Category: Post-Race Reports

Date: April 21, 2024

Event: GEICO 500 (Round 10 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

Format: 188 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/68 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Noah Gragson (Started 36th, Finished 3rd / Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)

– Chase Briscoe (Started 26th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)

– Ryan Preece (Started 11th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)

– Josh Berry (Started 29th, Finished 16th / Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (12th with 256 points, 103 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (23rd with 162 points, 197 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (27th with 154 points, 205 out of first)
– Josh Berry (28th with 151 points, 208 out of first)

SHR Fast Facts
– Gragson’s third-place finish was his career-best NASCAR Cup Series result. His prior best was fifth in August 2022 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

– Briscoe earned his seventh top-15 of the season and his sixth top-15 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega.

– Preece earned his fourth top-15 of the season and his sixth top-15 in nine career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega.

– Berry earned his fourth top-20 of the season.

Sound Bites:

“We were definitely working together as Fords on the bottom – (Michael) McDowell, Brad Keselowski and myself. All the Fords worked great all race. It’s coming to the end and the 6 (Keselowski) and the 34 (McDowell) were blocking coming to the checkers and, unfortunately, the 45 (Tyler Reddick) squeaked by. I really wanted to see a Ford in victory lane, but the Overstock team at Stewart-Haas did a great job all day. We had clean pit stops, fast pit stops, a lot of horsepower under the hood. The Mustang Dark Horses and racing with these other Ford guys has been a lot of fun. I haven’t been up here very much in the Cup Series on these superspeedways, but I’m extremely grateful. It’s a privilege to race with guys like Keselowski and McDowell. I mean, they’ve won really big races on speedways so, overall, I’m really thankful for everyone at Stewart-Haas and this Overstock team and we’ll keep the momentum going.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I’m definitely not surprised. The whole last lap, you just know it’s coming if we got that far, so overall it just was not a very good day for us. We went a lap down early because of flat-spotting the tires. It seemed like we honestly just rode around 30th all day. I don’t know where we ended up. Someone said 12th, somehow, so I guess that’s better than where we should’ve finished with how the day went. We’ll just go on to Dover next week and try to continue running good.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“Ultimately, we put ourselves in that position. I was trying to help Ryan (Blaney) and work with my other Ford teammates, but it’s tough when everybody isn’t on the same page. When you lose track position like that, it is what it is, but moving forward I’d like to talk to Blaney and figure out what I can do better to help him. That way, we can just not worry about anybody else.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I thought Rodney (Childers, crew chief) made some good changes there. We kind of took a swing at it just to get me feeling a bit better. But honestly, more than anything, really, just the strategy kind of worked in our favor. We kind of ended up on an opposite strategy, which sometimes you have to do to make something happen. That’s when we got up front and the car got driving a lot better. We had an opportunity there, but we just didn’t make it across the finish line. We’ll live to fight another day.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Würth 400 on Sunday, April 28 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Date: April 14, 2024

Event: AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (Round 9 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (1.5-mile oval)

Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/85 laps/102 laps)

Note: Race extended nine laps past its scheduled 267-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

SHR Finish:
– Chase Briscoe (Started 5th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 276 of 276 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 26th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 276 of 276 laps)
– Noah Gragson (Started 21st, Finished 18th / Running, completed 276 of 276 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 25th, Finished 36th / Accident, completed 136 of 276 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (12th with 231 points, 105 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (24th with 137 points, 199 out of first)
– Josh Berry (27th with 130 points, 206 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (29th with 122 points, 214 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– Chase Briscoe earned his fourth top-10 of the season and his third top-10 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Texas.
– This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was ninth, earned March 10 at Phoenix Raceway.
– This was Briscoe’s second straight top-10. He finished 10th last Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
– This was Briscoe’s fourth straight top-15 at Texas and his third straight top-10 at the 1.5-mile oval. In his past four NASCAR Cup Series starts at Texas, Briscoe has finished 15th, fifth, 10th and sixth.
– Briscoe finished fifth in Stage 1 to earn six bonus points and fifth in Stage 2 to earn six more bonus points.
– Preece earned his third top-15 of the season and his first top-15 in eight career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Texas.
– Preece’s 12th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Texas – 18th, earned in October 2020.
– This was Gragson’s third straight top-20. He finished 12th March 31 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and 20th last Sunday at Martinsville.
– Gragson’s 18th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Texas – 21st, earned in September 2022.

