Since the introduction of the Next Gen car before the 2022 season, Fords often have an advantage any time NASCAR races on a superspeedway like Daytona, where drafting with other cars is imperative to running well.
That advantage stemmed from the design of its Mustang which featured a flatter nose that better allowed Ford drivers to bump draft and push Ford teammates. Last year, Ford won three of six races on tracks where drafting is essential (Atlanta, Daytona and Talladega).
But Ford (along with Toyota) rolled out a redesigned model this year that is much different than the previous version of the Mustang. Only Chevrolet has the same car as last year.
Having a different Mustang has presented Ford drivers with a host of unknowns, including whether they’ll be able to bump draft as effectively as they are accustomed to.
“I would say that the pushes are going to be way more timid at the very beginning at least,” said Chase Briscoe of Ford-backed Stewart-Haas Racing on Thursday. “If we were showing back up in the same car like Lap 1, I think you would see us just blasting each other, trying to get the guy out to the lead or whatever, where I think we’re going to be a little more timid and just careful about our pushes.
“I know visually the Ford to me looks way more rounded than anything we’ve had in the past, especially the back bumper, so I’ve been kind of anxious leading up to this week just knowing that, so, yeah, I think the Duels will be a little timid at the beginning, but I do think there’s not near the forgiveness that we’ve had at least on the Ford side in the past, so that will be interesting when we really start pushing each other hard and see what happens.”
On Thursday night, Ford got to see how the car drove in race conditions. But because the field was split into two qualifying races, and with some wanting to preserve their primary cars for Sunday’s race, it was difficult to glean entirely how the new Mustang fared.
The true test won’t come until the Daytona 500.
“We were really curious to see how things were going to play out in the Duels, because that’s our first opportunity with the new car in traffic,” Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook said Friday. “We didn’t have the numbers in the first race, with only four or five Mustangs in there, but we certainly had the numbers in the second race, and we got a lot of feedback and comments from the drivers on the things that can be worked on with the setup to optimize that.
“At this point, we’re still very happy with the new car and looking forward to seeing how things play out through the weekend.”
Ford did show some speed by sweeping the front row in single-car qualifying Wednesday, with Joey Logano capturing the pole and Michael McDowell qualifying second.
“We normally don’t place a lot of emphasis on qualifying here, because what matters at the end of the day is how the cars race,” Rushbrook said.
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