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Chevy NCS at Phoenix 1 – Post Qualifying Notes and Quotes

NASCAR Cup Series – Phoenix Raceway – FanShield 500 – Team Chevy Post-Qualifying Notes and Quotes

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:

POS.   DRIVER

1.        CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1 1LE

4.        KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE

7.        KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 1LE

8.        ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE

17.      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 1LE

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:

POS.  DRIVER

1.        Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)

2.        Kevin Harvick (Ford)

3.        Denny Hamlin (Toyota)

4.        Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)

5.        Ryan Blaney (Ford)

FOX will telecast the FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway live at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, March 8. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Pole Winner

THE POLE TODAY, DIFFERENT PACKAGES. WERE THE LINES SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT?

“The line through Turns 1 and 2 was a lot different. Kevin (Harvick) kind of made the top work and then I think after that, everyone saw that and moved up. So, it’s great to get a pole. We’re in a little bit different colors this week with Unifirst on our Camaro. So, I’m excited to grab them a pole. It’s always a good thing when you can put down a fast lap. Hopefully, I just hope tomorrow goes good. That’s always the challenge. We’ll see, and I’m looking forward to it.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 4th

THOUGHTS ON THE TRACTION COMPOUND SO FAR.

“Harvick went up into the PJ-1, so I went up there too. I don’t know if it was better or not; maybe a touch better I felt like. If I had another attempt at it, I could have gone a lot faster. So far, it’s better than I thought it would be so that’s good.”

WILL YOU BE UP THERE EARLY TOMORROW?

“I don’t know. My car didn’t work very well in it last year. The little bit I ran it in practice yesterday, I didn’t think it was much better for me. But we’ll see. Maybe it’ll be a little bit different in the race tomorrow, especially with it being lower in turns three and four.”

DO DRIVERS HAVE THE CHAMPIONSHIP ON THEIR MINDS THIS WEEKEND?

“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it too much. I always take each race week by week, so I haven’t thought too much about it. I don’t know if the crew chiefs and engineers have or not, but I always try to give it the best I can each week and give the best feedback I can each week so they can take that information and try to grow on it.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 7th

THOUGHTS ON THE WEEKEND, SO FAR, AND GOING INTO SUNDAY’S RACE.

“I feel like we had a top-ten car in everything; short run speed, long run speed, qualifying as well. We have to crossover to get to that top-five spot. I think we’ll learn more as the race goes on with the traction compound that they’ve sprayed down and with the short track package. Right now, everything is driving on the loose side. I think it’s fun, we’re sliding a little bit more. But how long can you slide on that right-rear tire.”

ARE YOU PROS OR CONS TO GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND TRACK TWICE IN ONE SEASON?

“There’s the notes that you gather from the race in March, but a lot of things change and technology advances by the time you get back to this place in November. I’m not too worried about it. I feel like whatever NASCAR throws at us for a championship venue, it brings that championship atmosphere no matter what. So, whether you’re at a ballpark or a stadium early in the season, when you roll in there for the championship, you know there is going to be a big trophy and a big check.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 8th

THOUGHTS ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN. WERE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT?

“I didn’t expect more. I really felt like we’ve been off since we unloaded. We really struggled here in the fall with just being really tight and when we unloaded, we were still really tight. In between practices, we made some changes and got it really loose. It didn’t really necessarily get much faster, but I feel like it’s going to be better that way than it is when it’s tight. The first lap, I probably over-did it a little bit in turn one there. The second lap, to be eighth, I don’t think is the end of the world. I would have liked to be a little better, but as bad as we’ve been here in the fast and as bad as we were in practice, we’ll take it. If we could come out of here with a top-ten, I would be high-fiving people after the race. Our short track program, this is the area we need to work on. Our intermediate program is phenomenal and it ended that way last year. Our short track program is the area we need to work on the most.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HERTZ CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 17th

“Honestly, if you use the brake a little bit more, a little bit differently, I feel like you just have to get all the braking done quicker and then set up for the corner. There’s just more brake usage, more similar to my rookie year I would say, in terms of brake usage and the way that you kind of drive the car. You just have to get everything done early and more finesse on throttle too.”

WHAT WERE YOU ABLE TO DO IN PRACTICE WITH THE CAR THAT MAYBE YOU COULDN’T DO AS WELL LAST YEAR?

