NASCAR Cup Notes From Richmond: Ford Struggles No More

Ryan Preece leads Stewart-Haas Racing, Truex, Almirola closing in on 2024 decisions and more.

NASCAR approved a new front end and cooling package for each manufacturer at the end of last season and the direction Ford took resulted in an unexpected nightmarish 2023 season for the Blue Oval.

A lack of downforce has been Ford’s major problem this season, but with the hot, slick Richmond Raceway the drivers faced in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 the conditions played into their hands.

“I think where our weaknesses were (were) hidden today by the lack of grip in the racetrack,” Joey Logano says. “Mechanical grip seems to come in and it’s hard to put the power down as it is, so I think just where our weaknesses are were masked.”

Chris Buescher provided Ford with its third victory this season by 0.549-second over Denny Hamlin and clinched a playoff berth for RFK Racing. It was Ford’s first victory since May when Ryan Blaney won the Coca-Cola 600.

When the checkered flag waved six of the top-10 positions belonged to Ford. Defending series champion Logano, who earned Ford’s first victory this season at Atlanta, took fourth. Ryan Preece claimed fifth, and winning team co-owner Brad Keselowski finished sixth. Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10 with eighth- and 10th-place finishes, respectively.

Winning crew chief Scott Graves says a track like Richmond evens the field “out a little bit.”

“The long runs here, it’s really more about just handling of the car, what it’s going to do short run versus long run,” Graves says. “We had a really good long-run car and Chris was able to manage the falloff really well. I think that takes horsepower out of the equation. With all that falloff, it takes downforce out to some extent.”

Stewart-Haas Racing has had a few bright moments this season, but the Cook Out 400 provided the Kannapolis, North Carolina-based team with its best overall performance of 2023. Three of SHR’s four drivers finished in the top 10 with the fourth not far behind in 11th.

Ryan Preece led the way, securing his best finish this season with a fifth place. Aric Almirola took eighth, Kevin Harvick 10thand Chase Briscoe 11th.

Preece said he was confident entering the 400-lap Richmond event because of the cars he had seen crew chief Chad Johnston provide in previous races at the short track.

“We talked a lot about what we were going to need and I said, ‘Man, if you can get me to roll the center, I’ll deal with loose in,’” Preece says.

Preece attributed SHR’s strong performance to hard work.

“Sitting and twiddling your thumbs isn’t going to get you the results that you really want,” Preece says.

None of the SHR drivers led a lap despite their top-11 finishes.

With three victories at Richmond Raceway, Martin Truex Jr. is always considered a favorite entering a NASCAR Cup race at the three-quarter-mile track. However, he never was a victory contender in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 due to an ill-handling Toyota.

“The whole day was tough,” Truex said after finishing seventh. “This place is never easy, but I felt like as loose as we were all day, that was a handful. It was so on edge. It was really, really difficult to drive and make two laps the same. My shoulder hurts more than anything just from how loose I was all day.”

When the race began the temperature was 86 degrees, but it stayed above 130 degrees in the driver’s compartment throughout the 400-lap event and Truex said that produced an environment that was “really, really hot.”

“It felt longer than 400 laps,” said Truex, who led three times for 18 laps. “I’ll be honest, when we got to the end of Stage two – I thought there was no way. I thought that was the checkered flag.

“My face felt hot because the helmet blower, it sucks cool air from the outside – and it just felt like a hair dryer. My cheek feels like it’s sunburned.”

Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola are closing in on making their decisions as to whether they will return next year.

Almirola reportedly will have his decision within the next 30 to 60 days. Truex says he will figure out what he’s doing in 2024 “pretty quick.”

Almirola described the discussions regarding 2024 as “complicated.”

“There’s way more to the story than what people see on the surface,” Almirola says. “There’s a lot of confidential stuff that goes on behind closed doors. There’s a lot of discussions that happen behind closed doors. There’s a lot of moving parts. There’s a lot of things that play a factor. When you look at all those things, it’s not just one person making one decision. It’s very complex.”

Kevin Harvick was surprised when he discovered son Keelan faced more aggressive racing in Europe than in the United States. However, Austin Cindric, who also raced in Europe early in his career, said the environment Keelan is facing doesn’t surprise him.

“I think racing overseas is extremely competitive and extremely cutthroat,” Cindric says. “So, it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that Keelan is getting run over in a Go-Kart being the American kid overseas. I feel like that’d be the same if I would have gone over in Europe and raced at that age.”

Cindric describes Formula One as the “most cutthroat racing industry.”

“It’s brutal over there,” Cindric says. “If they could pull off the moves that we pull off and their cars would still hold up, they would do it, but they can’t because their car falls apart.”

Next year is the 30th anniversary of NASCAR’s inaugural race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and many believe the annual event should return to The Brickyard’s oval for the celebration. However, Tyler Reddick is one of those who disagrees.

“This car really does well on multi-groove race tracks and there’s really only one-and-a-half lanes around the Indy oval,” Reddick says. “This car really struggles in direct turbulent air. Better racing will remain on the road course until we find a way to be able to allow these cars to really not lose a lot of downforce directly behind one another.”

Reddick says tracks where the drivers can spread out provides “really good racing”, but it’s not possible at Indy due to the 2.5-mile track’s layout. The historic track doesn’t have sweeping corners like the traditional ovals that host NASCAR races. Indy has four distinct corners with short straightaways between each corner.

Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace have a friendship that probably started when they were youngsters competing in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Summer Shootout Series. They respect each other on the race track, but Blaney says they probably race each other harder than their fellow competitors.

“(That’s) because you trust your friend, and you want to race hard with them,” Blaney says. “At the same time, I’m not going to go rough them up for no reason. I think you both understand we’re going for the win. Obviously, the guy that doesn’t come out on top is going to be mad at it and think it’s bad. So, you’re always going to have different opinions.

“But I feel like the friends you race you race super hard, but you also have a lot of respect for them. So, it kind of balances out really good.”

2 Picks NASCAR Hall of Fame Got Way Wrong

4 NASCAR Playoff Positions Open with 4 Races to Go

Chicago Winner van Gisbergen to Race NASCAR Truck

How 1969 Michigan 600-Mile NASCAR Race Fell Short

Johnson, Knaus Roll Easily to NASCAR Hall of Fame

Richard Childress Racing Sets Its Eyes Down Under

Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus to Earn NASCAR Honor?

Keselowski Following 2-Step Plan for RFK Racing

Richmond Should Go In ‘Never Show Again’ Drawer

Winners, Losers As NASCAR Truck Playoff Field Set

Larson Refuses to Meet With Hamlin at Richmond

NASCAR’s Speedway Justice No Longer A Clear Line