As the field rounded turn 4 in Sunday’s (April 21) GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, it really looked like Ford had the win in hand.
The Blue Ovals of Michael McDowell, Brad Keselowski and Noah Gragson had cleared themselves of the Toyotas on the outside and — barring a wreck — it was going to be a battle for the win between those three cars.
But a clean finish to a superspeedway race, once again, was just a little too much to ask for.
Keselowski went high and then swooped back down low, and McDowell followed his every move. But as McDowell hastily steered his car back to the bottom, he lost control and spun off the nose of the No. 6 car.
Keselowski checked up, Tyler Reddick sailed on by to win and Ford lost yet another superspeedway race in a year that the manufacturers dominated them.
Dominant isn’t an exaggeration.
In the three superspeedway races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season — at Daytona International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega — Ford has won all three poles and led 379 of the 648 combined laps (58%).
None of that has contributed to a win.
Ford is winless in the first 10 races of the Cup season (Chevrolet has captured six checkered flags, Toyota four) and that hasn’t happened since 2010.
The manufacturer hasn’t hit rock bottom, at least not yet. Ford didn’t win until the 21st race of 2010, so its current drought has to more than double before reaching that infamous mark.
But a look outside of superspeedway speed shows that Ford still has a long way to catch up to the rest of the field in a year where Hendrick Motorsports and Toyota have combined to win all but one race.
Ford drivers have only combined to lead a dismal 226 of the 2,245 laps in the seven non-drafting races this season — Martin Truex Jr. alone led 228 laps at Richmond Raceway in April. Of Ford’s 226 led, 84 of those laps came from Joey Logano at Martinsville Speedway after he took the lead with just two tires in a race where it was difficult for just about everyone to pass.
In other words, the Blue Ovals have led just over 10% of the laps on tracks where the draft does not play a role in deciding the outcome. With Ford making up 39% of the chartered entries in the Cup field (14 of 36), 10% is an abysmal number.
The highest Ford driver in points is defending series champion Ryan Blaney in seventh and you’d have to go back to Chase Briscoe in 12th to find a second Ford in the…
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