1. Is Ford beginning to rise from its slumber?
You’ve heard it all before. Ford’s lost three races by a combined .006 seconds in 2024, and the manufacturer is 0-for-30 in NASCAR’s top three series for its worst start since 2010. Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports have combined to win all nine NASCAR Cup Series races on non-superspeedways, and Ford has seldom been in contention to win outside of a superspeedway.
That is, until last Sunday’s (May 5) race at Kansas Speedway. Chris Buescher of RFK Racing ended up being the surprise of the race, as he started 12th, won stage two, led 54 laps and was just a blink of eye from ending the drought and scoring his sixth career Cup win.
Aside from Ross Chastain asserting himself as one of the fastest cars in stage one, Buescher was one of the few drivers able to keep pace with Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin as the laps wound down. The No. 17 team was able to get back in the game with smart pit strategy after incurring a penalty for being over the wall too soon to start the final stage, and while Buescher wouldn’t have won without the late caution for Kyle Busch, he did a masterful job in getting to the lead on the overtime restart until Larson pulled off his heroics in the final set of corners.
The 54 laps led by Buescher marked the most laps led by a Ford driver on a 1.5-mile track (sans Atlanta Motor Speedway) since Ryan Blaney’s win in the Coca-Cola 600 last May, so Kansas marked a huge step in the right direction for the Blue Ovals.
Buescher may have been the only Ford to run up front from last week, but sometimes all it takes is one catalyst to turn things around. Just look at last season, where Ford only had one win in 13 Cup races (Joey Logano at Atlanta) until Blaney came out of nowhere to lead 163 laps and dominate the 600. That race was the turning point for Ford, and we all know which driver and manufacturer won the championship last November.
2. With Chevrolet ending production of the Camaro and Malibu, what is its future in NASCAR?
The sixth generation of the Chevrolet Camaro ended production in January 2024, and on May 9, it was announced that the Chevrolet Malibu would end production at the end of the year due to declining sales. General Motors will shift its focus to electric car production instead.
Why is the discontinuation of the Malibu important? Because it was the last sedan left in Chevy’s lineup, and now it’s gone.
With both the Camaro…
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