Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images |
The Ford teams were dominate in 2020, earning a manufacturer total of 18 NASCAR Cup Series wins. Although so far, just the beginning of speedweek at Daytona showed that most of the Ford drivers who dominated into 2020, lacked speed in the Busch Clash and both duels. Aric Almirola did win Duel 1, but he wasn't a very consistent driver in 2020. While many drivers have thus far shown questionable performance, there are a select few Ford drivers who I think will be very consistent throughout the 2021 season.
Let's look through each Ford team and review their drivers:
- Team Penske, [No. 2 / Brad Keselowski, No. 12 / Ryan Blaney, and No. 22 / Joey Logano], is in for a good season, but Ryan Blaney will be the one to watch out of the entire team. Blaney has had decent finishes on road courses, and is even better on superspeedways, so he could be a dark horse for the championship. Joey Logano had a great start to the 2020 season, but then he didn't win again until late into the playoffs to lock himself into the Championship 4. For this reason, I believe Logano will likely have an average season. Brad Keselowski, who is even more determined to earn a second championship title, and in the final year of his contract, will be a second Team Penske car to watch in 2021.
- Stewart-Haas Racing, [No. 4 / Kevin Harvick, No. 10 / Aric Almirola, No. 14 / Chase Briscoe, and No. 41 / Cole Custer], has more wins than any single team in 2020. The 10 wins came from Harvick, taking a career record of 9 victories, and Custer earning himself, his first career Cup Series win. While 2020 was very good, 2021 could see a dip from those 10 wins for SHR. Harvick was at the top of his game in 2020, so theoretically, we will either see him do better, or worse. Considering Kevin Harvick’s age, it isn’t impossible think that 2020 was his peak performance, if that’s the case we could definitely see a dip in his performance. Almirola for years now, has had a hard time being consistent with his finishes, so I'm not sure what to expect from him in 2021. He is in a Stewart-Haas car so he will obviously contend for some wins, though whether he gets any, and how many that will be is simply unknown. Chase Briscoe is just a new face over at SHR, and for that reason I'm not sure what he'll do this season. Coming out of the Xfinity series with great performance, he has a lot in store in the future, though with zero Cup Series experience, I find it hard to believe that we will see much out of him just yet. Then there’s Cole Custer, last years rookie of the year, he could be in for a good ride in 2021, his rookie year was a most definitely a success, he'll want to build off of that.
- Roush-Fenway Racing, [No. 6 / Ryan Newman, and No. 17 / Chris Buescher], had a winless 2020 season, but could be in for a win from either of their drivers this year. Ryan Newman is still trying to win his first Cup Series championship, but after all this time it might have hard luck. Buescher on the other hand, while not very consistent in anything last year, could be in for an upbeat season this time around.
- Wood Brothers Racing, [No. 21 / Matt DiBenedetto], hasn't had a win since Ryan Blaney raced for them, but could in for a trip to victory lane in 2021. Matt DiBenedetto tried really hard to win last year, but came up short of his goal, almost winning more than once. This season, his last with the Wood Brothers, he’ll be trying even harder, and most definitely could find himself in victory lane.
- Front Row Motorsports, [No. 34 / Michael McDowell, and No. 38 / Anthony Alfredo], already has had a win this season, with McDowell winning the Daytona 500. 2021 has shown to be a good season already for McDowell, but Anthony Alfredo is a whole other story. Alfredo, a rookie in 2021, will likely come short of the rookie of the year award, due to how little NASCAR racing experience he has, and the equipment he will be driving (compared to his his competitors).
- Live Fast Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing? I won't bother wasting my words on them. They’re great, but most definitely not headed to the playoffs or victory lane anytime soon.
So now, I'll rank Top-10 Ford drivers that I think will be the biggest names for Ford in 2021:
- Brad Keselowski
- Kevin Harvick
- Joey Logano
- Ryan Blaney
- Ryan Newman
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Chris Buescher
- Cole Custer
- Aric Almirola
- Michael McDowell
Who do you think will be the be the best Ford driver in the NASCAR Cup Series for 2021? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and we’ll be sure to get back to you!
As for my top Ford driver/Team, I'm gonna go with Brad Keselowski/Team Penske.
ReplyDelete