Josh Berry Qualifies Third to Lead Ford in Richmond - Speedway Digest

Ford Performance Results:

3rd – Josh Berry

7th – Chris Buescher

9th – Joey Logano

11th – Ryan Blaney

16th – Noah Gragson

18th – Austin Cindric

23rd – Todd Gilliland

25th – Chase Briscoe

26th – Ryan Preece

28th – Michael McDowell

29th – Brad Keselowski

31st – Harrison Burton

34th – Riley Herbst

36th – Justin Haley

37th – Parker Retzlaff

JOSH BERRY, No. 4 P&G Supports Our Military Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “That was really good. Obviously, we had a really good lap in the first round. I felt like I had a good lap in the second round, but just needed a little bit more there. I’m pretty happy with how that went and we’ll see what tomorrow brings us.”

HOW MUCH CAN YOU APPLY FROM YOUR PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE ON TRACKS LIKE RICHMOND?“This place, I came here in an Xfinity car in probably 2015 and there was Cup drivers in the field and that was one of my best races in a one-off. It just felt natural to me, based off what I’ve done before, just how the track races. It’s come to me a little easier than some of the others.”

DO YOU FEEL THERE’S ANY ADDED PRESSURE TO GET IT DONE TOMORROW NIGHT?“I don’t know that there’s added pressure, but we realize this is a great opportunity for us. We ran great here in the spring. We didn’t execute like we needed to on pit road and kind of took ourselves out of the race, but I think we have a car that can compete with these guys. We have the starting spot. I think it’s just gonna come down to executing tomorrow and doing the right things, making the right calls. There’s obviously a lot going on with the tires. Rodney is prepared for that and tomorrow can be the day.”

DO YOU THINK THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME TO INTRODUCE THE OPTION TIRE?“I think it’s a great move. They’ve got to move the needle and I think it’s a success. The tire wear we had today, it will only be better tomorrow with little cooler temperatures and more rubber on the track. Like I said, I think we could have a fleet completely of those tires and there wouldn’t be any issues.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s a really good start. I feel like that’s been a weak spot of ours here even though we’ve been really good. That puts us in a good spot to get a good pit selection and be set up for a good race. We’ve got a lot to go through from practice to figure out from the reds and yellows and see what we feel like that’s gonna do for the race and what our options are. I think it’s gonna be a whole lot harder for the crew chiefs and all the smart people tonight, but it was definitely a good day and start to our weekend. I’m proud of that and ready to get this Fastenal Ford Mustang out on the track tomorrow.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I felt like we were OK in race trim. We just really haven’t figured out the second round of qualifying We were good the first round, but it seems like the second round I don’t have much left in the tank for whatever reason, so we have a little bit of work to do there, but it’s not a bad starting spot.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 BodyArmor Sport Water Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE OPTION TIRE THIS WEEKEND?“I think the biggest thing for us is just seeing how they practice, what the take off speed is like with them, what the fall off speed is like with them, and I think that can kind of determine where you put them on. I’ve got a feeling that everyone is planning right now to save them for the end if it’s like way faster, but I think you can get pretty strategic on where you put them on. Maybe you have a bad pit stop or you’ve got to go to the back, so maybe you throw reds on and see if you can get back through the field if they’re a lot faster. We’ve kicked around a lot of different scenarios.”

IF YOU TRY TO SAVE ONE FOR THE END AND YOU GET A LONG GREEN FLAG RUN. IS THERE CONCERN YOU COULD LEAVE WITH ONE SET IN YOUR POCKET?“That’s the risk you always take with tires. I mean, how many times have folks tried to stay out and they end with a sticker set in their pits hoping for a caution and they don’t get it and it ruins their day. That’s just the risk you take. Like I said, it’s gonna be interesting to see if you’ve got one set left and there are 100 laps to the end. Are you gonna throw on your final set? I don’t know. It just depends how much they fall off the cliff, if they do fall off the cliff a lot more than the primes. We’ll get a pretty good idea of that today in practice, just like that delta and then that’s why the crew chiefs get paid big bucks tomorrow on whether you throw them on.”

Ford Performance PR