Sound Bites:

“Our car was really good. We were able to finish fifth in both stages and we’d done everything perfect up until the point of the spin. We were going to be the race leader. The 23 (Bubba Wallace) was on way older tires. We both went into turn one so hard and then the 21 (Harrison Burton) took us three-wide and we both just kind of wrecked. We got lucky at the end with the cautions. Our Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang was really, really good today. Way better than sixth place. I feel like I keep saying the same thing, but man, it’s frustrating where we finish because we’re way better speed-wise. Overall, just a really solid day and a really solid points day. I feel like our win is right around the corner.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“Ultimately, I wish the cautions would’ve worked out a little different. Once we had the 8 (Kyle Busch) and 22 (Joey Logano) cars behind us, it was a struggle to keep from being put three-wide. Having as old of tires as we did, I was just trying to protect my position. When I restarted on the outside that last time, it was just too much to handle and we dropped out of the top-10.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“It felt like we had a good car. We were going to cycle fifth, sixth or seventh during that one round of green-flag pit stops and just got stuck a lap down with the caution that came out. That happened a couple of times, so we had to fight and come from the back a couple of times today with those scenarios. Overall, we had a top-10 run going all day and just didn’t come home with it.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We were going to run fine. We were almost in the top-10. I felt like the car was pretty good. Rodney (Childers, crew chief) made good calls there on the strategy to keep tires on it. The first time I felt like we got stacked on the bottom a little bit and when the 47 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) moved down, either he barely clipped me or just the air off his car was the problem. It was super close. Honestly, I think we made a little bit of contact and it just got me loose and out of control. The second time I was just out there riding around and I was just out there loose and trying to hang on to it and wrecked again.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Miner Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 21 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Date: April 7, 2024

Event: Cook Out 400 (Round 8 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)

Format: 400 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/100 laps/220 laps)

Note: Race extended 15 laps past its scheduled 400-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

SHR Finish:
– Ryan Preece (Started 22nd, Finished 9th / Running, completed 415 of 415 laps)

– Chase Briscoe (Started 5th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 415 of 415 laps)

– Noah Gragson (Started 26th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 414 of 415 laps)

– Josh Berry (Started 7th, Finished 25th / Running, completed 413 of 415 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (16th with 188 points, 121 out of first)
– Josh Berry (23rd with 129 points, 180 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (26th with 112 points, 197 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (29th with 101 points, 208 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– Preece earned his first top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in 10 career NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville.

– This was Preece’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 14th, earned March 17 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

– Preece’s ninth-place finish bettered his previous best result at Martinsville – 15th, earned last April.

– This was Preece’s third straight top-20 at Martinsville. He finished 15th last April and 20th in the series’ prior visit to the track in October.

– Briscoe earned his third top-10 of the season and his fifth top-10 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville

– This was Briscoe’s fifth straight result of 18th or better. He finished ninth March 10 at Phoenix Raceway, 13th March 17 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, 13th March 24 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas and 18th last Sunday at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

– This was Briscoe’s fifth straight top-10 at Martinsville. In his past five NASCAR Cup Series starts at the .526-mile oval, Briscoe has finished ninth, ninth, fifth, fourth and 10th.

– Briscoe finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points and seventh in Stage 2 to earn four more bonus points.

– Briscoe led once for eight laps to bring his laps-led total at Martinsville to 142.

– Gragson’s 20th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Martinsville – 25th, earned in October 2022.

– Berry finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and 10th in Stage 2 to earn one additional bonus point.

Sound Bites:

