The Nascar Ford teams didn’t quite seem to have a grasp on the Next Gen race car during the 2022 Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway this Sunday, July 24th.
The No. 34 Ford Mustang of Michael McDowell was the only Ford to finish within the top 10, finishing sixth. The next-closest Ford finisher was Aric Almirola in the No. 10 Mustang, who scored 13th, followed by Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Mustang, placing 14th.
Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Nascar Ford team has been a consistent front-runner all year, and he commanded the race at Pocono for seven laps before he had to pit. However, a flat tire destroyed what was otherwise a great race for Blaney, who spun and hit the wall with 53 laps to go. He was scored 33rd, and is in danger of missing out on this season’s Playoffs, since he does not yet have a win.
Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Mustang started 24th and had clawed his way up to the front of the pack with 23 laps left. Unfortunately, a dust-up between race leader Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota TRD Camry and the No. 1 Chevy Camaro of Ross Chastain swept up Harvick’s No. 4 Ford, taking him out of contention. He finished 24th.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Camaro, was granted the race win despite finishing third after the first- and second-place finishers were disqualified in post-race inspection. The No. 11 Toyota of Hamlin and the No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch, both fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing, were both found to have “material somewhere it shouldn’t have been” on the front fascias. Hamlin was stripped of his win and Busch of his second-place finish.
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
2 | 16 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Sheetz Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
3 | 9 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | CommScope Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
4 | 11 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Rheem Toyota | 160 | 14 | Toyota TRD Camry |
5 | 4 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 160 | 18 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
6 | 25 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Fr8Auctions.com Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
7 | 8 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | DeWalt Toyota | 160 | 2 | Toyota TRD Camry |
8 | 7 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | DoorDash Toyota | 160 | 4 | Toyota TRD Camry |
9 | 34 | 43 | Erik Jones | FOCUSfactor Chevrolet | 160 | 11 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
10 | 15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | BREZTRI Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
11 | 17 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
12 | 18 | 24 | William Byron | RaptorTough.com Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
13 | 12 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Haas Automation Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
14 | 26 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Kohler Generators Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
15 | 13 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | HighPoint.com Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
16 | 10 | 45 | Ty Gibbs(i) | McDonald's Toyota | 160 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
17 | 32 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
18 | 19 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/SweetLeaf Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
19 | 23 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | WWE SummerSlam on Peacock Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
20 | 14 | 22 | Joey Logano | Verizon Frontline Ford | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
21 | 30 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
22 | 27 | 42 | Ty Dillon | Big Dog Energy Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
23 | 28 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 160 | 4 | Ford Mustang |
24 | 22 | 16 | Noah Gragson(i) | Gold Fish Casino Slots Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
25 | 29 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | A&W Root Beer Float Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
26 | 36 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
27 | 24 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Busch Light Apple #BuschTrickyTrivia Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
28 | 33 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | Ollie's Bargain Outlet Ford | 159 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
29 | 5 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Wyndham Resorts Ford | 158 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
30 | 35 | 78 | BJ McLeod(i) | Surface Sunscreen Ford | 158 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
31 | 20 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | Keystone Light Ford | 154 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
32 | 21 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 142 | 16 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
33 | 6 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Duracell Ford | 135 | 7 | Ford Mustang |
34 | 31 | 77 | Josh Bilicki(i) | Zeigler Auto/Rich Mar Florist Chevrolet | 35 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
35 | 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Office Toyota | 160 | 21 | Toyota TRD Camry |
36 | 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&Ms Toyota | 160 | 63 | Toyota TRD Camry |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comments
Ford just doesn’t get it, very poor job with their simulator correlation between the new car and track happenings. SHR a disaster, Penske not that much better, Roush had no where to go but up!
Wood Brothers look terrible. Ford should step up to help the only team that has run Ford products for over 50 years.
Ford doesn’t know how to fix their problems, today day the Ford Engineer’s DO NOT HAVE RACE EXPERIENCE! ONLY REAL HELP IS MORE $$$$$$$$$$.
Nascar Sucks!
You have to know, from the CEO itself, that Ford is not interested in ICE cars, only EV cars. So why do they want to stay involved in ICE racing cars?