish of the season as fellow Ford campaigners Joey Logano and the No. 22 Team Penske crew stretched their fuel to the finish.

Logano’s race win secured him and his team a spot among the four drivers who will decide the Cup Series championship in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

“We salute Joey and Team Penske for their win at Las Vegas and are proud to know that Ford Motor Company is assured of a chance to race for the championship,” Eddie Wood said.

Burton and the Wood Brothers now turn their attention to next Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

About DEX Imaging
DEX Imaging is the digital document imaging division of Staples, the world’s largest business solutions provider. DEX sells and services the broadest selection of copiers, printers and data management solutions, such as HP, Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera and numerous others.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES:
Reducing Operating Costs
Reducing Paper Consumption
Increasing Productivity

DEX Imaging has been the recipient of virtually every industry award since the company’s inception, including the JD Power & Associates Award for Best Customer Experience, the prestigious ProTech Service award by Konica Minolta, the Diamond Premier Dealer Award by Kyocera, and the Elite DEALER Award by ‘ENX’ magazine. Other accolades include being named ‘Best Place to Work’ by numerous business journals in the markets DEX serves.

Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glenn’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton in the famous No. 21 racer.

On-Track Crash Ends Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Boot Barn Chevrolet Team’s Run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Early

Finish: 37th
Start: 13th
Points: 28th

“Las Vegas Motor Speedway has always been among my favorite tracks, so it’s a shame the way our day ended. I hate it for Boot Barn and all of our partners. We were fighting a tight balance early in the race and trying to get to the end of Stage 1 to get a chance to work on the car. We got hit and ended up hitting hard into the wall. I’m not sure what the No. 31 was thinking. He flat-out wrecked me and I have no clue why. He stayed in the gas into Turn 3 until he hit me. I hate it for our Richard Childress Racing team.” -Austin Dillon

Kyle Busch and the No. 8 FICO Chevrolet Team Collect 13th-Place Finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Finish: 13th
Start: 20th
Points: 20th

“Overall, it was a solid day for the FICO Chevrolet team. We started off loose, but crew chief Randall Burnett called for adjustments every time we stopped. By Stage 2, our Chevy was too tight but we had worked our way inside the top 10. The pit crew had a good day on pit road and we were able to gain a few spots there. We chose to split the final run of the race instead of trying to stretch it to the end. Unfortunately, that didn’t work in our favor because some guys didn’t stop and made it to the end. I want to thank everyone from FICO and their leadership team who came out to the race today in Las Vegas. They have been a great partner this season and it was cool to see them at the track this weekend. We’ll regroup this week and bounce back next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.” -Kyle Busch

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
South Point 400 Qualifying | Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Sunday, October 20, 2024

JOEY LOGANO PUNCHES TICKET TO CHAMPIONSHIP 4 AFTER LAS VEGAS WIN

• Joey Logano won his third race of the season with today’s victory, not including his win in the All-Star Race.
• It marks his fourth career triumph at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, most among all tracks.
• Logano will be making his sixth career Championship 4 appearance in two weeks at Phoenix.
• The win is Logano’s 35th of his Cup Series career and 33rd with Ford.
• Those 33 wins put him 4th on the all-time Ford win list.
• Today’s win is Ford’s 738th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
• It also marks Team Penske’s 99th series win with Ford.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – A WEEK AGO WAS DEJECTION AND NOW HERE YOU ARE GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4. “Oh my gosh. It’s an incredible turn of events coming from what was at the end of last weekend and what it was like Sunday night after a couple hours after the race and to this Sunday. This sport is just incredible. Things change, but what a team I’ve got. I stood out there at the start-finish line and it takes a total effort. Obviously, the car had to be pretty good. It was solid, but when you think about what it takes to win a fuel mileage race, you’ve got to have a good engine. You’ve got to have good engineers calculating stuff. You’ve got to have good communication communicating what they see and being able to make sure that I only gave up the right amount of spots on the racetrack and trying to get to the 99 in front and keep the 20 behind. Coleman, Paul, Joe, Nick Hensley, our gas man making sure it’s full. It takes everybody to do it, so we’re in the Championship 4 again. I’m so proud of this team. We just find a way and that’s what I’m most proud of. I said it as we entered this thing this week that we may be the underdogs, but I don’t think so anymore.”

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO CELEBRATE? “I have no clue. We’re a bunch of old guys. We’re probably going home.”