“We had a really good car. I wish we didn’t qualify so badly. I know the 24 (William Byron) started back there with us and he was able to get there probably with the help of a lot of things. At Martinsville last year, we had a good car but we didn’t have that good of a car, but now we’re definitely working toward something. I’m really happy with the direction we’re going in and we’re working on, and we’re going to be a lot better moving forward.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“It was kind of a frustrating day for us. We ended up 10th, but we were definitely way better than 10th. We just couldn’t pass. We had not the greatest pit stop early in the race and lost some sports, and we were just kind of stuck anywhere from fifth to eighth for the rest of the race. I felt like if I ever could’ve gotten the lead, I would’ve been good enough to run up there, for sure. And then there at the end, we didn’t know if we should pit or not pit. We were kind of in a tough spot. We stayed out and lost two more spots. So, frustrating to run 10th. We definitely had better than a 10th-place racecar. This is how hard this Cup deal is. You’ve got to be perfect all race long. I made a couple of mistakes, and as a team, still, we just need to clean some stuff up. We’ll move on and continue with what speed we have. That’s encouraging. We just need to execute.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“Started out struggling with the balance of the car, went a lap down, and during the second stage got the ‘Lucky Dog’ and started rolling pretty good. It just seemed like the track changed a lot with the rubber being laid down. We found a good balance to start the run, but to end the run it gets super loose. But still proud of everybody on the Overstock team. It’s not our standard, but we’ll keep working to get there. It was a tough race, but had a lot of fun, too.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“The car was fun. The field basically ran the same speed and you just can’t pass.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 50th Anniversary Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 on Sunday, April 14 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Date: March 31, 2024

Event: Richmond 400 (Round 7 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway (.75-mile oval)

Format: 400 laps, broken into three stages (70 laps/160 laps/170 laps)

Note: Race extended seven laps past its scheduled 400-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

SHR Finish:
– Josh Berry (Started 30th, Finished 11th / Running, completed 407 of 407 laps)
– Noah Gragson (Started 17th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 407 of 407 laps)
– Chase Briscoe (Started 32nd, Finished 18th / Running, completed 407 of 407 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 16th, Finished 28th / Running, completed 406 of 407 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (18th with 150 points, 120 out of first)
– Josh Berry (23rd with 114 points, 156 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (30th with 84 points, 186 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (31st with 84 points, 186 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– Berry earned his second top-15 of the season and his second top-15 in two career NASCAR Cup Series startS at Richmond.
– This was Berry’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 12th, earned March 17 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
– Berry finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and second in Stage 2 to earn nine more bonus points.
– Berry led twice for two laps, increasing his laps led total at Richmond to 12.
– Berry was the highest finishing rookie.
– Gragson earned his fourth top-15 of the season and his first top-15 in four career NASCAR Cup Series startS at Richmond.
– Gragson’s 12th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Richmond  24th, earned in August 2022.
– Preece finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point.

Sound Bites:

“It was a solid night. We had a really good car and a really good practice. We didn’t qualify like we should have, but we were able to come up through there and get some track position back. It was just little things. We lost a little track position and got stuck in the back half of the top-10, but, all in all, it was a really good night. We have a lot to be proud of. It was a good points night and we’ll go to Martinsville.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We were just a little too disconnected. From the start of the race compared to yesterday in practice, I felt like we had a really good car, but we kind of just lost it. I don’t know if it was going into nighttime, if that was a difference, but I’m super proud of these Superior Essex guys. We kind of just maintained all day, started 17th and finished 12th and never got a good handle on the car, but nobody quit. I’m just appreciative of the opportunity.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Superior Essex Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“It wasn’t our best night, by any means. I felt like, by far, it was our worst race of the season. We were able to run in the top-20, even though that’s not really our goal. We definitely just struggled all weekend. We could never get the balance how we wanted it to be. We could never get the front to turn, and then we just unhooked the back, so it was just kind of a frustrating weekend from getting it to do what we wanted it to do. It was just an up-and-down night for us. We definitely have a lot of work to do, which is a little head-scratching just because of how good we’ve been here in the past. We’ve always kind of been in the mix. We’ve got to go back and try to do our homework and come back better.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cook Out 400 on Sunday, April 7 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Date: March 24, 2024

Event: EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (Round 6 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas (3.426-mile,

20-turn road course)

Format: 68 laps, broken into three stages (15 laps/15 laps/38 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Chase Briscoe (Started 32nd, Finished 13th / Running, completed 68 of 68 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 24th, Finished 24th / Running, completed 68 of 68 laps)
– Noah Gragson (Started 39th, Finished 35th / Running, completed 67 of 68 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 31st, Finished 36th / Running, completed 67 of 68 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (17th with 131 points, 89 out of first)
– Josh Berry (29th with 76 points, 144 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (31st with 73 points, 147 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (34th with 58 points, 162 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– Briscoe earned his fourth top-15 of the season and his third top-15 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at COTA.
– This was Briscoe’s third straight result of 13th or better. He finished ninth March 10 at Phoenix Raceway and 13th last Sunday at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
– Preece finished fifth in Stage 2 to earn six bonus points.
– Berry finished 10th in Stage 2 to earn a bonus point.
– This was Berry’s first career NASCAR Cup Series start at COTA.

