In many ways the 2019 Daytona 500 was Ford’s race to lose…and lose they did. Now, the company reversed course in their NASCAR racing efforts in Atlanta by winning the event but the Daytona situation exposed some rifts in what the company calls their One Ford racing initiative. What does that mean? Well it seems to us that it means every Ford team is supposed to look past their own ambitions in times of potential success and do whatever they can to help fellow competitors wearing the blue oval. That did not happen in Daytona as Joey Logano and Michael McDowell ran their own race rather than McDowell giving Logano a needed push in the late laps. Logano was hot about this development after the race and apparently let McDowell hear about it.
That’s when Ford stepped in.
Like some sort of a parent trying to sooth tensions between their kids, Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance got involved after the fact to try and get everyone back on the same page. Rushbrook was on the Morning Drive show that runs on the NASCAR Sirius/XM Channel and his further comments were interesting as well. “I will say that we frequently get involved,” he said. “We don’t always get involved, but certainly after Daytona, like I said, we’re a family and every family has issues. For sure we had our issues at Daytona, can’t deny that. But as a family, we talked through those issues, tried to understand what led to those issues and then how can we fix that and make it even better going forward.”
So what the hell is the conversation here? Does the Ford executive tell the teams that they need to just forget wanting to win the race on their own and to push the guy that the company wants to win? It is all well and good to sit racing drivers down and tell them how to do stuff but when you are are strapped into a car rocketing around the track at 200mph trying to win for your team and your sponsors it would seem that the game changes, right?
We’re guessing the Ford guys did a lot of talking here, the drivers did a lot of nodding, and after leaving the room did not remember a word of what got said.
Ford exec has to calm drivers down after Daytona 500 – Unreal
Michael McDowell was trying to win, that was his first consideration followed way back by what may have been his second consideration; help another Ford win. You’re right, in one ear out the other. Reminds me of years ago after the 500 when Ken Schrader said after breaking the draft to try to win, “It’s not my job to help Dale Earnhardt win.”
This sport has become a joke. Atleast I got to watch it when it was great. 10 more years and they’ll be outa business.
More corpo exec douche speak. Shit has infested everthing. They must all read from the same magazines and blogs and pat each other on the backs for repeating what they read. There has been a trend lately in Corp crap companies telling their employees to do each others jobs and they go on about it calling it “One “…
That was supposed to say One “insert company name here”
Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing stared this crap a few years ago, and now its infesting the whole of NASCAR! Let the drivers drive, that\’s what people are paying to see, not some corporate parade!
During the 500 the announcers were discussing how the Toyota and Chevrolet teams came to an “unofficial” agreement on teaming up against the Fords.
It’s starting to get as bad as Formula 1 racing with “team orders” telling one driver to pull over and let a teammate pass.
What next, Logano wanting Mcdowell to help him insert his tampon?
If Joey was meant to win the race he would have done it on his own.
Screw this crap. Go to You.Tube and watch all the old films of the early days of real stock car racing. Steel cars and iron men back then……..
Hey, One Ford, corpo douche. Real world, long time Ford fan, here. I got one finger for ya, you know, the one just to the right of my index finger. Piss up a rope and let racers race.