“It’s hard to say. I wasn’t really around a lot of cars in practice. I thought our car felt pretty good in practice, so it’s hard to say how it’s going to handle in traffic, I would say. It’s kind of an unknown, so far.”

TALK ABOUT THE INCIDENT WITH THE NEXT GEN CAR TEST?

“Honestly, with that car with the side wall being so much smaller than what we have now, it’s kind of like your street tire. So, when you get loose, the combination of that plus no side force, it just makes it a lot different when you get loose. That’s what I noticed, so far. I’m sure it’s going to be a lot different once we actually race it.”

“I haven’t really spun out like that before. It was different, for sure, but it’s a long ways from the finished product and they said they’ve learned some things from that. It wasn’t like I was driving super hard or anything like that, so you just learn from it and move on.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 19th

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU STACK UP SO FAR THIS WEEKEND?

“The cars are pretty loose with the downforce change for this package. It’s pretty fun to drive. If you can get it calmed down, I think it can be pretty fast. We’ve been pretty loose with our Kroger Camaro ZL1 1LE all weekend. But we’re just trying to not get it too tight because the last two weeks, going from practice to the race, I feel like we’ve gotten the car to tight when we’ve been loose in practice. So, we’re just trying to guard against that a little bit knowing the characteristics each week of what our race car is doing. We’re learning a little bit. It will be interesting. I think the top’s going to come in a lot quicker than it has for us in these races and I think it’ll be a good race.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 21st

“We didn’t have enough pace yesterday. We ended up going down a little different road. So, having our debriefs, we were able to re-direct things and get back on a similar course of what are teams are, especially the 9 (Chase Elliott) and 24 (William Byron) were on. There were some differences there. So, we’ll find out here shortly if it works in the short run. The short run is so important here. I think, to a certain extent, everybody ends up at the same pace when the tires are really hot and mad. It’s what you can do on the short run to create passing opportunities and get track position.”

IS THE TIRE FALL OFF ENOUGH WHERE THE LONGER RUNS ARE A LITTLE MORE IMPORTANT OR IS IT STILL NOT A BIG ENOUGH FALL OFF?

“For me, the opportunity to get track position is always early in a run here, regardless of tire fall off. Especially since they re-paved it. I’m sure longer runs are important, but man it takes you ten laps to pass a guy on a long run. In a short run, you can get four or five if things are working right.”

BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 27th

THOUGHTS ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN.

“We have a lot of work to do. The car was a little bit better, but not what we need.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 I AM SECOND CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 29th

THOUGHTS ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN.

“It was a lot more of the driver, than the car. It stinks, we didn’t want to qualify like that. It doesn’t reflect what our long run pace was considering the issues we fought in practice. It was polar opposites. We mocked up and we were really, really tight and really, really slow. We were substantially faster than that mock run we did, but what everyone is running, that’s not good.”

DO YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR LONG RUN SPEED?

“I thought so, but when I went back and looked, it’s hard to say. We’ll definitely work hard on it and try to make it better in the race. I knew that I had some work to do coming into a track like this, especially in qualifying and what I have to do to get the tires warmed up and be able to execute the lap that we need to in order to get a good starting position. It’s a process. I didn’t think we would sit on the pole, but I was really thinking we’d do better than that.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Qualified 30th

ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT:

“Not very good. I went into Turn 3 coming to the green and locked-up the left front. I was trying to drive the same point I had yesterday and I don’t know if the brakes were just cold, or what. So, I drove all the way back around to try and get a lap but I don’t know if we flat-spotted a tire, or what. Had a vibration the rest of the last two laps. Unfortunate. The car’s not bad. It was just a little miscue coming to the green and it killed our qualifying effort.”