Sound Bites:

“Our race was OK overall. I felt like, starting 32nd, that for the first couple of laps we were able to drive up to 17th and were going to be in a really good spot coming to the end of the first stage. I bottomed out really hard into the esses and it made me miss a corner and that really changed the whole complexity of our race. I had to go to the back and then drove back up there to the top-10. At the end with eight to go I made a huge mistake and got in the dirt in turn eight and allowed those guys to all swallow me up those last couple of laps. I thought we made our Mustang better throughout the day. I thought we had a solid 10th-place car, but we don’t really have anything else for the rest of the guys. We need to do some work, but to finish right outside of the top-10, we’ve been able to do that pretty much every week this year. If we aren’t in the top-10, we’re just a couple of spots outside of it. We’ve been really consistent, which is nice. We just need to get a little bit better and then, hopefully, we can improve on the finishes.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We just could never get track position. Every time we went up there we’d get spun or wrecked or whatever. I felt like we had a pretty good racecar, just nothing to show for it.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We struggled from the get-go. We made some spots up at the beginning of the race and then fell back. Was kind of off the pace and knew we were probably worse than we were in practice, so we decided to come down pit road at the end of stage two and make some extensive changes to the setup, just wholesaling it and throwing everything we could at it. We were hoping to get a caution there at the end to get racked back up, but never did. Definitely a brutal day, but still proud of everyone on this team. A long day with nothing to show for it.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We got better throughout the race. Our lap times were pretty good at the end. We just needed some more cautions to bunch everything up and help our odds. It was a tough weekend and going into it we knew it would be hard, but we learned a lot and we’ll be better for the next one.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Richmond 400 on Sunday, March 31 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The race begins at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Date: March 17, 2024

Event: Food City 500 (Round 5 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval)

Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Josh Berry (Started 2nd, Finished 12th / Running, completed 499 of 500 laps)

– Chase Briscoe (Started 6th, Finished 13th / Running, completed 498 of 500 laps)

– Ryan Preece (Started 25th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 498 of 500 laps)

– Noah Gragson (Started 22nd, Finished 34th / Running, completed 494 of 500 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (19th with 107 points, 78 out of first)
– Josh Berry (27th with 74 points, 111 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (32nd with 56 points, 129 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (34th with 54 points, 131 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– Berry earned his first top-15 of the season and it came in his first career NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol.
– This was Berry’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 20th, earned March 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
– Berry finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point.
– Berry led twice for 25 laps – his first laps led at Bristol.
– Berry was the highest finishing rookie.
– Berry qualified second for the Food City 500, his best qualifying effort in 17 career NASCAR Cup Series starts. His previous best was 14th, earned Feb. 24 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
– Briscoe earned his third top-15 of the season and his third top-15 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
– Briscoe’s 13th-place result equaled his previous best finish at Bristol, originally earned in September 2021.
– Preece earned his first top-15 of the season and his fourth top-15 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
– This was Preece’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 16th, earned Feb. 25 at Atlanta.
– Preece finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and 10th in Stage 2 to earn one more bonus point.

Sound Bites:

