Through the first nine races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, it’s been a Chevrolet and Toyota show. Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing have combined to win eight races, with Daniel Suárez of Chevrolet manufactured Trackhouse Racing taking the other.
Fords, on the other hand, have done their best disappearing act. Fords have not only failed to win a race but have just one driver sitting inside the top-10 of the points standings. That would be defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, who is seventh, having tallied four top 5s.
With the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway approaching this Sunday, Kevin Harvick believes it’s paramount that a Ford gets to victory lane. Harvick, speaking on his “Happy Hour” podcast, said it would be an “absolute failure” if a Ford doesn’t win at Talladega.
“I think this weekend is really important for Ford,” Harvick said. “If a Ford does not win this weekend, it is an absolute failure with everything they have going on. They need to win the race this weekend. A Ford has to win the race this weekend to stop the bleeding from everything that they have going on. That’s what their cars are good at, [and] this is where we think they should win.
“And I think that they know that this might be the only place they can win because of the position that they’re in with all the other racetracks. And by the way, this is the only superspeedway left before the playoffs.”
Fords struggling entering GEICO 500 at Talladega
Blaney won the fall race at Talladega last season. As for which Ford could get it done this time around, Harvick has his eye on one name: Joey Logano. Logano has struggled out of the gate this season with just three top 10s.
“I have nothing but Fords on my list, and I’m going to go with Joey Logano. I think that he knows that this is his opportunity to win,” Harvick said. “Think he knows that he had that opportunity to win at Daytona, and it didn’t work out, not by his doing, but I think that he is going to be super aggressive this weekend.”
Harvick’s dark horse is another Ford driver — Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland.
“My Dark Horse, Todd Gilliland,” Harvick said. “I’m telling you the Fords have to all in this weekend; they have to be all in; they’ve been those cars that have been the best on the superspeedways, and it hasn’t always worked out, but there’s going to be some crashes and luck that go with all this, but the Fords have to win.”
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