NASCAR CUP SERIES: COOK OUT CLASH AT BOWMAN GRAY

February 2, 2025

Ryan Blaney

Joey Logano

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. Questions for Joey and Ryan.

Q. You've been good at new racetracks the last couple of times until tonight. What were you missing tonight?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I got damage early in the race, like lap three there. Briscoe tried to get in. We wheel-hopped. It kind of jumped the front of my car up, ripped the steering wheel right out of my hands, knocked the toe out about half an inch. Just plowed the whole first run of the race. That puts you an adjustment behind. In the hundred-lap break, you're saying I was really tight, but is that because my toe was out a lot or am I really that tight?

Makes it a challenging adjustment. Really just kind of put us one adjustment behind. Wish I didn't get that damage. Felt I maybe could have been in contention. We had decent track position. Just trying to manage where I was before the hundred-lap break so I could still be in the hunt.

Had a couple mediocre restarts where I couldn't launch as good, let a couple cars down in front of me. Then the long haul I was able to get a couple cars towards the end of the race, trying to position myself where I was in the second row. You never know what happens on a late-race restart at a track like this.

Yeah, I mean, I was just trying to stay semi-close and hope for a caution, which there never was. Overall I'd say the race was pretty interesting.

Q. Ryan, as far as you coming from the back to end up 2nd there, was that a case of maybe you had to use up just a little too much to get there or fading a little bit at the end?

RYAN BLANEY: No, I got to 10th before the break. I kind of got to like the top 5 relatively quick. A couple restarts went my way. By the time I got to 2nd, I saved a pretty good bit even to get there because I knew it might go the whole way.

Then it was just kind of like a game between the 9 and myself, who can save more right rear tire. I just didn't quite have enough to lean on there at the end.

I started pushing with like 25 to go. I didn't have enough. I was like, Uh-oh, I need some help by lappers. Could never really get there. Didn't have enough to lean on.

Yeah, fun coming from the back. Not quite having enough. Yeah, it's always fun when you can move forward like that.

Q. What did you feel like about the atmosphere, the fans, the electricity?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I mean, outside of the atmosphere of right now, the rest of it was really, really good. I thought the pre-race ceremony was pretty cool. The fans being right there, it's what Bowman Gray is, right? You have the fans heckling you, saying whatever they want, saying you're No. 1 in two different ways. That's what Bowman Gray was built off of. I don't know if you guys got the boos I got.

Overall I would say it was successful, right? When fans are cheering and screaming, the drivers' brands are being exposed to everybody, which is great, right? Everyone has a favorite or not. You're passionate about it.

When you get everyone this close, you look at yesterday, people hung out for the modified race all the way until the practice through the heat races. It was packed yesterday. Tonight was standing room only.

From that standpoint, the atmosphere was successful.

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I agree, with Joey. From the crowd yesterday who hung out for three hours from the modifieds till we first got on track. That's a lot of commitment. A lot of energy on the frontstretch before we got going there. That's what it's all about.

Really, really cool to be here. I'm happy that it was a good show for everybody. Looking forward to hopefully coming back next year. I don't see why you wouldn't come back. Hope everyone had a good time.

Q. From the weekend overall, whether the racing or the energy, how fun was this weekend?

JOEY LOGANO: I didn't win, so I didn't have that much fun (smiling). I don't really do it for fun at this point in my career, so...

It went better than I thought it could possibly go, right? You look at the modified race, wrecking the crap out of each other. Some heat races were very aggressive. But I think you got a little bit of everything here. The restarts with everybody bottled up. Bulldogging around. That's what it looked like for a while, a lot of contact. It's very entertaining.

I watched LQC, this is an entertaining race, pretty good. As the race went on, you seen the top lane come in a little bit. You could start to kind of work some crossovers and stuff. Tire wear was really, right? At the end I don't think anyone was getting wide open. Probably not even close. That was fun.

I can't remember the last time I went around a racetrack and I didn't get wide open. A little bit of the old days with the old car, which was fun where you really got to manage your car and be a smart racer. You don't have that everywhere, but it's nice to see Goodyear can bring that tire here.