“That was a good weekend. We had good speed. I was really pretty happy with the car, but obviously there were a number of issues going on and I’m really kind of speechless on that part, but I thought we did a good job managing everything. We just seemed to make some adjustments at the end that seemed to cause the (tire) cording a little bit sooner and that kind of tied our hands a little bit there toward the end. But all in all, it was a great effort. Hate that we didn’t get a top-10, but it was a positive day and, honestly with everything going on, it was a lot of fun.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“Crazy race, by far the most bizarre race I’ve ever been a part of trying to not go hard at all trying to save your tires, and then you’d feel good and they would just go all at once – they would be blowing. It was definitely weird just how you had to run that race, a cat-and-mouse game, which I think would’ve been really fun if you didn’t have to worry about the tires blowing or coming apart. Thirteenth for us, we were definitely way better than 13th, but there at the end my tire went down and I was just trying to make it to the end without having to pit again. To be frustrated with 13th from where we were last year just as a season says a lot about where we are this year. We’ll just have to move on and continue to get better.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I’d rather things go the way they did today than get beat by somebody with a faster car that day. Obviously, they’ve got some work to do, the (tire) wear was excessive, but we maximized our day. If we didn’t have that tire come apart there at the end, we could’ve finished maybe top-10, but it is what it is.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We put ourselves in a box there early. We made a lot of speed on the first run, got up to 13th running the outside, then we cut a right-front down, or wore the right-front all the way down to the cords. Came down pit road, got trapped a lap down. We just didn’t execute today, especially myself, I hit the wall later in the race getting up into the marbles. There was a ton of tire rubber out there. But there are no excuses. I need to get it together for the Bass Pro Shops team and just didn’t run a good race. I appreciate all the hard work by everyone. We’ll keep it going. It was a tough weekend, a tough result, but we’ve got to rebound next weekend.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Ranger Boats/Tracker Boats & ATVS Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday, March 24 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Date: March 10, 2024

Event: Shriners Children’s 500k (Round 4 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Phoenix Raceway (1-mile oval)

Format: 312 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/125 laps/127 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Chase Briscoe (Started 8th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
– Noah Gragson (Started 7th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 27th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 311 of 312 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 36th, Finished 26th / Running, completed 310 of 312 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (19th with 83 points, 68 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (26th with 53 points, 98 out of first)
– Josh Berry (31st with 48 points, 103 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (35th with 28 points, 123 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– Briscoe earned his second top-10 of the season and his fourth top-10 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix.
– This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 10th, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
– Briscoe finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points.
– Gragson earned his third top-12 of the season and his first top-12 in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix.
– Gragson’s 12th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Phoenix – 29th, earned last March.
– Gragson finished eighth in Stage 2 to earn three bonus points.

Sound Bites:

“It was a good day for us to finish in the top-10 because there were parts where we were 20th on back there. I’m happy with how we finished. We had good speed all weekend. We have stuff that we can clean up to keep more up front the whole race. The package, honestly, I thought the package was better, but the tires were an issue. The tires are so good that I think if you put this package on the right tire it would be better, for sure. We still have work to do. It was hard to pass. We were all kind of the same speed and I feel like it just comes down to the tire.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I thought that was a lot of fun. Our SERVPRO guys did a great job. We had really fast pit stops. It is easy to Monday-Morning Quarterback it, but I have a lot of faith in Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and the rest of these guys. They’ve been really good for me in building my confidence. We are a tight group and I have these guys’ backs. Looking back, we probably should’ve taken two tires because those guys finished up there, but we’ll keep going and keep learning, every race, every weekend. It’s still early. It’s the fourth race. We ran inside the top-10 for most of the day and it’s kind of a bummer, but it’s exciting to be good and to be disappointed with a 12th-place finish. That’s exciting for our team. We want to keep it going.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 SERVPRO Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“On days like today, I think you just take away more laps and experience on restarts and on pit road and all that stuff. But we definitely struggled today, on some runs more than others. But just a lot to look at and learn from so we can be better when we come back.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Food City 500 on Sunday, March 17 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Date: March 3, 2024

Event: Las Vegas 400 (Round 3 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)

SHR Finish:
– Noah Gragson (Started 30th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 26th, Finished 20th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
– Chase Briscoe (Started 6th, Finished 21st / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 36th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (20th with 53 points, 65 out of first)
– Josh Berry (30th with 37 points, 81 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (34th with 25 points, 93 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (36th with 14 points, 104 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– Gragson earned his second top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas.
– This was Gragson’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was ninth, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
– Gragson’s sixth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Las Vegas  11th, earned in October 2022.
– This was Berry’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 25th, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
– Berry’s 20th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Las Vegas – 29th, earned last March.
– Briscoe led one lap, increasing his laps-led total at Las Vegas to seven.

