What Happened?
Another strategy shake-up allowed Ryan Blaney to get to the front of the field, and he didn’t look back after the final restart, earning his second win of the season at Pocono Raceway.
Blaney finished two seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin, who passed Alex Bowman late but could not close the gap to the No. 12 car. This goes down as Blaney’s 12th career Cup Series win and his second win at Pocono.
What Really Happened?
The Fords had another sluggish start to the season, which wouldn’t appear to be too alarming after the slow starts in the two previous years with this Next Gen car. The difference this year, however, is that Ford expected to be more competitive out of the gate with the new Mustang Dark Horse body.
It seemed like Ford would follow their Next Gen blueprint until something changed in May. Including Chris Buescher’s photo-finish runner up at Kansas Speedway, Ford has now finished inside the top two in nine of the last 10 races.
The sudden summer speed has placed a Ford in victory lane in five of the last nine races, with victories coming in alternating weeks. Instead of struggling through the summer, the Dark Horses have galloped to the top of the speed charts.
This is a big deal, because in the past two seasons, the Fords, specifically from Team Penske, have simply hung around until the final 10 weeks of the season, flipping a quiet season into two consecutive championships.
For example, in the past two Next Gen Pocono races, Ford had a total of three top-10 finishes. In the two races, Team Penske had a best finish of 20th. This weekend, Ford had three in the top 10 and Penske left with two in the top five.
In a championship format where a late season run matters the most, are Team Penske and Ford peaking too early?
Since the May shift, the blue ovals have been a serious weekly threat for the first time in a few years. While Ford drivers and teams continue to share how much they like the recent speed they’ve shown, what good does a summer advantage do if the other teams find a way to catch up when the playoffs come around?
On one hand, this feels like getting too big of a lead at a superspeedway. Maybe the Dark Horses have run too far ahead, and could possibly be sitting ducks when it matters most at the end of the season. However, the Fords have maintained their speed on short tracks, which will make the most difference in the final two races.
At the end of the day,…
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