On Monday (June 24) it was announced that current Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driver Chase Briscoe will leave at year’s end to replace Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
While SHR largely dissolving is scattering a lot of Ford ashes to the wind, not having a home for them to go to within the Blue Oval camp may be cause for concern – after all, it’s not the first time we’ve seen them cut ties with flagship drivers and send them to the competition – usually with instant success. Vito Pugliese and Wyatt Watson take a look under the hood in 2-Headed Monster.
The Cyclical Nature of Contraction That Is Very, Very Ford
When Christopher Bell announced Truex’s replacement Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he inadvertently broke the worst-kept secret in NASCAR. Not just that longtime Ford driver Briscoe was headed to Toyota, but that Ford continues to shed teams and talent at a pace not seen since the late 2000s and 2010s. But are things really that bad?
As its ads stated in the 1960s, Ford has a better idea.
Now this hasn’t always been the case. You could make the argument that historically it’s led the league in talent disbursement dating back to the 1960s. It only had Richard Petty for one year, Junior Johnson left Ford to switch to Chevrolet, David Pearson was canned by Wood Brothers Racing in the middle of the season in 1978, and we all know how it couldn’t insult Jeff Gordon or Kasey Kahne quick enough to drive them to different manufacturers.
Ford is in a transition period at the moment. Stewart-Haas is closing (though Haas Factory Team will have one Cup charter), and there have been rumors of a possible third charter for RFK Racing, but that doesn’t appear to be the case at the moment.
If anything, it appears to scaling back to where Toyota and TRD were a few years ago. There is one engine supplier for Ford as there is with Toyota – Roush Yates Engines. There are two flagship teams that are now on equal footing with Brad Keselowski bringing the No. 6 and 17 back to prominence not seen for 20 years. the Wood Brothers No. 21 is essentially a fourth Team Penske entry, and Justin Haley in the No. 51 sure looks more like an RFK Racing car than the usual Rick Ware Racing entries that bring up the back half of the field.
Front Row Motorsports has grown from a team that was a threat to win on drafting-style tracks to Michael McDowell having the car in position for wins more than just four times a year. Its balance of teams and competition is more focused than Chevrolet, which has found itself in recent years in a similar position to where Toyota is now: a pipeline filled with talent, but nowhere to put them. Austin Hill does not need another season of NASCAR Xfinity Series racing, while Trackhouse Racing is taking its time with Shane van Gisbergen – despite winning in his very first NASCAR Cup Series race last year, and winning back-to-back road course Xfinity races this year.
Ford’s biggest issues in its driver development stages are what to do with Riley Herbst and whether it will find a way to get Hailie Deegan up to speed before her brand loses any more luster. Cole Custer seems to be the odds-on favorite to return with the re-named Haas organization in Cup so that seat is likely already spoken for.
While there is some question as to what becomes of Noah Gragson and Josh Berry – two former JR Motorsports Chevrolet drivers and Gragson with Bass Pro Shops sponsorship to take with him – there doesn’t seem to be a lot of Ford interest in finding a home for them. Gragson likely will land softly given his sponsorship and recent success in Xfinity.
Besides, what’s the point in sinking millions into driver development and stacking teams in Trucks and Xfinity? If there’s a particular Cup Series talent it wants, it’s probably cheaper and less investment to just buy them out and give them a fat contract for a few years. Let the other teams do the heavy lifting and vet out the competition. Its cars and teams have vastly improved since the start of the season, and there’s nothing to indicate that it’s slowing down anytime soon. – Vito Pugliese
Ford’s Driver Pool Continues to Drain
The talent within the Ford pipelines continues to dwindle looking forward to 2025, and Briscoe’s signing with JGR completes another chapter in Ford losing talent to other Cup Series teams.
Of the 13 full-time Ford drivers in the Cup Series, eight have spent the majority of their career with Ford, including Briscoe.
One driver, Todd Gilliland, was re-routed thanks to FRM dipping into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, opening the pathway for Gilliland to inherit the same car his father, David Gilliland, drove for many years.
Other drivers such as Joey Logano, McDowell and Keselowski were not products of Ford’s development pipeline. Logano was a product of Gibbs. McDowell was developed by Michael Waltrip Racing, and Keselowski was known as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s protégé in 2009 before being picked up by Penske.
With Briscoe, who spent his whole NASCAR career with Ford, departing for JGR, the number of purely Ford pipeline drivers now falls to three: Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher.
And with Stewart-Haas having two charters still up for sale, Ford’s seat at the table could certainly shrink more in 2025.
Sure, FRM maintaining one of the three is a slight relief, but it’s not confirmed yet that the newly-established Haas Factory Team is staying with Ford for next season.
Looking deeper into the prospect pool for Ford, it seems like it’s the 2010s all over again. Who does it have as prospects?
Let’s start with the two SHR drivers who are still out of a ride for now: Berry and Gragson. Gragson’s sponsorship and outspokenness will garner him a ride somewhere in the Cup Series, and it seems like the only way Berry would leave Ford so quickly is if JRM makes a complete 180 and obtains one of the open charters. It would shock me if Berry isn’t running with Ford next season.
Assuming that Haas stays with Ford, Custer is destined to drive their Cup Series car next season, but who will fill his place in the No. 00 in the NXS?
Herbst has been gaining interest from other teams, but what if he gets replaced by a Cup Series driver who might fall out by season’s end? Herbst would potentially have to look elsewhere outside of Ford’s reach, something he probably wouldn’t mind since he previously raced for both JGR in Xfinity and Kyle Busch Motorsports in Trucks.
No one who’s competed full-time for Ford’s RSS Racing has gone on to compete full-time in the Cup Series, and the team has only been with Ford for four seasons. What stops it from switching back to Chevrolets?
Ford’s next-best prospects after Haas are at ThorSport Racing’s younger talent of Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes and Jake Garcia. Majeski has proven to be good at short tracks, but his early starts in the Xfinity Series with Roush were far from impressive, and he hasn’t brought much attention from anybody from the Cup Series to give him a serious shot.
Rhodes has won two Truck titles for ThorSport, but he has only gained seven wins and is fighting to just make the playoffs this season.
Finally, the 19-year-old Garcia is only beginning to learn and develop in his second full-time Truck season and first season with ThorSport.
AM Racing’s Deegan flat-out doesn’t have what it takes right now to be Cup eligible, and frankly, she should worry about keeping her Xfinity Series ride with how she has performed so far this season.
Last but certainly not least, FRM’s Layne Riggs has been developing his talents in his rookie season in the Truck Series. The son of Scott Riggs is no doubt talented on short tracks thanks to his experience in the zMAX CARS Tour. However, it will much more time for him to get comfortable driving on the bigger tracks.
The wake of Briscoe’s exit leaves Ford with very little talent to draw from its own well after a seismic silly season. More than likely, the manufacturer will have to rely on signing a driver from outside its own ranks to be ready for next season.
Bluntly, this is worse than the 2010s for Ford. This is an absolute nightmare. – Wyatt Watson
Vito is one of the longest-tenured writers at Frontstretch, joining the staff in 2007. With his column Voice of Vito (monthly, Fridays) he’s a contributor to several other outlets, including Athlon Sports and Popular Speed in addition to making radio appearances. He forever has a soft-spot in his heart for old Mopars and presumably oil-soaked cardboard in his garage.
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
Ford lost Jeff Gordon to Mr. H. Not a good sign for the future.
And neither Deegan nor Custer are Cup quality drivers. Never will be. Maybe Ford sees what the France family is doing to Nascar and doesn’t care care anymore. It’s not win on Sunday and sell on Monday anymore. Look what people are driving on the streets these days.