March 7, 2020
CHEVY MENCS at Phoenix 1: Post Race Notes and Quotes

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series – ISM Raceway
TICKETGUARDIAN 500
Team Chevy Post Race Notes and Quotes
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER
6th Kyle Larson, No. 42 McDonald’s Camaro ZL1
7th Kurt Busch, No. 1 Global Poker Camaro ZL1
8th Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1
14th Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Camaro ZL1
15th Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Camaro ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1ST Kyle Busch (Toyota)
2nd Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota)
3rd Ryan Blaney (Ford)
4th Aric Almirola (Ford)
5th Denny Hamlin (Toyota)

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Auto Club Speedway for the Auto Club 400 on Sunday, March 17 at 3:30 pm ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 6th
NICE TOP 10 FINISH FOR YOU GUYS TODAY BOTH YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATE COME OUT OF HERE WITH TOP 10’S. TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY OVERALL:
“Yeah, it was a clean day for us, so I was happy about that. Had some really good restarts that kept us in the game. We worked on our balance throughout the race, tried to free it up and got too free and then had to go back on changes to tighten us back up. So, yeah to come away with a sixth is nice after the last couple of weeks we’ve had of just making mistakes and even this week we made a big mistake in qualifying, but thankfully, we were able to work through it.”

HOW HARD WAS IT MOVING UP FROM THAT 31ST STARTING SPOT TO WHERE YOU FINISHED?
“You had to take advantage of the restarts for sure. I felt like I did a good job of that today going to the very top when I was in the outside lane and passing four or five guys at times. Yeah, that was important and then just being able to pass some cars and get in line and just kind of try and maintain and not make any mistakes.”

KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GLOBAL POKER CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th
THOUGHTS ON YOUR RACE OVERALL:
“I’m glad we got a top 10. We had to battle hard for this one. We didn’t do really good on pit road and we didn’t really do good on restarts, but overall with the Global Poker Chevy it was nice to have a read on some looseness and tightness at a short track and get more notes under our belt. That is key for me and Matt McCall (crew chief). Awesome, fun, running with (Kyle) Larson. The two of us got a pretty good read on each other on when we are holding each other up or if we are helping each other and then at the end they told me I was about a lap shy on fuel, so I had to save and I just let Larson go and it worked out. To have two Ganassi cars sixth and seventh, top Chevy’s that is good stuff.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th
GREAT RUN FOR YOU TODAY. TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“Yeah, definitely a strong performance. We need more. We need to find more, but on a short track where grip is so important our guys did a nice job all weekend long of bringing a little bit more. Excited about that. We weathered the storm on two tires, on four and ended up with a nice top 10.”

IS THIS RUN KIND OF A VICTORY FOR YOU GUYS?
“No, it’s not a victory, but it’s definitely a solid day for the Ally Chevrolet. These guys have been working so hard at Hendrick Motorsports to get us more and more and we took a good step in the right direction. I even think at Vegas we were better than where we finished. Once we lost track position, we struggled the second half of the race. Atlanta was terrible, can’t say anything different there. We are learning each week and I still think we have some catching up to do, but certainly a solid performance. Kevin (Meendering, crew chief) called a great race, it was really tricky with strategy, two tires, four tires, our pit crew had to adjust mid pit stop one time and go from four to two and everybody responded really well.”

TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 15th
“Today was a great day for our GEICO Racing team. We consistently ran inside the top-20, kept making adjustments to fine tune the handling, and then got ourselves in a position to run inside the top-15. I know this is what our Germain Racing team can do every single week and I’m proud of all the hard work that is going into building faster race cars. We will keep building on top-15 finishes like this and I know good things will continue to happen for our team.”

RYAN PREECE, NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in an on-track incident on lap 233
“That was definitely an unfortunate ending to our weekend at ISM Raceway. We’ve been fighting a tight center through the corner most of the weekend, but today in the race we were really making big swings at it to get our Kroger Camaro ZL1 to turn better. I’m really proud of the hard work our guys put in throughout the week and weekend. The west coast swing can be tough with the limited time you have to work on the cars during the week, but Tristan (Smith, crew chief) is always open to suggestions and we work really well together to come up with solutions. All we can do is look forward to next weekend at Auto Club Speedway, where I know everyone at the shop has put in a lot of work to getting our speedway track program better every week.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by tire issues on lap 186
WHAT DID YOU FEEL THERE THE FIRST TIME AND THEN THE SECOND TIME?
“We have just been too tight since we unloaded and couldn’t figure out how to fix it. We were pretty good as long as there was air on the nose, but get buried in traffic and we were just way too tight. It’s unfortunate, obviously, finishing that first stage fourth we had a good race car just had to have clean air and without that we were way too tight.”

