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At COTA, Ford had their worst showing of the 2024 season, with only one Ford finishing in the top 10. It’s been a tough season so far for Ford, but Richmond presents a big opportunity for the “Blue Ovals”. What has gone on with Ford this season?
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The first two races in 2024 gave Ford plenty of reason for optimism. The new Ford Mustang Dark Horse swept the front row of the Daytona 500 with Joey Logano and Michael McDowell. During the race, Fords combined to lead 103 of 200 laps before a late crash knocked the fastest ones out of contention. At Atlanta, Ford once again showed promise by sweeping the front row and leading 178 of 260 laps.
One thing was for certain, the Ford Mustang Dark Horse was very fast. However, things began to unravel when the Dark Horse made the trek to its’ first non-superspeedway tracks of the season.
At Las Vegas, Joey Logan started on the pole, but Ford only led 7 laps as Kyle Larson dominated for the win. Phoenix was a similar story as Ford only led 14 laps in a race dominated by Toyotas. When the circus moved to Bristol, Ford led 62 of 500 laps as Toyota once again dominated, giving Ford less than 1/3 of the laps led in 3 races combined then they led in the first two races.
Despite the lack of presence up front, Ford was still putting together some solid results. Three Fords finished in the top 10 at Las Vegas with 5 Fords in the top 10 at Phoenix. Bristol was a letdown, however, with only 2 Fords in the top 10.
Then came COTA, where the wheels fell off. No Ford qualified in the top-10, and the result was 0 laps led and a best finish of 8th, Chris Buescher.
While Ford has been struggling, Toyota has flexed its muscle on the two short tracks, with Chevy showing their prowess on speedways and a road course. Ford is lagging behind, and the on-track issues are not the biggest of their concerns.
Ford has yet to confirm this, but, there may be trouble on the homefront with one of their “Tier One” teams. Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic reported the week of the Las Vegas race that “All indications” were Stewart-Haas Racing and Ford would split at the end of the season.
SHR is in the final year of its contract with Ford, and SHR has struggled, particularly since 2023. They have not won a race since Kevin Harvick’s final career win at Richmond in the summer of 2022.
Before this report broke, Ford announced some better news. Front Row Motorsports would become a “Tier One” team starting in 2024 alongside an alliance with Team Penske. While Ford finding another committed team in FRM is good, it means they are spreading “Tier One” resources between 4 teams instead of 3, and FRM doesn’t have near the pedigree of SHR, Team Penske, or RFK Racing
Add to that the rumored interest of Honda in NASCAR, and Ford may be looking at trying to keep race teams should Honda join. However, that particular issue is further down the road.
Ford may have a beacon of hope for the next two weekends. Richmond Raceway and Martinsville Speedway are short tracks that use the short-track aero package. The last time Ford raced on a short track with this aero package, 5 drivers finished in the top 10, including 3 in the top 5.
Ford’s have won 2 of the last 3 races at Richmond, where the Cup Series heads this weekend. This included leading 280 of 400 laps in the summer of 2022 when Kevin Harvick won, and RFK Racing leading 190 of 400 laps with Chris Buescher winning, leading the charge of 4 Fords in the top 5.
At Martinsville, Ryan Blaney won there in the fall to clinch a Championship 4 berth. In the spring, while Kyle Larson won, Fords led 296 of 400 laps that day.
There’s also Talladega coming up towards the end of April. We already know Ford’s are a menace on superspeedways with their 2024 performance.
These next four races are critical for Ford. If they can’t find their footing at these tracks that seemingly suit them well, things could get dire.