IS THE FAMILY AT HOME? “Yeah, they’re all at home. We’ll have a couple weeks to have some fun, but the focus tomorrow morning is gonna be on Phoenix.”

HOW INTENSE WAS THAT FINAL RUN? “We do some fuel mileage stuff, don’t we? Holy cow. What an incredible turn of events the last week. What a very fast Pennzoil Mustang. We’ve got the old kids crew here today and a lot of kids rooting us on, so it was really special to win in front of them again. My kids at home, I wish you guys were out here, but we’re going to the Championship 4 again. I don’t know what the deal is with the even year thing, but maybe it’s real. Thanks to the fans out here. Thanks to Roush Yates Engines for making great fuel mileage, great calls by Paul and Nick Hensley, our gas man, making sure she’s full, giving me the good info I need to save fuel and keep the lead that we needed to. Boy, we’re going racing again. What an incredible situation. I’m so blessed.”

HOW DISCIPLINED DID YOU HAVE TO BE ON THAT LAST RUN? “Coleman up there in the spotter’s stand, working with Paul and our engineers – Shaggy and Joe – everybody does a good job at just feeding the info that I needed. You have to go the right pace to make sure you get in front of the 99, but get to where the 20 was gonna catch me. It was an incredible day. Like I said, it takes the whole team to do the fuel mileage stuff. It’s not just the engine or the engineers or the driver or the spotter, it takes all of us together to do it. It’s a total team win. We may not have been the fastest car today, but we were a solid top-five car and being able to maximize it at the end.”

Ford Performance Unofficial Results:
1st – Joey Logano
10th – Chris Buescher
14th – Corey LaJoie
15th – Harrison Burton
18th – Noah Gragson
20th – Michael McDowell
21st – Cody Ware
22nd – Ryan Preece
24th – Josh Berry
26th – Chase Briscoe
31st – Todd GIlliand
32nd – Ryan Blaney
34th – Austin Cindric
36th – Brad Keselowski

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Great Stuff Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We’re still alive. It’s definitely not the best of days. It was just a rough weekend overall. I don’t know what to do about it, to be honest with you, running over something and having a hole in it in practice. And then just getting clipped by the 6 there. I thought I could get around him and didn’t know if he’d come up the racetrack and then by the time he was kind of on the track it was too late. I got clipped and bent everything all to hell, so it was just a rough weekend. We still have two more weeks, so we’re definitely not out of it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAPPENED ON TRACK? “I was coming off of turn four and the guys in front of me got together. It’s a shame. This is the best run we’ve had the whole playoffs. The car was really fast and we were fighting within the top five and top 10. It’s racing. You hang around long enough and you’ve got a shot at it if you hang around the top five or top 10. We just kind of got caught up in somebody else’s deal.”

WHAT HAPPENED? “I was kind of a victim of circumstances. A couple of cars got together in front of me and I just couldn’t miss them. It’s a shame. This is one of the best cars we’ve had in quite some time. I was really proud of our team. We were in a good spot to have a great day and just didn’t get to see it through.”

WAS REDDICK’S MOVE TOO AGGRESSIVE? “I haven’t seen it, so I don’t really know. I couldn’t see what happened.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAPPENED DOWN THERE? “I have no idea. That’s a great question. I haven’t seen a replay. I just know that they wrecked off of four and the 6 came back up the track and either clipped me or I just got loose from getting up in the gray by the start-finish line and slapped the fence and killed all of the right side suspension and now I get to watch the rest of the race.”

HOW DO YOU MOVE ON NOW THE REST OF THE SEASON? “It’s totally frustrating because we’ve had really fast cars, especially today. I felt like we had one of the best cars on the long run and the way those cautions and the strategy and all that, it’s a shame. The last three weeks we’ve had cars that easily could have finished in the top five and some of those we got wrecked. It’s racing. It’s tough, but I definitely want to finish strong.”

A LOT OF AGGRESSIVE MOVES TODAY. DID ANYTHING SURPRISE YOU? “Not really. I think the thing that gets more and more frustrating on these is where was the line drawn when it comes back to lagging back on restarts. Depending on where the leader goes sometimes it’s hard to tell, but guys just continually back up to get gaps. It just puts you in a worse spot the further back you go and it’s just the benefits of having track position. That’s one thing that I would say is frustrating.”