THIS PLACE IT TOUGH ON TIRES, TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU:
“We were just too tight and these tires are pretty finicky when you are tight like that it creates a lot of heat and it’s easy to pop one.”

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About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

March 10, 2019
The Least Successful Sprint Cup Driver of 2014 is…

For some, 2014 was a damn good year. Kevin Harvick won five and the title. Brad Keselowski led the way with six victories, with Joey Logano also a five-time victor. The Hendrick power trio of Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson all had four apiece, as all six listed here with 20 or more Top Tens while winning 28 of the 36 events. Unfortunately, this is not about those who did well.

There were those who put on the fire suits, got to be among the big boys, but when it came time to go they might have been best suited to go down the road instead of the track. Instead of being competitors, they were lucky to be participants, saddled in entries that had no hope of being anywhere near the front. However, this is all about misery, no bright spots allowed. To be eligible as our least successful driver one would have had to have attempted to qualify in at least 15 races and average a finish of 30th or worst.

That means no Danica Patrick to be found here. Even failing to qualify twice and finishing outside the Top 40 four times could not get Landon Cassill included, thanks to a fourth place finish at Talladega in the fall. In fact, even a single Top Ten excludes one from inclusion, and so we take Travis Kvapil and Michael McDowell out of the mix.

Ryan Truex was a contender to be the top pretender. It went sour fast in B.K. Racing’s No. 83 Toyota when he failed to qualify at Daytona. In fact, in attempting to make 26 of the first 27 races of the season, they missed three, finished 20th at the second Pocono race, with 30th in a Martinsville race the next best. After seven times outside the Top 40, they parted company after Chicago. Still, not bad enough for us.

The car was not parked, as J.J. Yeley was blessed to take it over. He already had some adventures driving the No. 44 Chevy of Johnathan Cohen. They withdrew four times, failed to qualify for four more, and were in the bottom 10 the other six. Three with Frank Stoddard left him outside the Top 30 every time, and in nine outings driving the illustrious No. 83 Yeley did manage to finish 29th once. Still, bad but not bad enough.

Joe Nemechek attempted the first dozen Cup races of 2014. Driving mostly for Jay Robinson in the No. 66 Toyota, but also for himself, he missed four of them, was 40th or worse in three, with a 31st in Kansas the best of the bunch. Later in the year, he came up empty at both Daytona and Talladega, with a 30th at Watkins Glen by far his best outcome in his final nine attempts. Still, not futile enough.

I am not sure what motivates a professional driver to take a ride that most likely will not be successful, despite his best efforts. A love for the sport, a willingness to help an outfit get started, an opportunity to pick up a few bucks with minimal effort, or all of the above. Randy Humphrey, a former partner of Phil Parsons and then Mark Smith, formed his own operation a year ago, hiring veteran crew chief Peter Sospenzo on the box and Dave Blaney behind the wheel.

They went to the track in hopes of getting their No. 77 Ford into Daytona, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Bristol to open the season. Each time the car was back in the trailer when the green flag waved. In fact, they withdrew before qualifying at Daytona, did the same at Fontana and Martinsville, though they made the race at Texas, finishing 41st, before winding up dead last at Darlington.

That proved to be better than the results at Richmond, Talladega, Kansas, and Charlotte, when they were left heading down the road a day or two early. Thirty-third at Dover was the high water mark for the car, as they followed up that effort coming in dead last at Pocono. I am not sure what they paid to sponsor the entry at Daytona but Plinker Arms, a firearm production company, might have better advertised their product by using it to put this entry out of its misery. Such are the trails and tribulations of starting up a new team.

After all that excitement, Blaney moved over to Tommy Baldwin’s No. 37 Chevy, where he was 26th at the second run at Pocono, 33rd at Michigan, then concluded his Cup campaign last at Bristol. When the season was over, he had four withdrawals prior to qualifying and seven failed qualifying attempts, to go with three finishes of dead last in seven attempts. Combined with results of 26th, 33rd (twice), and 41st in the other four, Dave Blaney is our least successful Cup driver of 2014.

While the 52-year-old Blaney has no plans to run Cup in 2015, he will be keeping busy racing dirt this season and working with his 21-year-old son Ryan. The kid will race some Cup this year with the Wood Brothers and hopes to add to his two victory total in the Xfinity Series with Team Penske. Maybe the least successful Cup driver of 2014, but arguably its most successful father. I think Dave Blaney might be more than content with that distinction.

