One-ninth of the season is in the books, and there is a tie among the manufacturer leaderboard in wins. Both Chevrolet and Ford have won two races. Chevy’s early success is nowhere near a surprise, but Ford’s is.
The Ford camp has already won a third of the races it did all of last year (6), and the results through the first four races for the manufacturer has been steady. Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway Carl Edwards picked up a win after the race ended in caution for rain. Among the top five were three other Ford drivers, including Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Edward’s teammate at Roush-Fenway Racing, who finished second.
Ford did just as well the week before at Las Vegas, where race winner Brad Keselowski—driving a Ford—was among three Ford drivers finishing in the top five.
These recent results should improve morale within the Ford groups. The top three Ford teams, Roush-Fenway, Penske and Richard Petty Motorsports have all had at least two drivers finish in the top five.
That leaves just one car manufacturer that has yet to win a race. Toyota. Oddly enough the Toyota camp holds claim to only six top-ten finishes so far out of 40 possible slots. For a group that was led by Matt Kenseth last year, they’ve struggled to put together complete races.
The series heads to Auto Club Raceway this weekend. Last year’s race there was notable for the Denny Hamlin-Joey Logano wreck as they came off turn four towards the checkered flag that left Hamlin injured and out for four races. Toyota will have a shot in this race. Kyle Busch won the race here last season after the front-runners tangled up. He’s also won six of the last eight Nationwide races in Fontana, Calif.
History points to a Chevy win this weekend, though, so Toyota may be chasing its first season victory after this race ends.