Q. Ryan, did your tires lose grip from wearing them out or was Chase able to more save his to be faster at the end?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, I think he just had better drive-off than me that whole last run. I turned better, he had better drive-off. It was kind of a tradeoff I feel like.

Honestly, I felt like our cars were kind of evenly matched. My car was better in one area and his car was better in another. I feel like if you just swapped our two cars, I don't think we would have passed each other if I was in front of him or if he was in front of me. I think we were pretty evenly matched.

When I started to go, I didn't have enough right rear. I'm like, Oh, shit, I'm not going to make this pass. I'm not going to bulldog into him and get chased out of here with pitchforks.

When it was time to go, I didn't have quite enough. I could turn really good, but I paid the penalty on exit to where he could just kind of keep the power down a little bit longer.

The right rears seemed to wear out more than right fronts. It just helped him out a little bit more at the end.

Q. You said there's no reason not to come back. Do you think it's imperative to come back next year or it's almost like the second year isn't as bold as the first? Do you wait a few years and then come back?

RYAN BLANEY: You're going to pack it out. There's going to be just as many people here next year as there was tonight. I don't think it would lose any of its, like, luster.

JOEY LOGANO: From what I hear, they pack this place out every weekend without the star power of Cup guys. Just race fans, they like racing.

The other thing, too, remember it's not a huge stadium, right? You pack it out, it looks good, the energy is real. It's not like you have this ginormous stadium and you get half or three quarters of it full. Standing room only, it's a special feel. It's hard to get the ticket, which people want what they can't have, right?

A lot of people probably watched this on TV and weren't able to get the ticket here because there's a limited quantity. Maybe next year they have get the opportunity to get tickets. Maybe they'll say, I need to get on it, as soon as they start selling them, I need to be on it. There's a little bit to be said about that, as well.

On the same breath I would say it's very important for us to move things around. We seen the success of our sport moving to new racetracks. I'm a big fan of going to new racetracks, bringing the racetrack to the fans that don't typically get to see us because it's so hard for a lot of people to travel a long ways to see our races. Going to new races is huge for our sport.

We've done that over the last five, six years. We've added new racetracks quite often. I think that's successful. Doing the same thing eventually gets stale, but I don't think that's going to happen here anytime soon.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about the atmosphere. At the start the race, you could tell half the crowd were regulars, and the rest had to be vetted. Hardcore, non-hardcore, not let them in the gate. I don't think I've ever had that vibe. Did the drivers feel it? Ryan, as a Bandolero driver, you mentioned a seven-year-old kid that was a bird lover, gave you the bird every lap. Did you feel that vibe tonight?

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, definitely. It was neat when you do intros on the frontstretch, the fans are right there. It was neat to hear them cheering, supporting you. There's not a lot of places we go where they're that close and that passionate.

For whatever reason, everyone wants to have their opinion heard here that's in the stands, which is awesome to me. Good or bad, it's awesome that they're there and they're wanting to interact. That is a hardcore race fan.

Yeah, I didn't see any birds tonight by the fans luckily. My eyesight isn't as good, so I might have been shot some.

No, I just think it was cool. It was cool for the fans to stick around for a good bit when we were doing interviews on the frontstretch after the race, you could tell they were excited to be here, excited for us to come and put on a heck of a show. They appreciated the race and things like that.

They're hardcore race fans, like you said. You can't beat that. They've been like that here for - how long has this place been around - 90 years. Yeah, you'll have that, which is good.

Q. Joey, how did you feel about the vibe?

JOEY LOGANO: Like I said earlier, it was great. I think you look at whether it was yesterday, whether it was here in person, which was great, watching it on TV was great. There's not a bad seat in the house, which is awesome.

I think the fans, they build off of each other, right? As they sit next to each other, that tight of quarters, I'm sure they start jawing back and forth about who their favorite driver is, everyone starting cheering louder and louder.

We have such a unique sport because when you go to a basketball game, there's a home team. The majority roots for one team, right? In our sport, there's 40 of us out there. It's pretty wild to see the differences. All that's displayed on the driver intros.

As long as they're making noise, they make noise for me, it's good, they make it both ways, but they make noise, and it's good.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for coming in.