BELL FINISHES SECOND IN VEGAS
Pole winner Bell leads race-high 155 laps, comes up just short after late charge through field

LAS VEGAS (October 20, 2024) – Christopher Bell won the pole, led 155 of 267 laps and finished second after charging through the field late in the running of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday evening. Bell led four Toyotas in the top-10 finishers with Martin Truex Jr. in sixth, fellow Playoff driver Denny Hamlin coming home in eighth and John Hunter Nemechek scoring a solid ninth-place finish.

The third Toyota Playoff driver, Tyler Reddick, led nine laps and won the first stage before being involved in an early stage two incident.

With the finish, Christopher Bell leads the overall standings and is second in the Playoff rankings. He is 42 points above the cutline. Denny Hamlin moved up to fifth. The Virginia-native is now 27 points out. Tyler Reddick ranks sixth, 30 points below the cutline.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 33 of 36 – 267 Laps, 400.5 Miles

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Joey Logano*
2nd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
3rd, Daniel Suarez*
4th, William Bryon*
5th, Alex Bowman*
6th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
8th, DENNY HAMLIN
9th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
12th, BUBBA WALLACE
25th, ERIK JONES
28th, JIMMIE JOHNSON
30th, TY GIBBS
35th, TYLER REDDICK
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

Finishing Position: 2nd

How do you come to terms with how that race played out?

“I don’t know. I don’t know, and I don’t think I’ve come to terms with it yet. Just a bummer. Everyone on this team did everything perfect today. This thing was obviously on rails, the pit crew did an amazing job, Adam (Stevens, crew chief) called an amazing race. We did everything we needed to put the Rheem Camry into victory lane, and unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today.”

How do you use this to fuel you next weekend in Homestead?

“It is a whole new race next week. This track means nothing for next week, and fortunately, we were able to go and win in Homestead last year, but nothing is guaranteed. Just because I ran second this week, doesn’t mean I’m going to finish anywhere next week. I think the points look pretty good, which is a positive, but you are never safe in this deal. We needed to win today, and unfortunately, we didn’t. We will go on to the next one.”

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

Finishing Position: 8th

How would you describe this day?

“Not a clean day. That certainly sums it up. You’ll have that. We did the best we could to get the best finish. I thought Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) did a great job to get some sort of finish. Once we lost the track position early, he was doing the best he could to try to get it back through strategy, and then it goes long there, and we fall to the back. Just part of it.”

How do you feel about your points position with Miami and Martinsville coming up?

“I don’t know where we are at, but certainly, we are not running quite as strong as we were earlier in the year, and we are definitely not as clean, execution wise, as we were. We will just have to clean it up and go to Homestead and try to win it.”

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB

Finishing Position: 9th

Solid run today, can you talk about your race?

“Solid day. We didn’t start off great – started in 26th, I think we fell back to the 30s and Brian (Campe, crew chief) and the engineers – everyone on this 42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota team worked really hard to get the car right. I felt like our communication was good today. I just felt like everything went okay. We got track position, made some adjustments, woke the car up. I felt like we were running top-15 there for a little bit, and we opted to save fuel on the strategy that we played and came home ninth. Obviously, we want more – but at the same time, very, very solid day for this 42 group, and something I feel like us and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB needed.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, No. 84 Dollar Tree/Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB

Finishing Position: 28th

Can you talk about the race and how it all progressed for you today?

“Not bad for this Dollar Tree, Family Dollar Toyota. We were in that lucky dog position, and as the race went on and some quality cars were trapped down a lap, it just made that really tough and we narrowly missed getting back on the lead lap multiple times, so trapped down a lap, and just ran along and did what we could, but it was great to see our other two cars with pace, especially the 42 (John Hunter Nemechek) car finishing there in ninth. That was a great day for us.”

TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

Finishing Position: 35th

First off, are you okay and secondly, what happened out there?

“Yeah, you just have to be aggressive on restarts. It’s how the Next Gen racing has been from the beginning. I kind of saw them both have a moment, and I just had to split second make a decision. You have to be aggressive on the restart. It is hard to pass after a while. Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive – by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) started sliding and the 9 (Chase Elliott) was coming up and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding to be more conservative to avoid an incident – just not who I am, but it is unfortunate. It took us out of the race. We had a really, really fast Jordan Brand Toyota Camry, probably would have been in the mix all race long, but we will go to Homestead – a place where I have had to get it done before and go for it there.”

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