The Ford cars had a disastrous showing during qualifying at Michigan for the Firekeepers Casino 400. The top qualifying Ford was Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Chris Buescher in the #17, who will be starting in P14. Fans took to the social media platform X and bashed Ford for the devastating qualifying result.
Ford has had a difficult start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup campaign. They currently sit last in the manufacturers’ championship with 468 points to their name. Toyota led the championship with 637 points, and Chevrolet in P2 with 583 points.
Ford has won just one race this season, which came at Phoenix, the Straight Talk Wireless 500, with Ryan Blaney behind the wheel of the No.12 Team Penske Ford. Reports of the Ford chassis lagging behind Toyota and Chevrolet’s new body have been going around the paddock since the start of the season.
At the NASCAR Cup qualifying at Michigan, eight Toyotas and five Chevrolets qualified ahead of the top. First was Chris Buescher in P14. Only four Fords qualified inside the Top 20 and just six inside the Top 30.
Fans took to social media platform X and slammed Ford for the poor showcase, as they commented,
“Embarrassing for a Michigan race, but also hilarious and no surprise. It’s Toyota’s year.”
Another wrote, “It’s time for Ford to delete their franchise”
“Ford getting destroyed by a new Chevy body is actually embarrassing,” mentioned another user
Some fans pointed out how Ford has been the worst-performing manufacturer since the start of the season, and is a long way behind Chevrolet & Toyota in the performance index.
“Ford has been terrible all year, not even the best super speedway manufacturer this year. It’s getting tough to watch,” commented a user
Another wrote, “This is the first time since Fall Phoenix 2015 that the best-starting Ford is starting P14 or worse (Logano 14th)”
“Ford is a massive step behind Toyota and Chevy. Not sure much more they can do with the ford body anymore,” mentioned another user
“We don’t have the speed that Toyota has”: No.22 Team Penske Crew Chief points at Ford for the lackluster 2026 performances
No.22 Team Penske driver Joey Logano currently sits in P18, just out of the Top 16 to make the Chase. His teammate Austin Cindric also sits just on the brink of making the Chase in P16. The No.22 Ford Crew Chief, Paul Wolfe, highlighted the struggles.
He detailed how Ryan Blaney’s Penske is taken as the baseline, since he’s the best-performing driver in the team this year, and how his setup is then optimized for Logano to see if any improvement can be made.
However, Wolfe did go on to highlight how Ford in general doesn’t have the speed compared to the Toyotas, as he said,
“You just look at Ford as a whole right now. Obviously, we don’t have the speed that the Toyotas have and you know exactly where that is. When you just want to talk about car potential in making that speed that guys talk about, it’s aerodynamics and motor which are the big pieces.”
“When we’ve been on the other side and been fast all the time, sometimes it doesn’t matter what shocks or springs you have, or if the balance is off a little bit. You’re just fast in each place, and it’s easier,” he added
Ryan Blaney is currently the top-performing Ford driver and currently sits P3 in the championship. The only other Ford driver in the Top 10 in the standings is Chris Buescher in P8.