January 9, 2015
The Hot 20 – Elder Gents and Past Winners Lead the Way to New Hampshire

If you want to make the Chase, maybe one should win at New Hampshire. Out of 43 drivers entered and scheduled to make up the field at Loudon this Sunday, a whopping 16 of them have won at New Hampshire. They include the only four-time winner, 47-year old Jeff Burton, slated to drive the 66 Toyota of Jay Robinson. Along side will be his team mate, 50-year-old Joe Nemechek and a winner there in 1999, driving the 87. Kids. The oldest driver at Loudon has never won there in 14 attempts, going back to 1993. At the age of 72, Morgan Shepherd will be there in Joe Falk’s 33 Chevy.

Among our hot 20, based on points and super-sizing the winner’s bonus from 3 to 25 points, a dozen have had the post-race bubbly shower here before. Jeff Gordon is our king of the hill and while both he and Jimmie Johnson both have three wins at Loudon, neither really do not need another one. In reality, a win means a Chase spot, and they are both in. Same goes for Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin. Matt Kenseth probably does not need one and Ryan Newman is still sitting pretty, but the same can not be said for Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers or Kasey Kahne. Kurt Busch is not even in out Hot 20 but he has a win, though the same cannot be said for Tony Stewart.

As much as I think this system best showcases which drivers have actually been the most relevant during the season, I doubt NASCAR will adopt it. If I thought I had that much influence, you would never see ESPN’s current crew call another race, but I do not. Plus, giving a Chase spot to a New Hampshire winner would mean adios to the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr, Brad Keselowski, and Carl Edwards, none of whom have won there. The kids, Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson, obviously have not. Take the free pass for last Sunday’s Daytona win, and Aric Almirola drops from 10th in the official rankings, drops from 19th on my list, down to 21st and with little hope of making the Chase. Of course, my method eliminates the Chase, and I have a feeling that Brian France would not be terribly receptive to that argument.

I think it a shame that wins put Almirola and Kurt Busch into a Chase place at the expense of Biffle and Vickers. Still, you cannot ignore the excitement that a single victory can bring to the driver, his team, or the fans. Winning is not easy, so maybe the reward is justified. Maybe.

That said, here is a look at my Hot 20 as they prepare for battle in New Hampshire this Sunday.

Ps – Driver – Pts – Wins
1 – Jeff Gordon – 673 – 1
2 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 668 – 2
3 – Jimmie Johnson – 662 – 3
4 – Brad Keselowski – 630 – 2
5 – Joey Logano – 590 – 2
6 – Carl Edwards – 587 – 2
7 – Matt Kenseth – 580 – 0
8 – Kevin Harvick – 558 – 2
9 – Kyle Busch – 546 – 1
10 – Ryan Newman – 534 – 0
11 – Paul Menard – 516 – 0
12 – Denny Hamlin – 515 – 1
13 – Clint Bowyer – 509 – 0
14 – Austin Dillon – 494 – 0
15 – Greg Biffle – 490 – 0
16 – Brian Vickers – 484 – 0
17 – Kyle Larson – 482 – 0
18 – Kasey Kahne – 482 – 0
19 – Aric Almirola – 474 – 1
20 – Marcos Ambrose – 472 – 0

July 10, 2014
Smooth Sailing For Chevrolet While TRD & Ford Stumble

The 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season is 13 races old and we now have a fairly clear picture as to which manufacturer has an edge on the competition. There is a great disparity between all three makes which isn’t surprising considering that this is a brand new car. Joe Gibbs Racing is by far the best team winning five races this year and dominating many more. TRD powered cars have won eight poles as well and were under the hood for all those JGR victories. They are fast but maybe a little too fast. They are pushing the limits of their engines which are failing more than any other manufacturer. They had at least three other races this year in the bag until engine issues killed their chances. There is an intense feeling of trepidation throughout the Toyota camp even if they don’t show it because they can’t afford to be giving valuable championship points away like this and they know it.

