Ryan Blaney is Ford’s best driver so far, sitting in third place after half the season. But while he’s in a good place, his manufacturer isn’t at all. Despite that, his crew chief, Jonathan Hassler, highlighted some major concerns that not just Ford but even Blaney must fix for the road ahead to the Chase.

The No. 12 crew chief was in discussion with SiriusXM Radio on Wednesday, where he first mentioned the reason why Blaney was able to perform better than his peers at the Blue Oval.

"Consistency has definitely been the strength of our team for sure. We've been able to go have solid finishes at a lot of different racetracks,” he said.

Despite winning just one race (the only Ford win) and three top-5s, Blaney still sits third in the standings due to his consistent results and his absence from DNFs. His last DNF was at Talladega, and since then, he hasn’t finished below 13^th in the next nine races.

But that’s just what Blaney has been able to do, not the other Ford drivers. That’s where Hassler pointed out the problem that the manufacturer is facing:

“I think our raw speed is definitely where we're missing it at the moment, for us and all the Fords,” Hassler added.

Michigan was a scary example of that. For the first time since 1983, Ford failed to lead a single lap there in 43 years, despite winning nine of the previous 12 races there.

Right now, Ford is last in the manufacturer ranks, 245 points behind the leader, Toyota. Blaney’s win at Phoenix was their only one, while Chevy has six and Toyota 11 wins. But raw speed is not the only concern Hassler highlighted.

“The intermediate package, the mile-and-a-halfs, the bigger tracks, that's definitely been a struggle of ours. We've had enough consistency on the 12 to get through it and continue to try to find ways to make a little more speed. Hopefully, when we get to the crucial part of the [Chase], we'll have it all put together,” he added.

Apart from Phoenix or short tracks, Ford has generally struggled showing race-winning speed on intermediates. Apart from Blaney and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher (7th), all other Ford drivers are mid-pack or worse in their standings.

In Team Penske, Austin Cindric sits in 16^th while Joey Logano sits in a shocking 20^th. RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece is in 15^th while co-owner Brad Keselowski is in 18^th. Front Row Motorsports’ best ranking is 23^rd by Zane Smith, while Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson sit in 26^th and 30^th respectively. Wood Brothers' only driver Josh Berry sits in 31^st.

So as Hassler said, the manufacturer has eight more races to “have it all put together,” else their championship hopes could take a serious hit.

Meanwhile, aside from the Cup Series battle, there’s another challenge Blaney faces in the next race.

Blaney faces SVG threat at Chicagoland

In the second round of the In-Season Challenge, Ryan Blaney will face Shane van Gisbergen at the eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, as reported by NASCAR.

And the Kiwi could pose a serious threat to Blaney in the head-to-head battle.

While Blaney has the spring test advantage that he did in April, van Gisbergen is coming off fresh from a double victory from the Sonoma weekend. And the Kiwi’s improvement on the ovals this season hasn’t been a secret.

Blaney is third in points while SVG is 14^th. Additionally, SVG has performed well at larger tracks wherever he has qualified well. On Saturday, Blaney would love to stay ahead there.

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Suyashdeep Sason

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason