Category: XFINITY Series PR

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Saturday, March 30, 2019
EVENT: My Bariatric Solutions 300

Ford Finishing Order:
4th – Chase Briscoe
11th – Austin Cindric
34th – Cole Custer
36th – Brad Keselowski

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 98 Nutri Chomps Ford Mustang – YOU GET TO RUN FOR THE DASH FOR CASH NEXT WEEK AT BRISTOL. “Yeah, it’s gonna be pretty cool getting to race for $100,000. It’s not every day you get to do that, so I’m looking forward to it. I really feel like we should have been in Victory Lane if that caution didn’t come out. We were gonna be the only car able to go on fuel, so it seems that always happens in those situations, but I’m just really proud of all my Nutri Chomps guys. We were literally a 13th to 16th-place car all day long and just kept working on it and getting track position and was able to salvage a top five out of it. We just have to get better throughout the weekend, I’ve got to get better and I feel like once we put it all together we’re gonna be really hard to beat. We just have to get all the pieces together, so I’m looking forward to Bristol and hopefully win $100,000.”

DID YOU SEE THE 51 STOPPED ON PIT ROAD? “I didn’t know. I thought it was gonna be for debris because that’s just how it always is and then I saw he was stopped on pit road. You never know if you’re gonna have enough fuel, but I felt like I was saving a ton. I wasn’t even running wide-open down the straightaway and I was still able to maintain my track position, so I felt like we were gonna be pretty good and the yellow comes out. That was a bummer. You never want to win them on fuel strategy when you’re not the best car, but stealing a win is always fun too. That’s just part of it and now we’ll go to Bristol and see what happens.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang – “There was a lot of attempts at overcoming things today. That’s part of the deal. It’s racing. You got a guy that wipes out on you inside and work your whole race to work your way back up on strategy and driving hard on restarts, and none of it really pans out. And then you get run over on the final restart and end up finishing 11th. It’s one of those days where you try as hard as you can. The guys did a great job trying to get us back out there and getting the right side of the car fixed. We kind of lost every time we came into pit road just because we were boxed in every time and it was one of those days where the MoneyLion Ford Mustang was going to be denied at every corner no matter how hard we tried. We’ll go short track racing now and try to make up for it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 12 Pirtek Ford Mustang – WE SAW WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE 7 CAR. WHAT ENDED YOUR DAY? “The team said the damage was too much, but it was a frustrating day. I don’t know if we were the fastest car. I think probably the 18 is the fastest car out there, but with all these short restarts there are a handful of cars that seem to have a lot of real quick, short run speed and we just kept getting run over by them. I thought we would have been really good for the last stage when the long run comes, but we didn’t make it that far.”

COLE CUSTER, No. 00 Jacob Companies Ford Mustang – “I just got loose under the 19 on that restart. You’ve got to push it extremely hard just because it’s so hard to pass. After a couple laps you just have to try and get what you can get. I wasn’t having the best restarts all day, so I tried to be really aggressive there and I just pushed it too hard. I wish I didn’t push it that hard, but it is what it is. I hate tearing up our car, but we’ll go and get them at the next one.”

Toyota Racing – Brandon Jones
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Texas Motor Speedway – March 29, 2019

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brandon Jones was made available to the media in Texas:

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 jdgibbslegacy.com Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

How much do you enjoy racing here at Texas?

“I’ve had a lot of fun times at this track. Last year I had a stage win here and really had a great car. Got on the outside a little too much and got loose. I think that having this traction compound that they put down this weekend is going to change everything a little bit. It may change the line up some. We may run up on that second or third groove, but without watching just yet I’m not sure where we’re going to be. Love coming to Texas and love coming to the state as well.”

What is the layout like at this race track from a strategy perspective?

“For driver and crew chief it’s kind of difficult to get the car perfectly balanced for each corner. You really have to figure out which corner you’re going to pass in and then work on that the most you can. Normally if you get one and two good, you’re really good in three and four. Maybe that’s the section that we work on, but one and two being really, really lightly banked, it’s definitely a way different corner than three and four. You actually have to use a little bit of brake in our car some to make our car stay on the bottom some, but by the time you get to three and four, you slow it down so much that you can almost go wide open through there with so much banking. The track still has a lot of grip even though it’s been a couple years since it’s been repaved. Starting to get some character to it and there’s some bumps that are starting to pop up now and some seams that are starting to affect the track some.”

What kind of progress do you think you’re making this season and is Texas a track you can win?

“I think it is and especially with this being a Dash 4 Cash qualifying race and definitely want to try to get into that. We’ve been close a few times in the past. I think this is our year to start challenging for that and this is not a better track that we could have to do it at. This year’s been going good expect for the incident at Vegas, that’s really the only incident we’ve had. As far as what we started off with, top-10s and top-fives is where we need to be and if we run there long enough, we’ll be in the winner’s circle soon.”

Has it been a struggle to have the car fast when you unload at the track each weekend?

“It’s probably one of the things I’ve been working on really hard is just having natural speed right off the hauler and not having to waste a whole set of tires trying to get up to speed at the track. Using the simulator at Toyota a lot for that honestly, just preparing to get it right off the truck really quick. That’s something I’ve been working on and it’s been showing for us pretty good.”

How confident are you heading into this race?

“I was so close I felt like last year to having a shot at least to win this race. We had that stage win there and I think we finished second the first stage and I just got too high and took myself out of contention. This weekend is going to be it, I think this is going to be the one to focus on as much as I can. We’ve had a great start to the year so far and we’ve been close. Hopefully Texas is it, I love this state, I love coming to this track and we’ve got a special paint scheme on with us this weekend with J.D. Gibbs Legacy so hopefully we can do it for the Gibbs family and that’s what we’re going to be trying for.”

Why does it mean so much to have J.D. Gibbs Legacy on your Supra this weekend?

“I guess Coach (Gibbs) kind of selected me and trusts me with that scheme to be able to carry it and we’re going to do it with honor and as best we can.”

Do you think of fast speeds when you think of the Texas track?

“It’s been a while since it’s been repaved and it’s starting to get some bumps here and there and some characteristics to it, but three and four are still so unique that you can almost run flat through it. You’re having to lift a little bit now, but it’s got a ton of grip still.”

What would it mean to win this race with J.D. Gibbs Legacy on the car?

“I don’t even know how to put it into words to be honest. I’ve got family in Arkansas so they’re about four hours from here and so this would almost be close to them and it would just be an overwhelming experience for me.”