Ford dominance in qualifying at drafting tracks is not precisely breaking information — outdoors of Chase Briscoe’s shock pole within the Daytona 500 for Toyota (later overshadowed by inspection points discovered with the mounting of the rear spoiler), Ford has earned the highest spot on the grid in ten of the final 11 drafting races.
This week, Ryan Blaney earned one other pole place for the Blue Oval for Sunday’s Atlanta race, beating his Group Penske teammate Austin Cindric by simply 0.002s. It was a formidable displaying for Penske with the Penske-aligned Wooden Brothers Racing workforce in third with Josh Berry and reigning sequence champion Joey Logano in fourth (and with no webbed glove this time).
However what made Saturday’s qualifying session so beautiful was the truth that Ford drivers earned ten of the primary eleven spots on the grid. Kyle Busch was the one interloper in a Chevrolet, qualifying sixth.
Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, HighPoint.com Ford Mustang and Todd Gilliland, Entrance Row Motorsports, Georgia Peanuts Ford Mustang
Picture by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Photos
With practically each Ford operating within the sequence on the entrance at Atlanta, the Blue Oval “wall” will make it pretty tough for the Chevrolet and Toyota drivers to battle their means ahead. The primary stage is simply 30 laps, so it is going to be a straight dash for the stage factors with no green-flag pitstops. The second stage is a repeat of that, permitting Ford to probably management a very good portion of the race unchallenged, amassing piles of stage factors.
Sunday from Blaney’s view
Blaney is about up for a great begin to Sunday’s with a sea of Fords round him, together with his teammates. He informed media after his pole run, “… It’s reassuring when you have got extra Fords round you. You by no means know when somebody goes to hold you out to dry, however that is racing. They will do what they’ll do. However it’s extra reassuring when you have got extra friendlies round you, I suppose I’d say, however you by no means know the way it will work out.
“[Linking up] at the beginning, and hopefully it stays that means, however issues are going to vary all through the race,” defined Blaney. “It’s kinda good that, at the very least at the beginning of the race, hopefully the primary stage, you possibly can management. However it’s not going to be that means the entire race, proper? You will get shuffled sooner or later. Pit technique goes to return into play so I simply must react to that. However it’s good to all begin collectively.
Whereas it is anticipated that others will discover their means by way of the fray of Fords and problem sooner or later, it can take among the greatest names some time. The best of the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet quartet is Alex Bowman in thirteenth and the highest Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is Briscoe in twenty fifth. In the meantime, solely three Ford drivers certified worse than eleventh (Rick Ware Racing’s two entries and Haas Manufacturing facility Group).
Ryan Blaney, Group Penske Ford
Picture by: Jonathan Bachman – Getty Photos
Ford (and extra particularly Penske) got here 0.003s shy of sweeping the Atlanta races final 12 months with Blaney shedding out within the closest three-wide end in historical past whereas Logano went on to win within the fall. Ought to the Ford drivers handle to stay collectively on Sunday, it will be silly to guess in opposition to them.
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