Part of the reason why Joe Gibbs switched to TRD in 2012 is because their own engines were having reliability problems and they hoped to bolster their program with the addition of TRD power. Well, they are right back to where they were except this time; they are relying on someone else to fix the issues. TRD is plenty capable of fixing this problem though and I believe they will but the clock is ticking and they don’t have very much time. A quick fix that will be implemented immediately is to scale back the horsepower on their cars in an effort to improve reliability. Its common sense really; be easier on the engine components and they are more likely to last the entire event. They won’t be dominating every single race now but a top 10 and a few wins is a lot better than a few wins and a couple 40th’s.

We don’t even know if this will eradicate the issue which has mostly been valve train related; considered the most fragile part of the engine to most. We saw Matt Kenseth not even make it 200 miles before he lost the engine at Dover and TRD’s thinking is that less strain on the parts will help them endure the entire race distance. Cup motors are built to last around 800 miles so for these engines to not even make it a quarter of the way to that amount is a little concerning. If they can get past these issues, then not much will be able to stop their powerful fleet of cars in 2013.

Ford hasn’t had very many engine problems this year, what they are lacking is raw speed. They would like to adjust the front aerodynamics of their cars but I doubt NASCAR will let that happen mid-season. I said it back in Daytona that I felt the 3D “grills” would be a disadvantage to the Ford team but they aren’t pin-pointing that as the main issue so don’t quote me on that. They have just two wins this year compared to Toyota’s five and Chevy’s six. Carl Edwards won Ford their first race in the Gen-6 back in Phoenix while the underdogs at Front-Row Motorsports put their Ford Fusion’s 1-2 at Talladega. The Ford’s seem to run so-so at the 1.5 mile and 2 mile tracks which they have historically dominated in the past.

Photo Credit: Simon Scoggins

They are fast at shorter, less aerodynamic dependent venues which is very uncharacteristic for that group. In the manufacturer standings, they trail Toyota by 20pts and Chevy by 28 which is a fairly large margin. Penske Racing and even Germain Racing have shown consistent speed in the cars although they’ve also had a few dismal results. Richard Petty Motorsports and Roush-Fenway are the ones that are really having a tough time. Carl may be 2nd in points but that team as a whole hasn’t taken charge at all this year and really haven’t shown much strength. They’ve just been there for the most part. RPM’s Aric Almirola was really good earlier in the year but now he is beginning to fall off as well. This certainly isn’t Ford’s season and as they struggle to find their footing, Toyota and Chevrolet continue to gap them more and more every weekend.

Now I would talk about Chevy’s issues if they really had any. They came out of the gate winning the Daytona 500 in a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2 and all their teams have been solid this year. Toyota seems to have a little more speed than them but like I said earlier, their reliability is awful. Hendrick Motorsports and ECR have built very durable engines that have only failed twice during the season thus far. Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing have all been very strong. Drivers such as Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray and even Juan-Pablo Montoya who are usually around 15th-20th in points aren’t ruling out the possibility of a chase berth just yet. Stewart-Haas has struggled but that is of their own doing as they are finding it tough to adapt to the Gen-6. They either have ill-handling racecars or find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time. That being said, Tony Stewart just won at Dover so it’s not all doom and gloom for that organization.

Chevrolet takes racing more seriously than most seeing that they put so much time and effort into their program. They were the last to unveil their Gen-6 car and were very secretive when testing last year. Chevy exemplifies what is reachable when you pour your heart and soul into something. The record holding 36-time NASCAR Sprint Cup manufacturer champions are looking to win their 11th straight in 2013 and it’s not just NASCAR where they rise above their competition. They are kicking Honda’s tail for the most part in Indycar, Corvette Racing is the most successful team in the history of Le Mans and Chevrolet Cruze has a stranglehold on World Touring Car. I’ll tell you what; I’d love to see General Motors try their hand at Formula 1 so we can see if they have what it takes against the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.

The reason why Chevy always seems to be the ones to beat in any form of racing is because of the passion and time they put into all their programs around the world. Toyota is catching up in NASCAR though and I think they are going to have one heck of a battle in 2013. Toyota has never won a driver or manufacturer title in Cup and it would give much more credence to their title hopes should they resolve their engine woes. You can be assured that if they don’t win it all, the car standing in their way when it’s all said and done will most likely feature a gold bow tie on the grill.

June 6, 2013