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One Nascar Ford To Start Top Five At Watkins Glen Among Sea Of Chevys

Chevrolets seem to be on a roll during qualifying as of late, as only one Nascar Ford will start within the top five at Watkins Glen for the Cup Series race on Sunday.

That lone Nascar Ford is the No. 34 Mustang of Michael McDowell, who got around the 3.4-mile road course in 70.738 seconds with a top speed of 124.658. His time was the third fastest. For comparison, polesitter Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 posted a 70.477-second lap, and second-place Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Camaro got around the racetrack in 70.516 seconds.

Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Mustang and Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Mustang are the only other two Nascar Ford teams who will start in the top 10, securing seventh and eighth place, respectively.

Puzzling “Silly Season” news out of the Nascar Ford stable this week involves Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Mustang. At the beginning of the 2022 season, Almirola stated that he would retire upon its conclusion. However, he is reconsidering that decision, and may return to the No. 10 Mustang in 2023.

Kimi-Matias Räikkönen, Finnish F1 racer, joins the Cup Series this weekend, and will pilot the No. 91 Nascar Camaro for the one-off race. In fact, seven countries in total will be represented in the Nascar field at Watkins Glen, with drivers hailing from Mexico, Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Finland, England and the United States.

It’s also worth noting that once again Ty Gibbs will drive the No. 45 Toyota TRD Camry in place of regular driver Kurt Busch, who has announced he will also miss next weekend’s race at Daytona due to a concussion sustained at Pocono five weeks ago.

The green flag will drop at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 21st.

Nascar Cup Series Qualifying Results, Watkins Glen, August 20, 2022
Pos Car Number Driver Team Time Speed Car
1 9 Chase Elliott Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet 70.477 125.147 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
2 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 70.516 125.078 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
3 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 70.738 124.685 Ford Mustang
4 24 William Byron RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 70.811 124.557 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
5 8 Tyler Reddick KCMG Chevrolet 70.837 124.511 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
6 16 AJ Allmendinger(i) Action Industries Chevrolet 70.98 124.26 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
7 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 71.18 123.911 Ford Mustang
8 2 Austin Cindric # Menards/Richmond Ford 71.335 123.642 Ford Mustang
9 99 Daniel Suarez Princess Cruises Chevrolet 71.496 123.364 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
10 18 Kyle Busch Snickers Toyota 71.736 122.951 Toyota TRD Camry
11 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 71.2 123.876 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
12 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet 71.215 123.85 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
13 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 71.25 123.789 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
14 14 Chase Briscoe Ford Performance Racing School Ford 71.259 123.774 Ford Mustang
15 6 Brad Keselowski Violet Defense Ford 71.259 123.774 Ford Mustang
16 45 Ty Gibbs(i) Toyota SmartPath Toyota 71.34 123.633 Toyota TRD Camry
17 15 Joey Hand FordPro.com Ford 71.35 123.616 Ford Mustang
18 1 Ross Chastain Worldwide Express Chevrolet 71.364 123.592 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
19 38 Todd Gilliland # MDStrucking.com Ford 71.393 123.542 Ford Mustang
20 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 71.434 123.471 Ford Mustang
21 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Sugarlands/Ball Park Buns Chevrolet 71.435 123.469 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
22 11 Denny Hamlin Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota 71.442 123.457 Toyota TRD Camry
23 23 Bubba Wallace SiriusXM Radio Toyota 71.443 123.455 Toyota TRD Camry
24 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Light Ford 71.551 123.269 Ford Mustang
25 19 Martin Truex Jr. Reser's Fine Foods Toyota 71.675 123.055 Toyota TRD Camry
26 12 Ryan Blaney Wurth Ford 71.783 122.87 Ford Mustang
27 91 Kimi Raikkonen Recogni Chevrolet 71.824 122.8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
28 42 Ty Dillon Allegiant Chevrolet 71.906 122.66 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
29 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 71.958 122.572 Ford Mustang
30 21 Harrison Burton # DEX Imaging Ford 72.033 122.444 Ford Mustang
31 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor Chevrolet 72.359 121.892 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
32 7 Corey LaJoie Raze Energy Chevrolet 72.536 121.595 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
33 77 Mike Rockenfeller Nations Guard Chevrolet 72.583 121.516 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
34 27 Loris Hezemans(i) Hezeberg Systems Ford 72.737 121.259 Ford Mustang
35 10 Aric Almirola Go Bowling Ford 72.959 120.89 Ford Mustang
36 26 Daniil Kvyat Hezeberg Systems Toyota 73.129 120.609 Toyota TRD Camry
37 78 Kyle Tilley Brush Creek Valley Farms Ford 75.126 117.403 Ford Mustang
38 20 Christopher Bell DeWalt Toyota 0 0 Toyota TRD Camry
39 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT Ford 0 0 Ford Mustang

# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver

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Alexandra is a Colorado-based journalist with a passion for all things involving horsepower, be it automotive or equestrian.

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Comments

  1. So if McDowell was the top qualifying Ford why are you leading the article with a photo of Lagano’s car? I realize they have similar paint schemes but come on. The number 22 and his name are right there in plain sight. As you correctly stated elsewhere in the article, McDowell drives the 34 car.

    Reply
    1. Good eye! Unfortunately Nascar does not give me a big pool of photos to draw from so I have to use what few photos I have. I did not have a good establishing shot of the WG racetrack so I used Logano since he was one of the only Ford photos I had. Have a nice day 🙂

      Reply
  2. Why does this vehicle look more like a Thunderbird and less like a Mustang???

    It shows that you can build a new Thunderbird again.

    Reply

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