“4 wins shouldn’t be sufficient. It’s not acceptable. We have to get extra wins,” mentioned Mark Rushbrook, international director of Ford Efficiency Motorsports. “We have to have drivers additional up the standings and hopefully a minimum of 4 if no more drivers into the playoffs.
“It’s definitely going to be laborious with the place we’re with solely 4 common season races left, so it’s been a battle with the brand new automobile, the brand new package deal with getting our head round it and learn how to set it up correctly going to the monitor and optimizing it.”
Trailing their rivals
Ford’s 4 wins by way of the primary 22 races come from three drivers and two organizations – Group Penske rookie Austin Cindric gained the Daytona 500, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe gained at Phoenix and Penske’s Joey Logano picked up wins at Darlington and Gateway.
Logano’s win within the inaugural Cup race at Gateway in early June was the producer’s most up-to-date.
“We’ve seen a number of success with velocity at completely different tracks the place we’ve got understood it, however we nonetheless didn’t deliver the win house. So, there’s a number of work to do, however that’s racing,” Rushbrook mentioned.
“We at all times have to make all components of the automobile higher, the engine, the aerodynamics, the chassis, the setup, the tire mannequin, our simulator mannequin, and that’s what we’re engaged on. We have now a number of conferences and developments with our groups to try to do higher each week.”
Up to now this season, it has been tough for groups which have skilled success to copy week-in and week-out.
Even Chevrolet’s Chase Elliott – who leads the collection with 4 wins – had a three-race stint the place he didn’t end higher than twenty first.
Logano is one other instance.
He went into the race at Darlington overtly questioning whether or not Penske had the race-winning velocity essential to compete frequently for wins then went out and led 107 of the 293 laps on his technique to his first win of the 2022 season.
Joey Logano, Group Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang
Photograph by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images
“We’ve had completely different strengths throughout completely different vehicles on the completely different tracks. I believe that’s a part of the battle is that this automobile is so delicate that even when one workforce is taking 4 vehicles or two vehicles to the monitor with very small variations, you’ll see one close to the highest of the board and two or three or 4 down on the different finish of the board,” Rushbrook mentioned.
“So, that’s a part of it and simply understanding how delicate it’s and ensuring we will actually discover the optimum spot for these vehicles to run.”
With 4 races remaining within the common season, Ford has Cindric, Briscoe and Logano locked within the 16-driver playoffs.
Relying on whether or not there are further new winners within the final 4 races, solely Ford driver Ryan Blaney (Penske) is excessive sufficient in factors to additionally make the sector.
That would depart Ford with 4 of the 16 drivers within the playoffs – not precisely a robust start line to come back away with a collection championship.
However the unpredictable nature of the season so far, means something is feasible earlier than the Sept. 4 playoff opener at Darlington, S.C.
“As a fan, it’s been a number of the greatest racing we’ve ever had. Due to the thrill you don’t know who’s going to be on the entrance as you go to each race weekend, so I believe that’s been actually, actually good,” Rushbrook mentioned.
“The vehicles are a lot nearer and with change comes alternative and nice drivers that perhaps didn’t have the suitable alternative with the outdated automobile, this performs into their wheelhouse they usually’ve obtained an ideal alternative with this automobile.
“I believe, once more, it’s good for the game to have completely different groups, completely different drivers on the entrance.”
