Millions of people all around the globe watched NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race. On Sunday, July 2nd, Chicago staged the first-ever Cup Series race on its streets, and it was a smashing success. Spectators from across the country flocked to Chicago to see the Next Gen cars race through the city.

However, because of the rain, several cars came dangerously close to violently colliding because of limited traction on the wet surface. But there was yet another problem that Ford had to face. During the Chicago street race, Ryan Blaney noted that the new Ford model had almost no rear grip.

Ryan Blaney makes his dissatisfaction known in the streets of Chicago

While the other drivers were trying hard but somehow managing to deal with the narrow, wet track and tight corners, Ryan Blaney was zipping around in his next-generation Ford Mustang. Blaney expressed his annoyance to his spotter, Josh Williams, by saying, “F****ing zero rear grip compared to these guys.”

The excessive lack of grip was a factor for Blaney despite using the wet-track tires. As for Ford, the new models have proven problematic for drivers and the company since their handling doesn’t seem to be up to par. And to better compete on superspeedways, where NASCAR restricts engine power, Ford made alterations to the car’s body in 2023. Recent wind tunnel studies on NASCAR’s bread-and-butter intermediate ovals, however, showed that the Fords had less downforce than the competitors from Chevrolet and Toyota.

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Even defending Cup winner Joey Logano noticed the problem before the Charlotte race, saying, “We’re lacking downforce. There was a comparison done a few weeks ago, and everybody got to see it, so that’s the situation.”

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It seems that Chevrolet and Toyota benefited from NASCAR’s decision to let each Cup Series manufacturer tweak its entry’s front end and cooling packages for 2023 after the Next Gen car’s first season in 2022, while Ford has been left with a bitter taste in its mouth.

So, might a new Ford vehicle be in the works for the 2024 NASCAR Cup season? Rushbrook grinned and shrugged his shoulders when asked that. As reported by Autoweek, Rushbrook said, “Where we see opportunity for improvement is on the intermediate tracks” for the 2023 campaign.

Overall, Ford’s performance through the first 13 races of the season looks better than it did a year ago, despite the discrepancy in the manufacturer’s win count. However, when looking at the manufacturer’s findings in distinct ways, there is a lack of consistency.

Putting aside the nitpicky details, it seems Ford drivers have been facing a lot of issues with the current model. But as Logan pointed out, “Lacking downforce doesn’t mean we can’t make up that difference on car setup and maximizing what we have. If we do a better job than everybody else, we can make up that difference.”

However, we do hope to see Ford step up their game and level the playing field for NASCAR racers, including Ryan Blaney, keeping up with the competition.

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