Sound Bites:

“These guys are good. It feels good to do it in front of the hometown crowd. I was battling Ty (Gibbs) and Ross (Chastain) there at the end for a top-five. I really wanted a top-five, but coming from 30th to sixth, I’m just really proud of everyone’s effort. This Mustang Dark Horse is bitchin’. It’s fast and it’s been really good. This compared to last year just has a lot more speed. You can go where you want. We’ve got a good pit crew and just a good team. We’re going to take this and get back into the positives in points and just keep on working, keep on learning and becoming better than we were yesterday and just keep that attitude. I think we’ve got the tightest group in the garage. They’re awesome to work with and I love every one of them.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Fanttik Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I think we saw a lot of potential with the new (Ford Mustang Dark Horse) body style. Definitely each run it seemed like as a company, one of our cars was stronger than the other. But we learned a lot and our car definitely had some speed. We’ve just got to work on fine-tuning it and I need to work on starting just a little bit closer to the front, and all of those things start to compound and we have a little bit better of a day. But overall I thought we were solid.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1/Take 5 Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“Before (the contact with Ryan Blaney), I thought our car was pretty good. We weren’t good enough to win, I didn’t think, but we were definitely a fifth- to 10th-place car fairly easily. I was able to pass a lot of cars. That second run of the race, we kind of went backward, but after that we were able to continue to go forward and I was really happy with the way my car was driving. After the contact, as soon as it happened, I went into the next corner and we were a half a second slower that lap and just continued to stay a half a second slower than we had been for the rest of the race. Kind of head-scratching, not really sure what happened as far as why we lost a half a second. Definitely a tough one to swallow when we had that good of a car – we definitely had a top-10 car and ended up finishing 21st. That part’s kind of frustrating, but we’re going to Phoenix where we’ve had speed in the past and see if we can just get a better run.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“We just did what we could with what we had for the day. Without practice, really, what we had was really what it was going to be. That’s that.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Shriners Children’s 500k on Sunday, March 10 at Phoenix Raceway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Date: Feb. 25, 2024

Event: Ambetter Health 400 (Round 2 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia (1.54-mile oval)

Format: 260 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/100 laps/100 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Ryan Preece (Started 20th, Finished 16th / Running, completed 260 of 260 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 14th, Finished 29th / Accident, completed 250 of 260 laps)
– Chase Briscoe (Started 9th, Finished 31st / Accident, completed 239 of 260 laps)
– Noah Gragson (Started 15th, Finished 36th / Accident, completed 66 of 260 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (22nd with 37 points, 40 out of first)
– Ryan Preece (24th with 35 points, 42 out of first)
– Noah Gragson (27th with 29 points, 48 out of first)
– Josh Berry (31st with 20 points, 57 out of first)

SHR Notes:
– This was Preece’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 23rd, earned in the season-opening Daytona 500.
– Preece’s 16th-place finish bettered his previous best finish at Atlanta – 24th, earned last July.
– Briscoe finished ninth in Stage 2 to earn two bonus points.

Sound Bites:

“Our day was ruined right from the start, so to really end up 16th is a gift. For the half a lap that I felt like my car made it through, it felt like it was going to be really fast, so it gives me a lot of hope moving toward Vegas next week.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

“The guys did a really good job to get us back in position. We obviously made some mistakes there and have to clean that up, but the car was kind of weird. It was really strong on the bottom but struggled on the top. There were several times I got put in a bad spot in the third lane and kind of had a moment there, and ultimately that’s what did us in at the end. I was trying to stay out of the top lane. I kind of got forced up there and I just got loose and unfortunately wrecked. I’m glad we battled back and raced well and got back in position, but unfortunately we didn’t finish.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Harrison’s Ford Mustang

“I got put in a bad spot down the back straightaway. Somebody was on my right-rear and it kind of shuffled me to the left. I think we were three- or four-wide and it felt like somebody hit me in the left-rear getting into (turn) three, but I could’ve just gotten loose from the air, I’m not really sure. It sucks with how good our car was. We were able to be up front all day and be super aggressive making moves. I thought we were going to be in a really good spot there, but that’s part of it when you’re racing that tight and everybody is going for it at the end. We were just on the unfortunate side of it today. (The racing) was fun. That was the most fun I’ve ever had here, and I think some of that is just our guys did a really good job of bringing a car that we could be aggressive with and make moves. I’m actually looking forward to coming back here. That was a lot of fun. Guys were just making huge moves and big runs, but we were able to not get close to crashing a lot of times, like we would at Daytona or Talladega. I had a lot of fun. I wish our finish would’ve reflected how good we were today, but we’ll go on to Las Vegas and see if we can improve on it. I don’t know if it’s just the speed feels a little bit slower here or what, but I think, for us, our car was just extremely good. I definitely saw a lot of other guys struggling. I felt like we had easily a top-five car out there. I’m sure my opinion is probably a little bit different than others just because of how easy our car drove, and that’s the part that stings the most, I would say, knowing how good our car was and we don’t get the finish to show that.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang

