HOMESTEAD, Fla. – It’s only fitting that Ford Performance has two of its drivers with opportunities to win the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.
2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano advanced into the Championship 4 based on performances in the Round of 8 which concluded last weekend at ISM Raceway. This season, the “blue oval” has won 18 points paying events with Stewart-Haas Racing holding the majority of the trophies at 12. The other six belong to Team Penske.
For a while, it appeared that Team Penske would be a non-Playoff factor, but with a tighter working relationship that improved in the heart of the 2018 season, both organizations showcased speed and were able to get all of their drivers to Victory Lane.
Walt Czarnecki, executive vice president of Penske Corp. and vice chairman of Team Penske said Friday morning at Homestead that the addition of Stewart-Haas Racing has made the Ford product stronger.
“Having them (SHR) come into the Ford camp was a huge plus for everybody who runs the Ford oval,” Czarnecki said. “I think Tony (Stewart) and Gene (Haas) and everybody over there helped us elevate our game, and I think that under the corporate aegis of Ford Motor Company, they got us working together, and I think, frankly, it’s one of the reasons we’re here today.
“We’re still competitors, and we make that very clear, but I think in some ways we might have been able to help SHR, and I think in some ways they’ve been able to assist us, so I want to make sure that we recognize that point, our friends in Dearborn for doing that.”
Figuratively speaking, Stewart-Haas Racing is still the new kid on the block when it comes to the Ford Performance banner. Since their inception, SHR molded themselves under the Chevrolet umbrella and even won their first championship with Chevrolet in 2011 with Tony Stewart.
However, following the 2016 season, the team stunned the NASCAR community with a switch to Ford. And despite winning the season-opening Daytona 500 with Kurt Busch, they struggled to find their mojo. Kevin Harvick didn’t win his first race until Sonoma Raceway in June and he won once more at Texas Motor Speedway last November that propelled the No. 4 team into the Championship 4.
And while they went home empty-handed – and the season was mixed with trial and tribulations, it set them up for an incredible 2018.
Entering Sunday’s season-finale, Harvick has won eight races this season, a new personal record and is the leading candidate to earn his second Cup title. Behind Harvick, his three other SHR teammates of Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch cycled through to the Round of 8 before being eliminated in the penultimate race of the season.
SHR co-owner Tony Stewart took Czarnecki’s remarks as extremely humbling and reflected how proud he is of the multi-car empire.
“It’s very humbling,” Stewart sounded. “You know, obviously 10 years ago we were a two‑car team. We didn’t know where we would end up 10 years later, and then we knew what we wanted to do and what our goal was, but still with that and the technology is so great and changes so fast in our sport, you can never predict where everything is going to end up. You have to do the work. You have to have the right people in place, and the rest of it has to work itself out.
“Obviously Roger Penske is probably the greatest car owner the world has ever seen in motorsports as far as all the spectrums of racing that they cover. That’s a huge compliment. You know, and it’s fun. It’s been, like Walt mentioned, amazing to work with Ford. It has helped us take our program, obviously, to a level that it’s never seen before, and the Penske side and the partnerships that we have together, I mean, we help raise the bar for ourselves amongst each other, and that transfers on the weekends to the rest of the competition.”
Stewart said he is proud of the relationship with Ford Performance and remains committed working with the other Ford Cup teams to enhance the overall product moving forward.
“We’re proud of that partnership with Ford,” added Stewart. “We’re proud of the working relationship we have with Penske and Roush (Fenway Racing) and the other Ford organizations. Together we continue just to press each other harder to make our programs better.”
Czarnecki added Friday the Team Penske organization has been gratified with the turnaround from the start of 2018 to the opportunity to win their first series title since 2012 with Brad Keselowski.
The deeper the Cup season has grown, the more consistent the three-car program has been. Brad Keselowski won three consecutive races to end the regular season – and won the Playoff opener at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway to start the 10-race postseason, while teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano have both captured triumphs at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway ROVAL and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway respectively.
“It was quite an accomplishment,” added Czarnecki of seven Ford teams making the 16-driver Playoffs.
“I just see a continuum of this. I don’t see any abatement on the part of Ford Motor Company. They’re enjoying the success, and I think I’m correct that Ford is in a position to win their first manufacturer’s championship in 14 years, and that’s a big deal. That’s a big deal to them. And so, we want to be part of that.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
