BRAD KESELOWSKI RACING PHOTO
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes – NASCAR Cup Series – All-Star Heat Races – North Wilkesboro Speedway
Saturday, May 17, 2025
HEAT RACE 1
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Brad Keselowski
4th– Ryan Blaney
6th – Josh Berry
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – THAT
WENT ACCORDING TO PLAN. IS THIS A SHOT IN THE ARM FOR THIS TEAM?
“Yeah, it doesn’t hurt. It’s been a good two days for everyone on
this 6 crew and hopeful the other two cars can have good runs – the
heat race and the Open so that we can get a great day for tomorrow.
It’s good to be starting up front with the Solomon Plumbing Ford
Mustang and to be running fast. This is fun.”
YOU TRIED SOMETHING DIFFERENT. WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT THIS SETUP AND
MAYBE TIRES. DO YOU WANT TIRES TOMORROW? “Those guys that put tires
on, they were really hard to hold off. I had the preferred groove and
just tried to use it to my advantage. We’ll see if that’s the case
tomorrow.”
KESELOWSKI WINNER’S PRESS CONFERENCE
IS THIS STILL A ONE-GROOVE TRACK? “Oh, no. It’s definitely not a
single groove racetrack. They were running me real hard. We had good
pace and that was a little bit of a dogfight, so I thought it was great
racing.”
HOW MUCH FUN WAS IT RACING SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH THOSE GUYS FOR ALL THOSE
LAPS? “That’s what this is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be a
fun race and I think I ran beside the 45, the 1, the 24 for at least a
dozen or maybe two dozen laps. It was a good battle. I’m glad that we
came out on top, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be, right?”
BEING OUT FRONT YOU GET BETTER AIR BUT IS IT ALSO TIRE THING? “Those
guys were running hard and that’s what they’re supposed to do.
It’s always a battle on these short tracks to have the right balance
between driving the car hard enough to stay up front, but not driving it
too hard to run the tires off of it and that’s part of the challenge
of being a race car driver and I welcome it.”
ARE YOU GOING TO NEED TIRES TOMORROW NIGHT? “We’re gonna find out.
It’s always hard to say. The track conditions are always changing,
particularly when we’ll have the Open before the race tomorrow. I
suspect the track will just become more and more favorable to tire
wear.”
HEAT RACE 2
Ford Finishing Results:
2nd – Joey Logano
5th – Chris Buescher
8th – Austin Cindric
9th – Harrison Burton
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DID
IT FEEL UP FRONT AND DO YOU THINK YOU’LL HAVE SOMETHING FOR THE
LEADERS TOMORROW? “Yeah, it was really just seeing the front to start
the race is what we wanted to do. There’s a lot of opportunity there
with different strategies. We saw the 19 stay out and go for it there,
and it didn’t work out for him. That’s kind of an all or nothing
call and we were debating about it as well, so once we couldn’t get
the lead we knew we were gonna pit. We made a good adjustment on our car
and learned something for tomorrow night, so that’s a good thing.
We’re in a good spot. We’re gonna start on the outside lane, which
isn’t a bad thing to fire off and we’ll try to get the old 22
rolling and tune on it as the night goes along.”
HOW DID YOU FEEL THE TRACK WIDENED OUT AND HOW HAS IT CHANGED FROM LAST
YEAR? “The track is super wide. I mean, you saw the 20, he was up by
the wall. I was surprised three and four hasn’t widened out much more
than it has. It may tomorrow night because I feel like last year was a
little wider in three and four, but one and two is serviceable in every
single lane, so that makes it pretty fun. It’s hard to pass because
every lane is strong, so it’s hard to complete passes, but there are
definitely options to try to get clean air.”
DO YOU THINK CLEAN AIR WILL BE KEY TOMORROW NIGHT? “It was last year.
I’ve got to assume it will be again this year.”