“It’s definitely a bummer. They started stacking up on the top and I thought we were going to miss the 3 (Austin Dillon) and then got tagged in the right-rear by someone. I just got hit from behind and the car was pretty torn up. We tried to keep it going, but then the rack started falling out of it, so we started losing steering and had to bring it in. It’s just a bummer, but we’re going to go to Vegas and rebound. There’s a lot of fight in these guys with the Ranger Boats team. This 10 group is really tight together and I’m grateful to be a part of it. It still sucks not being able to collect points. We were looking to have a good day, and to only really get one lap in at speed and then we’re limping around with a wrecked racecar for the next 60 laps, so that was a bummer. Overall, I’m just really grateful. This kind of hurts us in the points. I know it’s still early, but the way the qualifying and practice algorithm goes, being higher up in the points is really beneficial, so it’s definitely a bummer. But we’re going to keep our heads down and keep working hard.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford Mustang

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Las Vegas 400 on Sunday, March 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Date: Feb. 19, 2024
Event: 66th Running of the Daytona 500 (Round 1 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (65 laps/65 laps/70 laps)

SHR Finish:
– Noah Gragson (Started 38th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
– Chase Briscoe (Started 20th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
– Ryan Preece (Started 25th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 199 of 200 laps)
– Josh Berry (Started 30th, Finished 25th / Running, completed 199 of 200 laps)

SHR Points:
– Chase Briscoe (13th with 29 points)
– Noah Gragson (15th with 28 points)
– Ryan Preece (25th with 14 points)
– Josh Berry (26th with 12 points)

SHR Notes:
– Gragson earned his second top-10 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona.
– This was Gragson’s third career start in the Daytona 500 and it resulted in his best Daytona 500 finish. His previous best result in The Great American Race was 24th, earned last year.
– Gragson led once for five laps – his first laps led at Daytona.
-Briscoe earned his second top-10 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona.
– This was Briscoe’s fourth career start in the Daytona 500. His best Daytona 500 finish remains third, earned in 2022.
– This was Preece’s fifth career start in the Daytona 500. His best Daytona 500 finish remains sixth, earned in 2021.
– This was Berry’s first career start in the Daytona 500, but his second career NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona. He finished 22nd in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 last August.
– Berry led one lap to score his first lap led at Daytona.

Sound Bites:

“We led some laps early, but we came down there at the end to fix some damage right before the final restart. We didn’t have a whole lot of area to go, but I guess it’s better than being wrecked. Overall, we’ll take a top-10. We kind of got pinned on the bottom and didn’t have a lot of room to go and then the race ended. I feel so good being behind the wheel. This whole Stewart-Haas team did a great job, especially getting the backup car going.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford Mustang

“Anytime you can finish this race in one piece is nice. It was hard to get track position. It seemed like wherever you kind of fell in after two or three laps of green-flag pit stops, you just kind of ran there the whole time. That was a weird race. It seems like every time we run these superspeedways it turns into more and more of a fuel-mileage race. I thought we would be OK there at the end and we had to start 12th or 13th on the restart and it was hard to do anything. We were all kind of bottled up. Coming out of here with a 10th-place finish and missing the wrecks and not being in a huge points whole is nice. We have to play the same game next week at Atlanta and, hopefully, we can do it again, but a couple of spots better.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang

“Speeding on pit road screwed us, and then ending it was not getting the Lucky Dog when we should’ve gotten the Lucky Dog. I felt like we earned our right with seven to go to get the Lucky Dog and to at least compete for a top-five or a top-10, or put ourselves in position there, but we had it taken away for no reason. Frustrated is definitely the word right now.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

“I feel like I learned a lot and raced well. There were a couple moves I wish I could have back maybe here or there but, overall, I was pretty happy we could work toward the front and maintain it. I thought the car was really good. I just hate we got turned on pit road. That got us behind. We were able to get in the Lucky Dog position but it just didn’t work out there at the end. Overall, it was a good night to learn. I just hate we didn’t get the finish we deserved.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday, Feb. 25 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.