While a slew of Chevrolet and Toyota machines did battle for the lead at Kansas Speedway during the final laps of the Cup Series race, the Nascar Ford teams faded to finish outside the top 10 when the checkered flag waved.
The Blue Oval’s troubles began on Lap 6, when Chase Briscoe’s No. 14 Nascar Ford Mustang went for a spin off Turn 4. Later on, Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Ford Mustang, was penalized on a pit stop and sent to the rear of the field for another restart on Lap 62.
Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Mustang, finished ninth in the first stage, the best of the Ford teams. Then, under green flag pit stops during Stage 2, Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Mustang spun out exiting Pit Road, causing a caution on Lap 126. The restart saw Blaney’s No. 12 Mustang battling with Kurt Busch in the No. 45 Toyota TRD Camry for the lead, but Blaney ultimately fell to Busch and finished third in the second stage.
With 90 laps left on the board, Cindric’s No. 2 Mustang tagged the wall and bounced into Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Camaro in a fight for sixth. Both drivers managed to hold it together. The No. 5 Chevy of Kyle Larson and the No. 45 Camry of Busch battled it out for the lead at the front of the field until there were 39 laps left in the race when a caution was thrown for Harvick, whose No. 4 Mustang spun out in Turn 4.
After a rollercoaster race, Cindric’s No. 2 Ford finished 11th, the best of all the Ford teams. He was followed by Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Nascar Ford in 12th. Kurt Busch’s No. 45 Camry held off Larson’s No. 5 Camaro for the race win, while Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Camry finished third. Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Camry took home fourth, followed by polesitter Christopher Bell in the No. 20 Camry and Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Camry finished sixth in a Toyota-dominated race.
Cindric’s No. 2 Mustang took home the Daytona 500, and Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford won at Phoenix. Last week, Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford won at Darlington. Despite three wins this season, The Blue Oval teams seem to struggle with consistency. Heading into the second half of the season, it will certainly be interesting to watch how the Nascar Ford teams keep up with the competition.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 45 | Kurt Busch | Jordan Brand Toyota | 267 | 116 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 2 | 3 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 267 | 29 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 6 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M's Crunchy Cookie Toyota | 267 | 18 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 4 | 18 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 5 | 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Rheem Toyota | 267 | 37 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 6 | 9 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 7 | 11 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Advent Health Chevrolet | 267 | 4 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 8 | 36 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Dillons/Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet | 267 | 3 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 9 | 8 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 10 | 24 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | McDonald's Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 11 | 4 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | Menards/Monster Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 12 | 10 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Wabash Ford | 267 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 13 | 21 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 14 | 30 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | King's Hawaiian Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 15 | 23 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Busch Light #ForTheFarmers Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 16 | 13 | 24 | William Byron | RaptorTough.com Chevrolet | 267 | 25 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 17 | 34 | 22 | Joey Logano | Verizon 5G Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 18 | 28 | 16 | Noah Gragson(i) | Chevrolet Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 19 | 20 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Garner Trucking Inc. Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 20 | 17 | 42 | Ty Dillon | Chevyliners.com Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 21 | 26 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | DEX Imaging Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 22 | 16 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com/PAG Ford | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 23 | 25 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 24 | 12 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 25 | 31 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | First Phase Credit Card Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 26 | 7 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 27 | 35 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Castrol GTX Full Synthetic Ford | 265 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 28 | 33 | 77 | Josh Bilicki(i) | UACC/Support Ukraine Chevrolet | 265 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 29 | 14 | 9 | Chase Elliott | UniFirst Chevrolet | 264 | 10 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 30 | 2 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | BetMGM Chevrolet | 263 | 24 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 31 | 27 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | Diagnostic Imaging Centers Ford | 263 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 32 | 22 | 43 | Erik Jones | FOCUSfactor Chevrolet | 261 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 33 | 19 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | CommScope Chevrolet | 256 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 34 | 29 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 255 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 35 | 15 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 64 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 36 | 32 | 78 | BJ McLeod | General Formulations Ford | 32 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comment
Fird has a long uphill battle ever since nascar took away some aero from them. Expect chevy to dominate all the way.