DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Austin Cindric kicked off his 2019 season with a top 5 finish in the NASCAR Racing Experience 300 at Daytona. Chase Briscoe finished just outside of the top 10, while Cole Custer battled his way to a 14th place after starting 38th.

FORD FINISHING RESULTS
5th Austin Cindric
12th Chase Briscoe
14th Cole Custer
36th Brad Keselowski

Austin Cindric, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang - Finished 5th
“I was able to generate runs a few times but it was really difficult because there were some really strong cars leading the front pack and I don't think we had enough strong cars from 10th to fifth to really make something happened. I think we lost the 10 a little too early and could have made a run to go to the lead. I will take a top-five out of this deal. This is Daytona and this is cool and I am happy to have a good run for the MoneyLion guys the first time out. We got stage points in each stage which is a good way to start the year.”

IT WAS CALM, DID THAT SURPRISE YOU? “Yes and no. You expect overtime at the end but like I said, with the cars that you would expect to be up front that weren’t up front at the end, you didn’t have enough help to generate anxious runs. I feel like we were aggressive at the right times and conservative at the right times and it paid dividends.”

Chase Briscoe, No. 98 Nutri Chomps/Chewy.com Ford Mustang - Finished 12th
“That last restart we restarted fifth and being on the bottom on the restart isn’t the best here. We lost a lot of track position and was able to get back up to around sixth and went to make a move there at the end at got really loose. Me and another guy got really loose and it broke both of our momentum. It takes these cars two or three laps to get back up to speed. Overall, not the finish we would like but still to load two superspeedway cars without any damage is always a good deal. We will go to Atlanta next week where I think we will be really good, so we will see what we can do.”

Cole Custer, No. 00 Jacob Companies Ford Mustang - Finished 14th
“We just couldn’t really get a run going. We couldn’t really lead good. We were kind of a pusher today. I had to stay protective on the top where everybody else was to keep momentum but we couldn’t get anybody to work with us. I thought the race would play out different. We came home with a clean car and we will go on to Atlanta where our season really starts.”

HOW DID YOU THINK THE RACE WOULD PLAY OUT DIFFERENTLY? “I thought that by the end it would be a little more racey, two and three-wide like the past. For some reason everyone just wanted to run the top and it just didn’t play out for us.”

Brad Keselowski, No. 12 Fitzgerald USA Ford Mustang - Finished 36th (Retired on lap 71 with mechanical issue)
“I felt like I was back in the ‘50’s running a convertible here on the beach. That was interesting. The roof, escape hatch, whatever it is called looks like there was a defect from the factory on the body and just nothing we could do. The guys tried to fix it but it is in a spot where you can’t get to it and work on it. It is made the way it is made. We are stuck. It is one of those things outside your control and sometimes that is just how things go. I hate it for Fitzgerald and Ford. I know we had a car that could win today. It broke on lap one, turn one, and we did everything we could to fix it for the last hour or so but it is just not something you can fix. It has to be right from the factory and isn’t something we control. Just part of it I guess.”